Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915 : San Francisco, Calif.)
In the group of Autumn, Providence is the central figure, directing the
Harvest. She is bringing in the juice of the grape. The season is
significantly represented in the full modeling of the figures and the
maturity of the adults. The mural of Autumn, in the rich colors of the
dying year, suggests by its symbols of wine and music, the harvest
festival. Opposite, is pictured the Harvest, with the garnered crops.
Last of all is Winter, with the bare desolation of the wintry world in
the melancholy fountain group. Then Nature rests in the season of
conception, while a man sows, his companion having prepared the ground.
In his mural of Winter, Bancroft pictures the snowy days, the fuel piled
against the cold, the chase of the deer, the spinning in the long
evenings. The companion piece represents the festival side of the
season, when men have time to play. The Seasons are complete.
On the walls of the half-dome are two formal paintings by Bancroft,
conventional but charming in their allegory. These are Bancroft's best
murals. In the first, Time crowns Art, while her handmaids, Painting,
Pottery, Weaving, Glass-making, Metal-working and Jewel-making, stand in
attendance. In the other, Man is taught the laws of Love, Life, and
Death, Earth, Fire, and Water.
On the summit of the half-dome is a group representing the Harvest, and
before it, on two splendid columns, are Rain, a woman bearing the cup of
the waters, and Sunshine, another with a palm branch. All three are by
Albert Jaegers. At the other extremity of the court each of the two
pylons is surmounted by a bull, wreathed in garlands, and led by man and
maiden to the sacrifice. These groups, each called the Feast of the
Sacrifice, are also by Albert Jaegers. (p. 79.) The spandrels on the
arches and the female figures on the cornices are by his brother, August
Jaegers.
The abundance of the Seasons is symbolized in the fruit-bearing figures
that form the pilasters of the cornices of the arches, and by the fat
ears of corn depending from the Ionic capitals of the columns. These
types of fruitfulness have a further justification in the neighborhood
of the Palaces of Agriculture and Food Products, which border the court
on the north.
The eastern and western arches are exquisite in their simple proportion,
and the delicate charm of the fresco of their vaulted passages. The
quality of this interior decoration is enhanced by the beauty of the
staff work, which throughout this court is the most successful found in
the Exposition. Here this plaster is soft, rich and warm, and looks more
real and permanent than elsewhere.
I prefer to consider the northern approach between the two palaces as
not a part of this court. The pleasant intimacy of the court would have
been enhanced if it had been cut off from this approach by an arch. Half
way down the forecourt is the formal fountain of Ceres by Evelyn
Beatrice Longman, which must cheer the hearts of those who would have
all art draped.
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Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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