Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1893-06-29
FRED. w. HARRIS. Editor.
Member d The ssgsi Dakota Press Association
THE DORE VASE.
Greatest Work Of Art at the
Exposition.
A NOTABLE CASTING IN BRONZE

Should Seek IT Out and Study It's beauty
~ -The sporttve Cupids and the venomou,
y Serpent.
WORLDS FAIR, June 3D. [Special.l -
J II ! were asked to name the greatest work
of art to be found in the exposition ]
s:should unhesitatingly say the Dore vase.
IL Is to be seen in the French section of the
N Manufactures building. Unfortunately
it Is not displayed to the best advantage,
and naany visitors pass IL by without sc
itnuch as a look at it. But let me advise
Sou not to make this mistake; for this
e ssreat bronze, probably the most ambitious
\ and notable casting ever made in that
ssnetal, is well worth your time. 1t is an
attraction which has the more fascination
or you the better you are acquainted
M With it.
'5N You would not think It possible for q
E.anan TO make q vase in cold, dull bronze in
FiIyhich you could always find Some new
Beauty, no matter how many times you
1altisited 1t, would you? Yet that is just
that Gustave Dore did in this marvelou:
~feation. The Doro vase is called "Le
'af7in,n or Wine, . and is the ~apotheosis OF
ia, bacchanalian revel. But no hideous, de
\: ormed, gluttonous, disgusting god OF
t'gine, this. Instead, all that is light
Eraceful, poetic and beautiful. The vase
sgltands some fifteen feet high, and weighs
4 tbout 1900 pounds. It's shape is that OF
lsn oriental water bottle or c~araffe, and
ii Npon it are hundreds Of figures from the
- pnirnal and vegetable kingdoms and the
orld of mythology. The vine trails all
~ ound, with flowers and clusters of grapes.
"A mong it's shoots and tendrils a horde OF
upids ard nymphs play gay pranks.
s5t All OF Dore's cupids are brownies In
N heir love of fun. Nothing solemn or sen.
1ational about them, save that serio-comic
.plemnity with which Palmer Cox has en-.
lowed his now famous LITTLE men. The
Il ine Is in these little cupids, and ideally
II 'bortiye they are. They Chamber and race
aa nd wiggle about on the face of the great
ase like so many beautiful little monkeys.
Hf ere is one hanging by his toes to a bit Of
81 inc, and the expression on his face is that
'A a brownie about to fall from some emf.
.Ssl ence. Another is helping a companion
p a difficult ascent, and you can see the
M tile rogue push with all his might. A
lHt bird, having reached the summit leans
ri som the top and beckons his fellows up.
ard. Still another is having a battle
a,ftSyal with a big beetle, whose two horns
f.e has boldly grasped.
There are cupids asleep, cupids rolling
|i4 ones Town upon other eupids, cupids
'~A44odding lizards with sticks, cupids chas-
asg butterflies, cupids pouring wine upon
s 2 heads OF Fenuses, cupids playing hide
sfg 3d-seek, cupids in all the vagaries and
~ ~rieties Of o bacchanalian revel. OF course
ere are nude women On this vase. II
puld not be the work of a Frenchman
'E there ware not. Venuses are every.
here, aud such Venusesl One is prepared
believe h story that Dore ransacked
RS for his models, and the wonder Is
he found them, even at hat. Two
sAliSlres, TO my mind, form together the
zee de resistance of thework. Stretched
Ill Mt full length, her back following the
srveo OF the vase ct it's thickest part, lies
~ glorious Venus. Her arms are extended
npve her head as far as she can reach. In
Ssfllsslr hands she holds a chalice, and into
Is from his perch above a sweet little
pid is squeezing the juice from q bunch
luscious grapes. 1t is a figure to be
A,gsn, and to be seen again and again.
HH have not seriously attempted a de-
Upton Of this noble work Of art, for it is
describable. If / were to write of all the
ures, of all the groupings, of all the
4cies so skillfully worked out by the
j pat artist, | should need more time and
\ lice than are at my command. know
/ fiBn who are SO much in love with this
\ g that they go three or four times a
rp xek to see 1t. They escort their friends
Il a view OF it, they sing it's praises in and
y; OF season. Every time they stand by
& side they see some new beauty in the
I u azing cluster OF figures with which IL is
T. 4 cred. It must be indeed q great work
III, 4 aft that is able to inspire this enthusi-
tic worship.
while thus idealizing wine Dore was
4 list enough not to forget its sting. A
1 {sgie venomous serpent, near the base of
creation, is seen insidiously crawling
1a long the jewellers toward the summit of
= fairy landscape. With this gentle
expressive touch-without surfeit of
e ~steousness or brutalization-did the
q lat sculptor remind us that gay as NAV
1.-THE revel, Poguish and prankish the
4 ~sllers, beautiful and alluring the
4 tAinine devotees, rich in color and mad
abandon all the b~acchanalians. the
.a2Hx oent turks in the vine and will ulti-
Jelly victimize them all.
t3tS Is a remarkable thing that the man
" I'D created this, now one of the most ia
IEuls sculptors in the world, should have
ambition in another direction. Dore
3g sublime In modelling, but he wanted
Va fhaint in oil. Most of his artistic efforts
sNlsF ting the last years of his life were with
{t brush. 1t Is not given to man TO be a
LII genius in many lines, and Due's
lfs1 4 lures, while meritorious. never touched
tft3&f hight which he had reached 10 model
xif4F In his own field Of effort, the field in
lS3sRch he had gifts almost divine, the
was at his feet. Yet because the
SlsYih,d would not bow down ard wor-
49, III his caarascs-thls IS the story, and OF
{&EArse 1 do not know IL IL is true--he felt
{X5'q sting of defea. ii his greatest BUT
.3SFEVt AIKEN a1ebition, aid died of q broken
tsk WI.
&f&#t< n cast wss ever. made from the
tier moGlds for this vase, and no other
N<8 be made. This MASTERPIECE ia bronze
3r sale, and twenty thousand dollars ia
al 3price. Doubtless the heirs of the dead