Title:  Sculpture of the Exposition Palaces and Courts

Author:  Juliet James

Release Date:  May, 2004 [EBook #5712] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on August 14, 2002]

Edition:  10

Language:  English

Character set encoding:  ASCII

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Sculpture of the Exposition Palaces and Courts

Descriptive Notes on the
Art of the Statuary at the
Panama-Pacific International Exposition
San Francisco

By Juliet James

To A. Stirling Calder who has so ably managed the execution of the sculpture, and to the vast body of sculptors and their workmen who have given the world such inspiration with their splendid work, this book is dedicated.

Foreword

What accents itself in the mind of the layman who makes even a cursory study of the sculptors and their works at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition is the fine, inspiring sincerity and uplift that each man brings to his work.  One cannot be a great sculptor otherwise.

The sculptor’s work calls for steadfastness of purpose through long years of study, acute observation, the highest standards, fine intellectual ability and above all a decided universalism — otherwise the world soon passes him by.

It is astonishing to see brought together the work of so many really great sculptors.  America has a very large number of talented men expressing themselves on the plastic side — and a few geniuses.

The Exposition of 1915 has given the world the opportunity of seeing the purposeful heights to which these men have climbed.

We have today real American sculpture — work that savors of American soil — a splendid national expression.

Never before have so many remarkable works been brought together; and American sculpture is only in its infancy — born, one might say, after the Centennial Exposition of 1876.

The wholesome part of it all is that men and women are working independently in their expressions.  We do not see that effect here of one man trying to fit himself to another man’s clothing.  The work is all distinctly individual.  This individualism for any art is a hopeful outlook.

The sculpture has vitalized the whole marvelous Exposition.  It is not an accessory, as has been the sculpture of previous Expositions, but it goes hand in hand with the architecture, poignantly existing for its own sake and adding greatly to the decorative architectural effects.  In many cases the architecture is only the background or often only a pedestal for the figure or group, pregnant with spirit and meaning.