An Art-Lovers Guide to the Exposition: Explanations of the Architecture, Sculpture and Mural Paintings, With a Guide for Study in the Art GalleryCheney, Sheldon
History
An Art-Lovers Guide to the Exposition: Explanations of the Architecture, Sculpture and Mural Paintings, With a Guide for Study in the Art Gallery
Cheney, Sheldon
Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915 : San Francisco, Calif.)
Bulls on pylons. The finest sculpture here is to be found in the groups
capping the pylons at the entrance to the minor north court. Though
called by the artist "The Feast of Sacrifice," these are commonly known
as "The Bulls." The group, which is duplicated, shows a bull being led
to sacrifice by a youth and a maid, and is reminiscent of the
harvest-time celebrations of ancient peoples. But it is just as well to
forget the subject, and to admire purely for the sensuous charm-for
the beauty of outline, the fine modeling, and the remarkable sense of
spirited action. Note the three figures individually: the nobly animated
bull, the magnificently set-up youth, and the strong yet graceful
maiden; then note how the sacrificial garland holds the whole group
together and makes it richer. Note, too, how the forward-moving lines of
the bull are accentuated on one side by the similar lines of the youth's
body, and on the other by the contrasting lines of the girl's. Putting
aside any question of meaning, there is not in any of the courts a
nobler bit of decorative work than this. Albert Jaegers was the
sculptor.
Figures surmounting columns. On the two columns before the half-dome are
Albert Jaegers' figures of "Rain" and "Sunshine." At the right, as one
faces the dome, Rain is typified by a woman shielding her head with her
mantle and holding out a shell to catch the water. At the left Sunshine
is represented by a woman shielding her head from the sun's rays with a
palm-branch. Both figures are characterized by a sense of richness, of
fullness, that is perfectly in keeping with the spirit of the court. In
commenting on these statues, in one of his lectures on the art of the
Exposition, Eugen Neuhaus, the well-known California painter, suggested
very appropriately that the court should have been named for them "The
Court of the Two Seasons" since in California the only noticeable
seasonal change is from a sunny period to a rainy period.
Group surmounting half-dome. This shows a conventional seated figure of
Harvest, with an overflowing cornucopia. At one side a child-figure bows
under a load of fruit. This group also is by Albert Jaegers. Here, as in
"Rain" and "Sunshine," there is a sense of fruitfulness, of profuseness,
a maternal suggestion that helps to carry out the symbolism of the
court. In all three of these statues, too, there is something of the
nobility and massiveness that distinguish the same artist's "bull"
groups across the court. All are eminently suited to the massive Roman
architecture; nowhere else have sculptor and architect worked together
more successfully.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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