The City of Domes : a walk with an architect about the courts and palaces of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, with a discussion of its architecture, its sculpture, its mural decorations, its coloring and its lighting, preceded by a history of its growthBarry, John D. (John Daniel)
History
The City of Domes : a walk with an architect about the courts and palaces of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, with a discussion of its architecture, its sculpture, its mural decorations, its coloring and its lighting, preceded by a history of its growth
Barry, John D. (John Daniel)
Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915 : San Francisco, Calif.)
Quotations on Arch of Rising Sun, west side, facing court, chosen by
Garnett. Panels from left to right: "They who know the truth are not
equal to those who love it," from Confucius, the Chinese philosopher;
"The moon sinks yonder in the west while in the east the glorious sun
behind the herald dawn appears; thus rise and set in constant change
those shining orbs and regulate the very life of this, our world," from
"Shakuntala" by Kalidasa, the Indian poet; "Our eyes and hearts uplifted
seem to gaze on heaven's radiance," from Hitomaro, the Japanese poet.
Quotations on Arch of Rising Sun, east side, facing Florentine Court.
Panels from left to right: "He that honors not himself lacks honor
wheresoe'er he goes," from Zuhayr, the Arabian poet; "The balmy air
diffuses health and fragrance; so tempered is the genial glow that we
know neither heat nor cold; tulips and hyacinths abound; fostered by a
delicious clime, the earth blooms like a garden," from Firdausi, the
Persian poet; "A wise man teaches, be not angry. From untrodden ways
turn aside," from Phra Ruang, the Siamese poet.
Crenellated parapet on arches, note from military architecture. Archers
used to shoot from behind.
Cleopatra's Needle repeated on edge of arches. Used by the Egyptians as
historical records and public bulletins. Merely decorative.
Green jars, beautifully designed, in niches at base of Arches of Rising
and Setting Sun, McKim, Mead & White. Eight in each arch.
Arch of the Rising Sun, surmounted by group representing types of
Oriental civilization. "Nations of the East," designed by Calder, and
executed in collaboration with Lentelli and Roth. From left to right:
Arab sheik on horse, negro slave, Egyptian on camel, Arab falconer,
Indian prince, Buddhist priest or lama from Thibet, Mohammedan with
crescent, negro slave, and Mongolian on horseback.
Murals in arch by Edward Simmons, of New York. On north wall, from left
to right, True Hope and False Hope, Commerce, Inspiration, Truth,
Religion, Wealth, Family; in background Asiatic and American cities. On
south wall: historical types, nations that have crossed the Atlantic;
from left to right, "Call to Fortune," listening to the past, the
workman, the artist, the priest, Raleigh the adventurer, Columbus the
discoverer, the savage of lost Atlantis, the Graeco-Roman, and the
Spirit of Adventure sounding the call to fortune. In background, ancient
and modern ships.
Arch of Setting Sun. Statues, frieze, spandrels, parapet, identical with
Arch of Rising Sun. Group on top, "The Nations of the West," designed by
Calder, executed in collaboration with Lentelli and Roth. American
figures grouped around prairie wagon, drawn by two oxen. Above wagon,
"Enterprise"; in front, "The Mother of Tomorrow," white boy on one side,
colored boy on other; south, a French-Canadian, an Alaskan woman, a
Spanish-American, a German; north, an Italian, British-American, squaw,
American Indian.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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