New-York tribune., 1897-10-11
THE GREAT MONUMENT FOR THE PLAZA
! NOT VIEW or GETTYsBURG BIT EXPERT AND
ARTISTIC ADVICE. NEEDED TO AID
.OMiifSSIO\
To the Editor of The Tribune.

To The Editor of The Tribune
Sir: il is announced In the newspapers that the
Mayor and the members OF the Soldiers and Sail
ors' Monument Commission have gone to visit the
Gettysburg battlefield. to examine the various
monuments there ia order ,hat they may more in
;eIlseuly select one of the seven models recently
subm!itc IN competition for THIS one. be erected
In the Flf:y-iiuth-si. Plaza In ih.s city.
Il certainty j. not strange that they should have
difficulty in the selection and feel some reluctance In
deciding SO important a matter without experience
ana without professional advice. Few business
men. however astute would ;rus; 10 their unaided
judgment In investing like sum G2jo."oj on pict-
uies iof q museum, ana fewer Ill would 40 with
equal masnidc lmyoy,re p"rel% technica dSta.
OF law. ia neither case would any equivalent for
the expert advice b, thought Of
We thnk tnai the visit To Gctiysouig m'snt "eI
have been exchanged fOr uu aOui conference
with "a scholarly architect and sculptor trained
less in American battlefield memorials than In
architecture and sculpture hnc arts. and capable
Of Of recosnzi"g and applying the criierin OF arr to
WI! ne Gettysburg field afford a suitable model
monuments built by the various state" VIII
hardly equal the standards Of New-York monu-
mental work. which j. c0nfcsscdy poor enough
This criterion would tend to make the Commission
favor the poorer OF the models sHnmitted M bnt
the comparison mus. be OF dNerenc" rather
than Likeness; for the monuments on the heid
are Of course built In the open country TO hc seen
from distance in the largencSs or nature. WIN
which they must HARMONIC. while attracting the
visitor 10 var.ous parts Of The ned. They mus,
for this purpose j. as large as possible for the
moncy-truly American in ths-but entirely az
fcrcn: in conception. scale and feeling from The
refined and olega .; monument which a great citr
eIects in a finished and limited square
In aVailing Itself Of It's experience on me H'i
the Commission must thus carefully tfanspose al
the terms Of this experience from Ike TO unlike
in comparing and judging the models oi IN" monu-
ment TO be built under such different conditions.
II must also be 1cembered as an elementary con
sidera ion that the battlefield monuments are
made as imposing pDssihl" for the money 10
str the III, mOry and patriotism or casual ana I'M
critical visitors: but monument In so consWcuouS
a place in a great city mus. not Only rrCdd inc
memories and patriotism TO he SURVIVORS ana
their friends, but also 10 public growing NOR,
apprecative Of AIT year by year. Ir ihs regard
likely to m!slead rather than aid the work OF the
Commission. ,.
The monument when erected Will be n tribute or
patriotisr1 raised The defenders OF the Union ny
a grateful city. 4 Will be also an exact and lasting
Indication Of the ability and judgment % n"
commissioners which have It's erection in charge.
Riut In "A perod of trlnsition and SLOWLY growing
public taste II viii stand far into the period "nen
people generally will mature their taste and jude-
ment by the more refined examples of prvai"
architecture. Among public monuments We nope
II may be the first OF the good ana not the last or
the bad If II must he the latter We trust II may
he the very last treated IN this way.
Nothing in literature ~ Symonds says II I'M
nerishable but high thong A. to when art hAs
communicated the ndcstructhle fern OF h"antN
Nothing In architecture. We may add, is worthF
-, ss,nnd,ng hut in, truly monumental conoeplon
y. All OF the conditions % the particular problem
"a which art has communicated the indestrncioe
form Of beauty. 'iii%i'-'
VOrk