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
As the Earth panels are luxuriant, teeming with a sense of plentitude,
and the Fire panels are moving with the grace of rising smoke, those
that represent the phases of Water are moist and lush. In the one here
shown, "The Fountain," people have come through the damp grasses,
bearing their bright vessels to fill them with water that flows downward
from a spring in a long, fine, curving bow. The beautiful grouping, the
pose of the figures and the graceful lines of the vessels are
unforgettable. The air is fluid; great white clouds stretch across the
sky, which has the same liquid beauty as the water in the background.
Water-birds and dewy flowers add life and color. The grateful use of
water for man's thirst is beautifully told. In the other water panel,
"The Net," hardy fishermen, standing in the water-reeds and blossoming
flag-lilies, haul in the last catch of the brightly dying day. Others
bear on their heads baskets heavy with the success of earlier castings.
Heavy sea-clouds are tinted by the late afternoon sunshine.
Air
The Windmill, Court of Ages
The two panels of Air may well be thought of as the air that moves and
the air that supports. In the first, "The Windmill," which is
illustrated, the motion of the wind and of the world it blows is
dazzling. The field of, golden grain, bright in the glow of the sun that
has just broken through the rain clouds, is quivering with graceful
undulations. The great wings of the windmill turn, with flapping sails.
The little kites are blown tempestuously. The garments of the workers
wave forward as they walk, braced against the wind that blows from
behind them. A brilliant rainbow and wind-blown dark rain-clouds tell
the end of a passing storm. In the second Air panel, which is called
"The Hunters," the air supports the arrows just shot from the bows of
hunters who hide behind the last trees at the edge of a wood. It bears
also flocks of homing birds and light clouds blown across a ruddy sunset
sky.
Half Dome
Court of the Four Seasons
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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