Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915 : San Francisco, Calif.)
The architecture has been called Spanish Gothic, but, according to the
architect, it "has not been accredited to any established style." We may
well be content to call it simply Mullgardt. The court is an artist's
dream, rather than a formal study in historic architecture; and it is
the more interesting, as it is the more original, for that. Except for
the central fountain, which, fine though it is as a sculptured story, is
out of harmony with the filigreed arcades around it, all the sculpture
in the court is, in feeling, an intimate part of the romantic
architecture. This portion of the art of the court is best considered as
decoration, finding its justification in the beauty it imparts to the
whole. It has genuine meaning, but what that is remains inscrutable so
long as the court is called that of Abundance.
Mullgardt called his creation the "Court of the Ages." He was overruled
because the officials deemed the name not in accord with the
contemporaneous spirit of the Exposition. They called it the "Court of
Abundance." In spite of the name, however, it is not the Court of
Abundance. Mullgardt's title gives a key to the cipher of the statues.
Read by it, the groups on the altar of the Tower become three successive
Ages of Civilization. (See p. 70.)
Tower of the Ages.--This is the most admired of all the Exposition
towers, and with reason. The originality, strength and beauty of its
design set it above anything else of the sort yet seen in America; and
the symbolism of its sculptures, which are the work of Chester Beach, is
of almost equal interest with the tower itself. At the base, on the
gable above the arch, rude of face and form, with beasts low in the
scale, are the people of the Stone Age. Above them is a mediaeval group,
the Crusader, the Priest, the Peasant Soldier armed with a cross-bow,
with similar figures on the side altars. Enthroned over all, with a
crown on her brow, is Modern Civilization, expressed as Intelligence. At
her feet are two children, one with an open book, symbolizing Learning;
the other, a boy with a part of a machine, representing Industry. The
supporting figures on the sides are the Man and Woman of the Present,
sprung from the earlier types. The delicate finials rising from the
summit of the tower express Aspiration.
The two shafts at the head of the court, each surmounted by a huntress
with bended bow, symbolize Earth and Air. Originally they were intended
as finials to the double cascade which was to have swept down to the
court from the Altar of the Ages on the tower. The cascade was not
built, much to the benefit of the beauty of the court, but the ornaments
were suffered to remain. The giddy females who support each shaft are
sufficiently romantic to be in keeping with the decoration of the court.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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