Los Angeles herald., 1908-12-13

its own reward. I feel sure there is
a devoutly- believed fiction afoot that
the artist, after spending months or
years dancing attendance upon coy
or captious patron for nothing, retires
to his studio and, in the rapt contem-
plation of his unsold masterpieces, is
filled and comforted. Art for arts
sake, it is called and, believe me, 1t
is an absurd myth, at least in its vol
untary aspect.
Was No Rejection
treason for rejection? There. was
no reason and no rejection. 1 had
given my best professional advice and
help through many months; had heard
my two models praised; had prepared
three distinct pedestal designs and had
waited for about three years, only TO
learn at last, indirectly through the
press, that the award had gone out
a better model, but on no model at
all Why, even the architects design
for the pedestal which the committee
was reported to have accepted is not
the one now set up.
"Why did 1 make two models? Oh
I did that to enable the committee to
decide about the drapery, chiefly. Some
of the members were strongly IN favor
of showing the senator in the short
jacket-coat he so constantly wore. l
stood for the long senatorial rock
and on that the final decision fell; but
I gave them concrete illustration to
assist their choice-not only in the
matter of the coat but also of pose and
of age; there was some diversity of
opinion as to whether the portrait
should be right up to date with beard
somewhat cropped or at an earlier
age with beard more full and long.
Boost Home Products
But, as 1 said before. the thing is
done and cannot be mended. never
assumed to have any 'cinch' on the
business. and had the committee not
so freely used my time and services
without recompense, and assured me
so distinctly that only better model
would turn me down-then l don
know that there would be anything to
remark, in view of the way these
awards generally go. Why, do you
know, only recently l received from the
east an invitation to compete with
model for an elaborate monument, the
receiving date for the model being set
only three weeks ahead. AS Transports
ton alone of the model-had 1t been
already made-would have taken about
that time, just replied, thanking the
committee for sending the invitation as
"a matter of form
"I imagine that much OF the gossip
about this matter has arisen, nrStly
out of the fact that during the last few
wears there has been raised somewhat
of a cry-perhaps overmuch cry for the
poor show of wool gathered-for the
announcement of local art; and, sec
ondly, out of the juxtaposition or coin
cidence Of prosperity week, with Its
concomitant cry of "buy and boost
home products" and the installing of
the statue.
Local Notwithstanding
81 hear that someone was writing to
the papers asking why statues, too.
should not be bought at home. And
in speaking of this I recall something
that is a bit remarkable: In the early
DAYS of this affair 1t was limited to me
in committee that the sculptor who got
the contract would be expected to
patronize the local market for his
masonry, This, of course, throws into
more startling relief the fact that when
it suited some one-or some ones-to
put the whole thing outside, then civic
loyalty could take vacation.
"Of course l lost every Way-tlme,
labor and expectation; but my most
concrete loss was the bust order with
which the whole thing started. When
within a few hours the scheme de-
Veloped into a full-length statue pro
iect. my bust order, of course, vanished.
But don't imagine there is anything
passing strange or unusual about the
way the Stephen White statue went,
because there is not. That is why L
seldom enter competitions"