Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1893-09-06
SPAIN AT THE FAIR.
Tho Old Country Makes Very
Effective Exhibit.
Works of Art Calculated to Astonish the
Average Visitor = Remarkable Industry
Founded by an Enterprising Woman
Some Wonders In Cork.

supposed to be about moribund, or at
least somewhat, commercially speak
ing, disrupted by party strife and al
ways on the brink of a revolution,
Spain makes a remarkably fine and
strong showing. 1t is certainly quite
evident that the glories of the land
which in centuries past gave so much
to the world-in literature, art, science,
commerce, as well as arrns-are not
wholly extinct. The great heart and
head of Spain are slumbering, it is
true, but rich, red arterial blood is ebb-
ing back and forth in the stalwart
body, and one day she will awaken to
new life and activity and astonish the
world by her wonderful vitality. Any
body who will walk through the ex-
tensive and comprehensive exhibit
Spain is making at this exposition will
have thoughts of this kind forced upon
him. The leading feature, the char
acteristic mark of the whole, is the art
the pure, chaste, elevated art-that
impresses itself on the eye, the index,
the consciousness of the beholder.
There is hardly a thing in the whole
exhibit which is of poor quality or in
artistic in design. The national pride
of Spain-a feeling, by the way, which
is still intensely alive there, despite all
reverses--was, of course, aroused by
the peculiar circumstances that called
forth this Columbian fair, and so she
has, no doubt, done about her level
best. ] an sorry to say that her col
onies have not, in this offering strik-
ing contrast with the English colonies,
which alone have saved the British ex-
hibit from the faint Of vulgarityand in
adequacy. And yet SPANS colonies have
more and vastly more remunerative
commercial relations with this country
than have the British colonies, Canada
excepted.
Spain covers $4,000 square feet of
space in Manufactures building, 1000
in Agricultural, the same space in
Horticultural, 1000 each in Mining
and in Machinery building, 5000 in
the Fine Arts palace, 1000 in Forestry
building, 400 in Transportation build
ing and 200 in the Woman's building
AZ, 900 all told. This, of course, is not
as much space as the other large
powers occupy, but it is space every
square foot of which is taken up by
something worth seeing. Take her
exhibit in the Fine Arts palace first.
There are about 200 exhibitors; to-
gether they show us about 800 oil
paintings, so pieces of sculpture and
number of engravings, etc. Col
lectively it produces fine effect, and
though there is no Murillo nor Velas-
quez among those modern Spanish
painters there are such names as De
Ferreo, the professor of the art
academy of Barcelona; Madrazo, a man
who produces startling effects by
simple means; Diaz, Agrasot, Galore
Ollar, Herrer, Jimenez Amanda, Sierra,
Vallmitjana, Barrau, Cusachs, Mar
ques, Meifren, Moreno, Luna, Urgell,
Lorcnzale, Sans, Sorolla, among them.
Portraits are numerous and fine, while
landscapes are weak-the Spanish
school never produced much in land
scapes, even in its palmiest days. The
somberness of tone in some of these
canvases is, however, positively fright
ening.
Next we take in the Spanish section
in Manufactures building. The loca-
tion-due to late application for space
is discouraging, and the lack of light
in it is greatly increased by the curious
colonnades, constructed by the Spanish
government architect, Joaquin Pavia,
in imitation of the Moorish colonnades
in the famed cathedral of Cordova.
The effect thus produced is certainly
picturesque and original, but unfortu-
nately everything was sacrificed to
that.
One might just as well label this
part of the Spanish exhibit Bar
celona," for from that one live and
enterprising city on the Iberian penin-
sula have come nearly all the objects
shown-the silks and satins, the cottons
and cloths, the rugs and carpets, the
rope and sacling, the mantillas and
dainty kerchiefs, the books and soaps,
etc. The other cities Representatives,
rid, Valencia, Havana, Cuencia, Mallor
are but an appendix to Barcelona.
But there are mighty fine things on
view. The black silks, for instance,
that are shown in a ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
showcase, come altogether from q sin
gle house which manufactures nothing
but that one article, and it shows every
variety of black silk, too, from the
cheap grades up to the very finest
Among the rugs, too, are beauties, of
a style peculiar to the countryside
dued shades, some woven, in pattern
that leaves spaces entirely untouched,
on cloth-of-gold. Laces. too, are there
in plenty, and the book exhibit fur
Their off shows that both printer and
binder know their business in SUNNY
Spain. Some of the industrial estab-
lishments represented in this section
employ from 1000 to 5000 workmen
and women.
The most beautiful objects on view
are the products of Spanish woman's
ingenuity. Her name is Felipa Guis-
asola, and her address Madrid, and IL
was her own idea when she began, a
number of years ago, a style of decora-
ton wholly original-solid gold inlaid
and hammered into steel. This new
style she has now brought to such per-