The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-11-30
BRIEF APPROPRIATIONS OF SOME
AMERICAN SCULPTORS.
I.-Aueustus sa,nt.(;sude ems.

To say that Augustus Saint -Gaudens has
frankly accepted facts and made them
| Yield their underlying Significance would
inedeQuately explain his preaminence 1t is
| the largoness ~ the facts and the corre-
| spending impressiveness Of their signifi-
| canoe and his own ability to grasp the one
| and interpret the other which constitute
his greatness "a an artist. The pan
| Of American civilization IL az his hack
| and, as In the case Of one Of his own low
| relief portraits, his work has grown out Of
IL in harmony with the background The
| condi, ions in America have demanded
that his work should be largely Of a memo
| rial character: monuments to those who are
honored in public or mourned in private.
| and in both directions his ACHE yements
have placed him in the foremost rank 81
modern sculptors
II Won visite Ell the Paris Exposition Of 1900,
YOU will have realized this and, probably
OWNED the special qualities in his work
which render II distinguished. What a
bewilderment Of forms that display Of sculp-
ture presented! In every direct ion white
jungle Of contortion! II needed some PEI
culiar impressiveness apart from mere
size for a statue TO declare itself. Ye, Saint
Gaudsns's equestrian statue 81 Gen. Sher-
man and his Shaw memorial unqIestion-
ably did. five can discover why. we shall
be Apr ,aching an intimacy with his mo-
tiveand at vie that may lead TO a just appre-
citation Of his work
| Many groups. by mere predominancs OF
height. lifted themselves above the gem
eral level. but. speaking for myself, only
two with elevation Of impressiveness-
| nrlsca'a Uaa ~ Aros a,I Cal int 40 ~,
Seen. Sherman both equcst rian statues,
monumental in design, full Of decorative
dignity, vet 40 different in character The
former, noble in every particular had a
choice propriety of feeling that separated
it by an ocean Of motive from tho freer
spirit Of the other. They differed as might
a descendant Of a long line Of aristocrats
from one Of natures gent lemen The Joan
l. lineally related to Verrocchio's 'Colleoni 9
the sherman" OF distant collate ral descent
modified by a larger environment and a
fresher inspiration.
Then. again. among the memorable ex-
hibits was Bartholome's Monument 70
the Dead fire. gment of his great work In
| 'Pere Lachaise ] found myself. as many
must have done. comparing it with Saint
| Gaudenss memorial In the Rock Creek
Cemetery, near Washington. In both there
Is a marked departure form the classi c
| model, a striving after naturalist ic treat
ment and the expression of profound emo
ton; yet the Frenchman betrays some in
6uence of the classic tradition. especially
in the Use Of nude figures, while the single
figure in the Others work is dra ped and pre-
sented with an int imacy and iinmeCiatcness
| OF appeal, that Is AT the sane time more
| naturaliStic and more affecting
| So may we not deduce from these COMPARE
socs one quality inherent in Saint -Gauden- 6
work. that OF daring To te free from con-
ventiopal restraint; or, perhaps. IT would
be truer to say, the daring TO adapt with
a freedom. only limited by his sense Of
artistic fitness. the traditions which he
imt lied in his Partisan training. Son
Of French father and Of ar Irish mother,
brought early 10 this country. he has drawn
the inspiration OF his art unreser vedly from
American conditions; responding with most
lively immediateness to the peculiar genius
of his environment Surely. a very great
gift Of sensitive affinity. the sort Of one
that We associate with the, convenient
summary, The Man and the Hour"
| On the other hand. if We try To analyze
the means by which he has wrought out
his freedom, we shall find that they are in
no sense revolutionary For example.
he does not go so far as Rodin in the latter s
disregard Of symmetry In composition.
His means are the time honored ones:
monumental largenees of feeling in the
composition and an instructive sense Of
what Is decorative in line and mass; "a
| reverence for the character in man ard nm
Imagination which can picture and sug-
gas' the individual in relation TO the issues
| OF his time; moreover, a capacity of emo
tionai expression that has the added poig-
nancy OF compression and reserve. Out
| OF the balanced union of these several
qualities. eerf reed continually by the
grandeur of the themes embodied. arises
gravity II distinction which rcpresar =
the finest kind Of stvle. In that smaller kind
which Is limited to the actual technique of
| the modelling il would 10 possible To mem
ton other sculptors who excel Saint eau
dens, but in those QUALITIES Of larger sig
nificance, where brain and sensibitv CO.
operate with hand for really creative.
poetic ends. he has no superior
Let Va trace this gift Of idealizing as il
appears in several of his works, select ed
because they represent a descending scale
from the purely ideal TO the idealized fact
And first the statue of Grief" in the Rock
Creek Cemetery. Within the little incos-
ure of solemn greenery bench, marble
and of Greek design. invites TO sit the
world is all outside and here before US
raised upon slight pedestal. enough TO
lift il above the level. but not too high for
Close and intimate communion. il the Pres
ence: woman's seated figure. wrapped
about i'll coarse drapery that shrouds her
head and falls IN long. loose, heavy folds
to her feet We have heard the story-that
"a husband. robbed of his wife with shocking
| suudehness, calico upon the sculptor to
express in plastic shape the void in his life.
enjoining him 10 IL ere all symbols Of hope
and to give utterance only to the con-
Stunning hopelessness Of loss, And here
before us in the isolation of the figure in
the incorporating sternness Of the dra-
perry III the majestic agony Of the face
the eyelids lowered In pain. the lips full and
set in the Ell, RI Of endurance and also in a
protest as proud a. 1t is Departing there
IL expressed IA universally of grief that
sums up the sorrow of the modern world
| a. well as the eternal question of the why
| and to what end. Under the spell Of it a
| wife and husband sit on into the golden
afternoon. chastened. purified. elevated
| drawn closer TO each other by the Pealiza, ion
Of the mystery of grief, and with renewed
sense Of the sanctity Of happiness ere the
shadow falls. Here indeed is an idealiza-
| ton. complete and absolute; no helping out
with wings and symbols but the rendering
| Of a simple. natural fact woman in grief
yet with such deep and embracing compre-
hension that the individual is magnified
into a type, the emotional appeal is uni
versal.
In this statue the sculptor could give
free reins to his Imagination. Observe
In the Shaw memorial how he meets the
problem of an actual fact of history; the
youthful lender riding forth to war with
his marching regiment Of negroes. What
boundless zes he displays for the realism
/ ~ "a L., a.,