Sculpture -- United States -- History; Sculpture, American
Meanwhile, Mr. Manship from Rome and Mr. McCartan in New York have
both proved in their work that they not only know how to model the
nude and compose a statue, but, what is far more rare, that they can
“handle ornament.” Now ornament is often regarded as beneath the notice
of the new-fledged sculptor, while as a matter of sad fact, it is
more likely to be quite beyond his powers; and this is partly because
he lacks invention, and partly because he is without knowledge of
the rhythms of design; not hearing the music, his mind cannot march.
Garden sculpture as well as severe monumental form calls constantly for
the light touch or the strong arm of ornament. Noting our American
lack in this direction, the Society of Beaux Arts Architects, in
coöperation with the National Sculpture Society, has been at pains
to install in New York ateliers in which the ornament-modeler, as
distinct from the sculptor, may seriously study his art. And when an
artist like Mr. McCartan designs and models the exquisite ornament
seen upon his Barnett Prize Fountain, a new hope is breathed into the
efforts of those who would improve our American standards in artistic
craftsmanship, and break down the stupid barrier between artist and
artisan. Somewhere in the unknown lies a vast continent of design-forms
not yet touched by any Columbus--a wealth of fauna and flora not of the
Acropolis or the Roman Forum or the Gothic cathedral, but akin to Greek
and Gothic in beauty and power; and the world is waiting for these new
good things.
III
Given our garden fountain, with or without its ornament, what more
natural than a coign of vantage from which to enjoy it? The exedra, as
introduced to us long ago by McKim, White and other architects, has
been eagerly adopted by garden lovers. A beloved spot at Aspet, the
Saint-Gaudens estate, holds in the far distance a blue sky, a blue
mountain and a lordly crest of purple pines; in the middle distance is
a magic stretch of simple grass, while near at hand, and flanked by a
rosy tracery of oleander blossoms, a golden god Pan pipes to the seven
golden fishes spouting water into a green-veined white marble basin,
rectangular in form. Facing this, and shaded by pines, hemlocks and
silver birches, is a great white exedra, planned not on the usual curve
but on the three sides of an oblong, and showing in relief, on the end
of each wing, an ivy-crowned faun, by Louis Saint-Gaudens. Two giant
terra-cotta vases, made in this country from Italian originals, stand
at the entrance to the pergola that garlands the “old studio”; in an
upper garden, a bronze Narcissus leads the eye toward the house, with
its white balustrade accented by gracious heads of the Seasons.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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