The Sculpture and Mural Decorations of the Exposition Part 4

Their feeling harmonizes more with the sea-weed and sh.e.l.l decorations of the court itself and its falling-water motif than with the weightier sculpture it contains. They create a pleasing ripple of merriment. Their light and airy modeling has the beauty of unconscious and unforced artistry. The columns stand just within the northern entrance of the court, guarding a vista of the bay.

A Daughter of the Sea North Aisle, Court of Ages

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 G.o.ddess-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.

Beauty and the Beast Fountain Detail, Court of Flowers

The Fountain of Beauty and the Beast in the Court of Flowers accentuates the feeling of gentle fancy and the spirit of the fairytale that are the mood of this and its companion court. It is by Edgar Walter, a distinguished San Franciscan; he has given us a delightful, playful and tender rendition of the old tale that has held the imagination of the world since it first appeared in Straparola's "Piacevoli Notti" in 1550.

Since it was popularized by Madame le Prince de Beaumont in 1757, the story has been translated into every language. The fountain shows, with great restraint and refinement of handling, one of Beauty's ministrations to the sick monster shortly before his transformation. It is subject to the symbolism that may be read into the story itself; but the note of fairy magic is the essential theme of the fountain. Quaint fairy pipers, the unseen musicians of the Monster's Palace, stand about the pedestal. The lower basin bears a frieze of charmed or enchanted beasts, very lightly handled and not insistent. Their idea is continued in the court by the gryphon decorations and Albert Laessle's wreath-bearing Friendly Lions, at the entrances to the palaces.

Caryatid Court of Palms

The Court of Palms is restful, meditative, a place where the feeling of magical allure takes a deeper, more subjective character. It might well be called the Court of Pools, for two, quiet pools, one circular, one oblong except for its concave side to hold the other, fill the floor of its sunken garden and reflect its pensive as well as its physical charms. The Caryatids repeated throughout this court are the joint work of John Bateman and A. Stirling Calder. They inject into the court its fairy spirit without disturbing its repose. They are Puckish, bat-winged, goblin-horned fairy creatures of an eerie beauty, elfin, roguish and quaint. Their quality is enhanced by the beautiful color that has been applied to them, to the garlanded panels between them, to the cartouches over the archways and, indeed, to all the decorations on the walls and columns of this court. This richness and depth of color leads the eye to the three splendid mural lunettes in the arches. These are Childe Ha.s.sam's "Fruit and Flowers" and Charles Holloway's "Pursuit of Pleasure," at the entrances to the palaces, and Arthur Mathews'

"Victory of Culture Over Force" in the portal that leads to the Court of the Four Seasons and frames a vista of the bay.

The Harvest Court of the Four Seasons

The Court of the Four Seasons, cla.s.sic in spirit, finished and chaste in execution, required a perfect harmony of ma.s.s, line and feeling in the sculpture that was to embellish it. It was the further task of the sculptors and mural painters to give the court its meaning, to ill.u.s.trate the idea of the earth's abundance and the fruitful beneficence of the seasons that is implied in the t.i.tle of the court.

That they have n.o.bly succeeded in this difficult double achievement is an actual triumph. "The Harvest," by Albert Jaegers, crowning the half-dome, is a magnificent bit of architectural sculpture. It seems a faithful part of the surface it enriches; its outlines are faultlessly balanced; although its sides are varied, its ma.s.s is superbly centered.

The G.o.ddess of the Plentiful Harvest sits in the slope of an overflowing cornucopia; a sheaf of ripe wheat rests in her supporting arm; she is attended by a lad who can scarcely lift the weight of fruit he bears.

The group is bound more closely to the half-dome by a graceful garland applied to the wall-surface Mr. Jaegers has further ill.u.s.trated the traditional idea of Harvest Home festivals by the vigorous groups, "The Feast of Sacrifice," which adorn the huge pylons of this court.

Rain Court of the Four Seasons

On separate columns flanking the Half-Dome of the Harvest, Albert Jaegers has given us cla.s.sic presentations of the two great resources of nature that bring the blessing of rich harvest. These are symbolic figures, "Rain," here pictured, and "Suns.h.i.+ne." In "Rain," the nymph of the Earth, holds upward a sh.e.l.l, her cup, in grateful expectation of the beneficent rainfall, while she s.h.i.+elds her head from the storm with a cloud-like mantle. On the other column, that of "Suns.h.i.+ne," the nymph shades her head with an arching palm-branch, though she looks up in happy appreciation to the welcome glow of the sun. As in his "Harvest"

and "The Feast of Sacrifice," Mr. Jaegers has here given with perfect restraint a sense of generous weight, of richness, profusion and ma.s.s that are highly satisfying in their artistic aspect and are valuable interpreters of the message of the Court. August Jaegers, a younger brother of this sculptor, has embellished the arcade of this court with an attractive repeated attic figure. In voluminous, decorative draperies this female figure stands between two young orange trees, her arms about them - significant of the harvest of California.

Fountain of Spring Court of the Four Seasons

The seasons of the year are expressed in the Court that honors them by four wall-fountains, the work of Furio Piccirilli. The sculptured groups are set in colonnaded niches, against a warm background of deep pastel pink wall. The water flows over a cascade stairway. The floors of this and of the basin are painted pale Oriental green, giving a luminous beauty to the water, especially at night in the glow of hidden lighting.

The planting about the niches and the trailing green on the walls are component parts of the fountains' beauty. The sculptor has felt the Seasons in their gradual changes, as found in California, rather than in the usual sharp divisions. He has infused them with a wistful sadness, however, as at the pa.s.sing of time. In "Spring," here ill.u.s.trated, for example, we feel something more than the Youth, Flowers, Love and Promise obvious in the composition - something tender and romantic but by no means gay.

Fountain of Winter Court of the Four Seasons

Fountains of Summer, Autumn and Winter, by the same sculptor as Spring, just described, are similarly installed in their respective niches in the Court of Four Seasons. In "Summer" is represented the earth's early fruition. A young mother lifts her new-born babe for its father's kiss.

A gleaner harvests the grain. Over all is a gentle solemnity. In "Autumn," probably the most admired of the four, against the background of a fruit-bearing tree, a superb nymph bears proudly the full jar of wine or oil. On one side a crouched figure gathers a richly-laden garland of the vine; on the other, a youthful, kneeling female figure plays with a l.u.s.ty child. Even this period of completion is marked by the general pensive beauty. It is emphasized most, however, in "Winter,"

here ill.u.s.trated. The bowed, worn toiler rests on his shovel, the spirit of the year waits, still and brooding. But, on the other hand, the sower is ready to cast the new seeds; the cycle re-commences.

Fountain of Ceres Forecourt of the Four Seasons

The Forecourt of the Seasons, the continuation of the Court of the Four Seasons to the Marina, is officially called the Forecourt of Ceres, because of Evelyn Beatrice Longman's Fountain of Ceres which commands it. Ceres, or Demeter, the G.o.ddess of Agriculture, presided over the Earth's abundance. By her favor, came the good harvest; she it was who first instructed man in the use of the plough. In the loveliest of antique myths she is the mother of Prosperine, the Spring. Miss Longman has expressed her as exultant, regal, young - far less matronly than as conventionally pictured - glorying in her power to bless the cooperative labors of man and nature. She holds as her sceptre the stalk of corn, and offers the crown of summer to the world. The central figure is not more lovely than the pedestal base on which she stands. A frieze of dancing maidens, wrought in cleancut low relief, Greek in manner, celebrate the Harvest feast. In the accompanying ill.u.s.tration, the groups on pylons, by Albert Jaegers, already described, may be seen in the background.

The Genius of Creation Central Group, Avenue of Progress

"The Genius of Creation," by Daniel Chester French, has the superb simplicity of all works of that master of sculptural calm, intellectual power and straightforward sincerity. Mr. French is said to make no mistakes in composition; his precision is not dryness but technical ease and infallibility; his cla.s.sical quality is not obedience to tradition but insight, into the underlying laws that made tradition. Here we have a splendid example of his perfection of ma.s.s, balance and finish and of quiet, inspiring depth and directness of feeling. Creation extends life-giving arms over the universe. Serene, brooding, blessing, the n.o.ble face emerges from mysterious shadows of the enveloping mantle. The sculptural quality of the draperies, their weight and texture and grace are notable. At the foot of the pedestal rock, man and woman stand - facing different sides, but their hands are clasped at the back of the group. The Serpent surrounds all, inevitably suggestive of the story of Genesis, but symbolic of the waters from which life emerged and the encircling oneness of the universe.