The Sculpture and Mural Decorations of the Exposition: A Pictorial Survey of the Art of the Panama-Pacific international expositionPerry, Stella G. S. (Stella George Stern)
General
The Sculpture and Mural Decorations of the Exposition: A Pictorial Survey of the Art of the Panama-Pacific international exposition
Perry, Stella G. S. (Stella George Stern)
Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915 : San Francisco, Calif.); Sculpture, American
The gentle dignity of the standing Muse and the reality and softness of
her draperies recall the same sculptor's figure, Peace, exhibited in the
department of Fine Arts and awarded a medal by the jury. The
architectural beauty of these groups, in relation to the arched panels
of the pylons forming their background, is worthy of study. It will be
seen that the group, in spite of its statuesque quality, is actually
part of the wall surface. The beauty of the ensemble is greatly enhanced
by the sympathetic planting.
Boy Pan
Detail, Pylon Group, Festival Hall
Without doubt the most popular, if not the most admired, of the statues
that adorn Festival Hall is the "Boy Pan," nestled in the foliage at the
base of the pedestal in the group just described. This roguish little
god of woodland music has, besides his traditional attributes, a certain
urchin quality that is very appealing. He has just taken his pipe from
his lips, momentarily diverted by the presence of an alert lizard his
melody has attracted. The lizard is here hidden in the leafage. The arch
amusement of the whole figure, the mischievous, boyish smile upon his
face, have allurement, just lifted from the normal by the quaint
suggestion of small horns still in velvet. Here in his youth is the
wholesome, simple, poetic Pan of the earlier myths, he who grew into the
"Great God Pan," rather than the hero of the more subtle and diversified
later legends. His pertness is contrasted with the shy modesty of the
Young Nymph, the companion figure at the foot of the opposite pylon.
Detail, Spire Base
Palace of Horticulture
The Palace of Horticulture, a combination of French Renaissance with the
Byzantine, is consistently flowery in decoration. It has been given a
carnival expression. The general sculptured adornments are heavy
garlands and overflowing baskets, and profuse ornamentations of flowers.
Large flower-decked jars stand in niches; the cartouches bear the flower
motif. Suggestions of lattices and arbors appear in the low domes on the
porches surrounding the great greenhouses, reminiscent of French garden
architecture of the Great Age.
The superb central glass dome that gives the building distinction is
crowned by a huge flower basket and draped at its base by a long
garland. At the foot of the sharply ascending spires - the slender
shafts of which are carved with conventionalized vines and bear tapering
flower urns as finials - stand graceful garlands of girls. These
pleasing spire bases, the attendants of Flora, are by Ernest Louis
Boutier, a Parisian. They carry small baskets of flowers on their heads,
a chain of flowers binds them. The same feeling is continued in the
caryatids on this building, by John Bateman. These, also flower-capped,
are repeated on the Press and Y. W. C. A. buildings, smaller structures
in the South Gardens adjoining the Horticultural Palace, thus unifying
the buildings in the plaza.
Cortez
In Front of Tower of Jewels
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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