=Mr. Warner’s Bronze Doors.=--Mr. Warner’s first door, _Tradition_,
illustrates the method by which all knowledge was originally handed
down from generation to generation. The background of the panel in
the larger tympanum is a mountainous and cloudy landscape, conveying
admirably, says one critic[5], “a sense of prehistoric vastness and
solitude.” In the centre is a woman, the embodiment of the subject,
seated on a throne. Against her knee leans a little boy, whom she is
instructing in the deeds and worship of his fathers. The visitor will
not fail to notice the unusual expressiveness of the group--the boy
with eager, attentive face, and the woman holding his hand in one of
hers, and raising the other in a gesture of quiet but noble emphasis.
Seated on the ground, two on either side, and listening intently
to her words, are an American Indian, holding a couple of arrows
in his hand; a Norseman, with his winged steel cap; a prehistoric
man, with a stone axe lying by his side; and a shepherd with his
crook, standing for the nomadic, pastoral races. The four are typical
representatives of the primitive peoples whose entire lore was kept
alive by oral tradition. The face of the Indian is understood to be a
portrait of Chief Joseph, of the Nez Percés tribe, from a sketch made
from life by Mr. Warner in 1889.
Of the panels below, that to the left contains the figure of a
woman holding a lyre, and the other the figure of a warrior’s widow
clasping the helmet and sword of her dead husband to her breast. The
first represents _Imagination_, and the second _Memory_, the former
being the chief quality which distinguishes the nobler sorts of
traditional literature, as exemplified in the true epics, springing
from the folk-tales of the people, and the latter standing for that
heroic past with which it so constantly deals.
[Illustration: BRONZE DOOR, MAIN ENTRANCE. BY OLIN L. WARNER.]
The same general arrangement of figures is followed in the second
door--the one representing _Writing_--as in the first. In the
tympanum of the door, a female figure is seated in the centre,
holding a pen in her hand and with a scroll spread open in her lap.
Beside her stand two little children, whom she is teaching to read
or write. To the right and left are four figures representing the
peoples who have had the most influence on the world through their
written memorials and literature--the Egyptian and the Jew to the
right, and the Christian and Greek to the left. The Jew and the
Christian are represented as kneeling, in allusion to the religious
influence which they have exerted. The former holds a staff in his
hand, and may be taken as one of the ancient Jewish patriarchs; the
latter bears a cross. The Greek has a lyre, for Poetry, and the
Egyptian holds a stylus in his hand.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account