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
In this "Daughter of the Sea," Sherry E. Fry has given us a nymph who
typifies the life within the watery sphere where it is deep and broad.
She has the robustness, volume and vigor of the great high seas. She is
deep-bosomed and broad of thigh and stands as though storms and monsters
had no terrors, as one accustomed to breast and conquer the waves. Water
creatures supplement her, but she seems made on too goddess-like a scale
to disport herself with them. It is interesting to contrast this nymph
of the fathomless trough of the sea with the arch and playful Water
Sprites of the froth and ripple, on the columns within the Court of
Ages. This statue is placed in the Forecourt of Ages, facing the Marina,
the court that is designed to graduate the richness of the larger court
toward the more severe facades on the Marina. Sherry E. Fry's work, in a
less rugged vein, appears upon Festival Hall.
The Fairy
Finial Figure, Italian Towers
The gay and gracefully ethereal towers on corner pavilions at the
entrance to the Court of Palms and the Court of Flowers, sometimes
called The Kelham Towers for their architect, are pointed by a long and
pleasing slope of wings. Carl Gruppe's slender Fairy stands upon them,
poised, as though just alighted. This finial figure has a pretty
wistfulness that suggests the whimsical firefly fairies of Peter Pan
more than the conventional gauzy creatures of ordinary fairy tale, and
is more like a female counterpart of Shakespeare's "delicate Ariel" who
sucks "where the bee sucks" than any other creature of fancy. The
curving antennae increase this impression. She carries in her hand a
whirling star. The silhouette of the figure is attractive and the halo
of sky behind the head framed within the circle of the wings, lends a
distinct charm. It is pleasant to have this symbol of imagination over
the Exhibit palaces, especially in the Courts of Palms and Flowers, more
suited to the fairy feeling than, perhaps, any other spot upon the
grounds.
Flower Girl
Niche, Court of Flowers
The perfect balance of this "Flower Girl" by A. Stirling Calder, saved
from any hint of rigidity by the graceful curves of its extended lines,
makes it an admirable wall decoration. Harmony with the wall-niche in
which it appears is part of its allurement. The sculptor has modestly
sought to merge the figure's loveliness into that of the Court and has
succeeded in increasing both. "The Flower Girl" appears in outer niches
of the attic cloister of the court bearing her name, the Court of
Flowers. A light garlanded mantle falls like a petal from her shoulders,
the floating edge following the line of the nymph's divided hair, so
that the maiden seems more like a flower itself than a flowerbearer.
However, she has the sculptural solidity necessary for her location and
resembles not some frail, wind-blown blossom, but the robust and buxom
California blooms that flourish in the court below her.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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