New-York tribune., 1910-05-08
J. Q. Il. WARD.
His Place IN the History Of 4me7-
nnn ScuInturc.

One of the finest things about the long ana
<i+fr, 1fe of the late John Quincy Adams
,.ror7 ,,.oc ire absolute unity. More tlan nan
a century ago when he entered the RANKS ol
the scr!ptors he founded his art on ShhpiiN1'S
and truth and from these virtues he h''e' |
p moment strayed. 1t is OF the SERIOUSNESS
dignity of his work that you 'iilnk hiS' %
recall the numerous monuments he Pio -
TIe col2ld use a light touch, to some eN''
he chose as witness the design he hu9
t., for tb. ton of the Dewey Arch, at tie
time of the great celebration III 1872 - -
ev+ra,,a1< vivacious and picturesque But II "
-. .,o+ ha then set among his plung-
80. t,os os his dominating figure, Tree
- -+a+io,, of the Victory of SamothFace' -
,e 1i1-o him to revert to such an heroic iii'uo
11tc Interest," was always in those sou'eiii' "
the grand style which have come "'N ,
from antiquity And yet, by tie som .o
he WAS no sentimental follower OF tho "N4
-rboro # WAS that he parted company Win
the American sculptors of his young n''''
the sculptors who took their inspiration i''
Greece via modern Rome, and, succuii"iHs
.bo tradition Of Canova, landed themselves ID
,,re+tincss and inspidity Ward was ciedi0i
aa He did not mistake the blend of clever
NESS and mediocrity which sought 10 laShloi
,tse1f on the antique for the antique ltseh 1o
I'D too keen an interest in nature for that 1t
,,-,e his ain, to make nature and art go hAhu III
bond # in the upshot. he lost something he
also gained much securing Il vitality IN MS
work which is by itself precious What ne ioS'
through his just reaction against the her'eie9a
style in vogue among tie contemporaries Vi
his formative period was sensitvenesS OF touch
fn the subtetes of modelling. Their technique
WAS thin and suavely specious- 1t is easy to
understand how man of Wards strongly
masculine temperament rebel1ed against the
rrner1cfaIly pleasing workmanship of the
pscudo-classcal revival. But in his dlstaste
for conventionalIy rounded limbs and Sweet
contours generally he lost sight of the fact
that beauty Of surface is an essential ingredient
OF great sculpture. II can be oVerdonc. HOW
empty modelling for its own sake may become
has been vividly shown in some OF the less
thoughtfully poEGerea productions OF Rodln.
But when that extremely uneven sculptor is at
his hest his spirit is that of the wonderful
Greek head from Chios, which has recently
been presented &c the Boston Museum, the
spirit which runs through al Of the best scupt-
ure OF antiquity and IS also to be discerned IN
the coinage Of Greece The masters of that
golden age generazed their subjects and fol-
loved an extraordinary ideal of simplicity, but
that ideal they proved to be compatible with
consummate meditation of surface In other
words ti,eir large conceI tlon of form was ac
eo1r21.sniee by a profound feeling fer the last
refinernaentS of modelling,
The truth is that these refnements Grc to be
neglected by the sculptor only at his peril, for
they are part and parcel Of the very language
that he speaks. Long ago it was pointed cut
that there is TO such thing an inaruculate
Uopt and that al arln!eSs painter is a contra
GIctIon in terms. A sculptor knowing nothing
of modelling is likewise unthinkabe, but, on
the other hand it is possible for q man to
pruGu..c many monument and still curiousy
ten,1c many of the possibilities of one Of the