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.)
Along the roadway to the left, as one leaves the circle, are two
sculptures: Bird Fountain by Caroline Risque, and Prima Mater by Victor
S. Holm.
North of the lagoon are: 1. Fragment of the Fountain of Time by Lorado
Taft. 2. Nymph by Edmond T. Quinn. 3. Dying Lion by Paul Wayland
Bartlett. 4. Rock and Flower Group by Anna Coleman Ladd. 5. Whale-man by
Bela L. Pratt.
On the island at the north end of the lagoon is a fountain by Robert
Paine.
The Fine Arts Galleries
Do not visit the Fine Arts exhibits blindly, without knowing what they
are aimed to show; and do not try to see the whole exhibition in one
day. First understand the scope and arrangement of the displays, and
then follow some definite system by which you are sure to get the best
out of each individual section. It is better to see one part thoroughly
than to carry away a confused impression of the whole.
The scope of the exhibit is limited to painting, sculpture and
print-making, except in the Oriental sections. In painting the primary
aim has been to make a representative display of contemporary work. Most
of the galleries contain only canvases painted within the last ten
years. But in order to correct the common misconception that American
art is entirely a thing of today, without historical background, a few
rooms are given up to historic works of the various early American
schools, and to works of the foreign schools that have influenced the
development of American art.
The arrangement of the galleries should be mastered before one starts to
study. In general there are three divisions of exhibits. At each end is
a group of foreign sections, and the great middle space is given up to
American art. The accompanying diagram is designed primarily to make
clear the location of the several divisions. The visitor will find it
worth while to remember that a main central corridor runs the whole
length of the United States Section. By continually referring to this
corridor, one can keep one's bearings fairly well.
The method of seeing the galleries that is suggested in this guide is
based on the official classification as far as possible: the foreign
sections are taken in order, and the historical section is treated in
that chronological sequence which the directors intended to show forth.
But there is no system in the arrangement of the twenty-eight general
rooms of contemporary American work, In treating these the guide aims to
suggest tendencies and influences, rather than to point out this or that
canvas as a good or bad one. Nevertheless it is believed that every
really important picture or artist is individually mentioned-so that
one who has used the manual consistently may be sure of having enjoyed
the cream of the collection, at the same time gaining the wider
knowledge of the main currents of development.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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