The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1901-01-11
NACNIFI CEN|CE IN
ART Is REVEALED
Something About the Plans of Pan
American Exposition
NOBILITY IN SCULPTURE
Never Has Such Work Been Under
taken Upon So Elaborate a
Scalc-M ions
Expended.
N 0BILITY IN SCULPTURE


stantlv at work for mouths past upon
the buildings and grounds Oh the s'eae
Pan-American Exposition at bl'liaio
Everything will be in applique order 'or
the biggest housc-warmins on record next
May.
m. encouragement and style of build
ings adopted for the Pan--N'iitl'ct''' 70
posjtion conduces greatly to the ciisc'iNe-
ness of sculptural adornment. me ~
position has been planned SO as 10 piih5
tho buildings of the main group INTO d
most admirable composition about tWf
great interesting courts, the Espf''i'ee
and the Court of Fountains ms GIVES
q very imposing appearance ana also MI
listers to the comfort of the Nisitoi, W.
can thus reach the princlpai o"ii"'"s
without becoming exhausted ~ ~,
walks between different p"i's "
grounds 70 be sure, there are .'ot'.e -.
portart buildings which do not lace upol
these courts, such as the ~ $500
the New York State Duiicihs' "i'iSr -
l,sarti.ul,v ensconced amid the trees Oh
Dela ware Park. and the State and For
oicn buildings, which are IN the sou.n-
eastern part OF the grounds, but feaohN
accessible from the part of the transverse
corr. called the Espanade, ana Which
have themselves been placed III an 90
niraLle composition about a cehlf''i
court.
THE ELECTRIC TOWER.
The Electric Tower divides the Court
Of Fountains from the fiaza, so liia' t!'
latter is really a continuation Oh tile !iiaiH
court, and upon the Plaza front the elano-
rately decorated buildings "hlcii loi III '1is
entrance TO the Midway and STADIUM
and the ornamental approach from the
railway station called the Propyiae',
II all the sculpture now completed VI
,,rder va,- fo1. the decoration of the build
ines and grounds % The Pan-Alnerlc:ll L.
position We're to be grouped IN one p''le'
+ rn,,ta make an exceeding imposing as
serr7l}fasa. Never before were such Ell
forts made to beautiiy an eNpoSiliol pS
SCULPTURE Never before has such "oif
been undertaken upon so elaborate Il
scale as has been planned lof lle eA'oSt-
tion which is to celebrate aud perpetuate
,ba CHASER union of the countries OF the
Western Hemisphere Never before was
ca laborate harmonious and poetic d
scheme adopted for unifying the IDEAS
and interpreting the genius OF the great
est exponents of this branch OF art
Half y million dollars is being expended
in the creation OF these forms or beauty.
But its aesthetic value is not to be meas
ured by the dollar sign. Inc TACT thil
practically all the noted scuiptofs or me
American continent are engaged III 'he
production of this work shows what an
i,,nortant achievement in art it is des-
tined TO be.
BEAUTIES OF ART.
Now that the exposition structures are
LOT
that so much of the scuptured work has
been done and forwarded to Buffalo, the
magnitude OF it and the nobility OF the
whole sculptural plan of the exposition
begins to be revealed. The fitness OF
these works of art for the adornment OIL
the outward framework and setting OF
the exposition begins to be more fully
realized.
There is a difference between monu-
mental sculpture and exposition sculpture.
To the latter is allowed much greater
latitude i'll the treatment OF allesorlcai
figures. It is capable Of much more
fanciful treatment. and may be made
10 add life and interest and poetry to
buildings and structures whose purpose
might seem almost wholly prC>alc. me
idea of categorical use of sculpture tor
the adornrnent of buildings and grounds
will be carried out more fully and elabo-
ratelv at the PsnAmerican than at any
previous exposition Il is Mr. Bitter :
desire that the purposes of the buildings
and their contents shall give character
to their sculptural adornments- And as
have said. the grouping of the prnclpal
buildings about the transverse court IS
especially favorable to the carrying out
of such a plan.
DOMINANT IDEA.
Each building and each group of build
iuaS possesses some dominant idea.
Those to the left of the Triumphal Bridge
and the Esplanade contain in measure
examples Of the natural resources-for-
cstry, mining, and Observation-Disclosures
tive of the American continent-What
Nature can do with or Without the AID
OF man-and the sculpture in and about
the fountains and courts and buildings
Of this portion Of the grounds is symbolic
in some form of these ideas. To the
right Of the Esplanade are the United
States Government group of three con-
nected buildings, illustrating political
institutions, and the Ethnology Building,
illustrating mans history, and having
sculpture portraying the different ethnic
types Man and his history and institu-
ticns are the ideas predominating in this
group, and they are interpreted in the
sculpture.
Beyond these groups, on either side OF
the Court of Fountains, the various build
ings afford subjects for illustrations in the
sculpture of this court. And at the end
of the vista stands the lofty Electric
Tower. emphasizing the all-pervastve
influence of the elements, the mysterious
force of electricity, and the power Of the
great waters the vast inland seas and
rushing rivers which separate the United
States and Canada, and furnish the means
for the great commercial and industrial
progress of which the whole Niagara
frontier is a witness. The latter ideas
will be interpreted quite deliberately in the
sculpture of the Electric Tower.