The Mentor: Famous American Sculptors, Vol. 1, Num. 36, Serial No. 36Taft, Lorado
General
The Mentor: Famous American Sculptors, Vol. 1, Num. 36, Serial No. 36
Taft, Lorado
Sculptors -- United States; Sculpture, American
Bartlett’s first important exhibit was the “Bohemian Bear Trainer”; the
second, the Indian “Ghost Dancer,” shown at the Chicago Exposition.
Soon followed those striking works for the Congressional Library,
his “Columbus” and “Michelangelo.” The former shows the discoverer
in a new light,--no longer the gentle dreamer, the eloquent pleader,
the enthusiast, nor yet the silent victim in chains, but a hero of
might and confidence, hurling proud defiance at his calumniators.
The “Michelangelo” is, if possible, an even more vivid though less
vehement presentation of its theme. The short, gnomelike figure with
stumpy legs; the big, powerful hands; the stern face, rough hewn, with
its frown and tight lips,--all these combine to make this at first
sight a not very winning presentation of the great master; but it has
the quality that will outlive all others. It was left to an American
sculptor to grasp his character profoundly, and to create an adequate
representation of the mighty Florentine.
Bartlett’s young “Lafayette” stands in one of the most coveted sites in
all Paris, in the square before the Louvre. It is well worthy of the
honor, and is a monument to the artist’s capacity for “taking pains,”
representing as it does many years of study and experiment.
Bartlett collaborated with Ward upon the pedimental group of the New
York Stock Exchange, and a logical result of the good work done there
was the commission to design the long awaited pediment for the House
of Representatives in Washington, a gigantic undertaking of great
significance, which is now in progress.
To select these six names out of a hundred seems invidious. One wants
to talk of Herbert Adams and his beautiful busts, of Karl Bitter and
all the fine things he has done, of MacNeil and Grafly and Aitken and
the Piccirillis and the Borglums and all the rest, of the Boston men,
of the women sculptors, even of the little western group; but space
fails. They are all working enthusiastically for the love of their art
and for the fair fame of America.
[Illustration: BLACK HAWK, BY LORADO TAFT
_A concrete work of gigantic proportions, overlooking Rock River,
Illinois._]
SUPPLEMENTARY READING--“History of American Sculpture,” Lorado
Taft; “American Masters of Sculpture,” Charles H. Caffin.
MAGAZINE ARTICLES--“George Grey Barnard, Sculptor,” G. B.
Thaw _World’s Work_, December, 1902; “Daniel Chester French,
Sculptor,” Lorado Taft _Brush and Pencil_, Vol. 5; “Bartlett”
(“Some American Artists in Paris,”) Francis Keyser, _Studio_,
Vol. 13; “Frederick MacMonnies, Sculptor,” H. H. Grier, _Brush
and Pencil_, Vol. 10; “Augustus Saint Gaudens,” Kenyon Cox,
_Century_, Vol. 13; “The Work of J. Q. A. Ward,” Russell Sturgis,
_Scribner’s_, Vol. 32.
THE MENTOR
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381 Fourth Ave., New York, N. Y.
Vol. 1 No. 36
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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