The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-06-09
AT TIE GATES or THE PARK
Some Views on Their Relations to Public
Monuments. the Dewey Arch In Particular.

Some Views on Their Relations to Public
Monuments. the Dewey Arch In Particular.
To THE EpIrou or THE suS-Sir: The new
rule If the Park Board regulating sculptures rs
adjuncts to buildings. bridges or viaducts. ex-
cepting statues Of great artistic and national
importance which may be placed In small parks
OF at the intersections Of streets are excellent
in restrictive quality. and no doubt after
the Art Commission adjusts itself to conditions.
will prove a great benefit. Another one OF the
rules Is that no memorial or statue OF wha,so-
ever artistic value shall be interjected into a
landscape to which 1t cannot be made TO add
value OF accentuation or suggestion OF purpose
This rule has already had the moral support
of a strong protest against placing the Sherman
monument, which doubtless In itself will be a
thing Of beauty, in the Mall. to the detriment
and distraction OF its peaceful charm. creating
thus a precedent OF much preventive and
preserva,ive force.
Another of these rul s provides that II con-
demned by the Art Commission any one OF the
statues not placed in conformity Herewith may
be removed.
Much has been said from time to time In the
press. in circles interested In art. and elsewhere.
about the removal OF Objectionable sculpture.
In fact at one time the Park Board secured a
committee OF sculptors, with the venerable
dean of them all at It's head. to make a report.
Snsaa s' nnd 1 Seriously snGyS doubt Ss L Fs tSis s sss sieq
will witness the removal OF the unsightliest OF
the most Objectionable.
Of his masterpieces. the Scott or the Burns.
we're condemned, II would be construed as, a re-
Election on the taste Of the Queen OF Englapd.
who knighted the sturdy Scottish sculptor be-
cause OF his genius. In order. Therefore 70
avoid international unpleasantness the incident
| may. for the present, be looked upon as closed.
As 70 the Others. the sculptors are living. most
| Of them with connections in various directions.
which would make the condemnation OF their
statues embarrassing for the omcia! con,
| nowhere In particular. they are safe, for II they
| should suffer condemnation. an uninitiated pub
lie would ask. why not also SO and soy .J.
turn that dangerous form Of energy into a
preventive rather than a destructive force.
upholding the hands OF the Art Commission IN
| dim, without fear Of persons, or consideration
of professional ethics. the breaker OF bad
images may become through indireceon the
A tentative rel ort on ."Nomencature Of
| Gates OF the tCentral) Park made by Andrew
II. Green as far back as 1852, is extremely s9So
sculptor's art. and as arording places for con-
tribnted memorials In which they may, serve as
desirable means to a definite end rather than
an embarrassing incongruity in midst OF scenic
| beauty.
Eighteen OF the twenty names suggested By
Mr. Green were given an 10 t mi. sntsanSeS' i"oor
That some, of the Park commissioners. some
of the time. have known OF these names and re-
sarded them Is ey y Cent, 0y ,b sne sn ,aea maj ~ the
Scholars Gate. at Fifth avenue. and the statue OF
| Thorwaldsen, at the Artists Gate, at Sixth ave-
nue., both on Fifty-ninth street, i was an nn.
| OF the fact of the names which found fitness In
placing the Columbus monument at the Mel
sHsnue. 'e con;s ID rntyehl, latitude i'9 may 1 be adm1issi.
bic. II this desirable place Tor monuments Is 10
retain its present name. for the people are not
such They w make highly respectable and use
full members of communities. but they neither
produce nor create. and as the Legitimate END
are successful they have their reward; Column;
bus gave the world a hemisphere and the world
gave him a prison. He set out to find a new
road TO the Indies for the merchants. and he
found a new world for the old one to push over
into and make u new. thing. a man not born TO
look up nor down. His monument will serve
There is though at Eighty-ffth street and
Eighth avenue a Mariners Gate or entrance.
which might be made a gate In reality II the
ject Of the Naval Arch should be turned to the
filter uses of a Mariners gate. l make the sug-
gestion 10 Col Church with, a belief tina, the
their C ntributions DETECTED TO this purpose in
which beauty and use may unite In a form less
exotic Than that OF the arch. evolved from the
gate o. a walled city and isolated. Seven years
for n soldiers and sailors monument and In
that time II has shifted seven times. Through
efforts to NJ a design TO a site and a site to a
design and now in the projected form OF q great
heather temple II IA waiting for permission
from n court TO settle down.
At the north end of the Park the egress into
the continuation Of Seventh. avenue. thence
10 the river. $50 feet wide and lined on either
side with trees. marks the place for the War
riors' Gate In which this unfortunately manag-
ed project Of the soldiers and sailors. memorial
might find expression. pregnant. pertinent. In
keeping with its Incompatible theme.
Amos all OF these names OF gates suggest
themes and forms for sculptors and architects
which may grow entirely out OF conditions
peculiar 10 them into an art expression quite
indigenous. Not an emasculated and pervert-
ed reproduction OF an Arch Of Titus. or a
Temple OF Vesta borrowed clumsily for a pur-
pose II cannot serve.
would suggest a change In the names OF
some Of these gates so that the kinds of human
energy and aspiration the race has always be-
lieved in concentrating and memorializ. ng
shall be more .e9ulfably distributed, The
Scholars Gate. for example. Ia meant to in
lawyer, the author. the editor. the teacher, the
doctor, the scientist: about half. in fact. OF the
walks in which men have done something to lift
the race out OF and beyond the channels OF
trade into the luminous sphere OF thought and
inspiration.
PARK. Andrew II, Green. has done for New
York. We have been fortunate In having In
one public-spirited man the imagination of a
poet and the iron hand Of the man Of affairs,
thought and action. which SO seldom 20 TO-
gether. WILLIAM RUDOLF ODoNovAN.