The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1913-01-05

fiouSly draped figures, the half shape
less forms of damp clay and the deft-
fingered students in their long, earth
stained aprons. AT once it is felt that
here is the quiet of thought, of work,
OF realization; it is restful and quite
the natural setting for the tall, gray
eyed man who is the animating genius
of this little domain.
AT first glance one knows that Mr..
Iaft is a thinker; a stranger would
guess him to be a scholar or literary
ma rather than a sculptor, for there
Is that implicitly of manner, that poise
which one i~nstinctively associates with
the higher intellectual pursuits, n
there are none of those bizarre ear
marks OF Bohemia, the long hair, the
flowing tie, the untidy disregard for
dress with which the public has grown
to identify the artistic profession.
One is Immediately attracted by the
frank gray eyes, quite friendly in their
gaze and with q fleet nS light of
laughter. AS he talks one sees that his
hair ana beard are turning gray, that
the high brow has arching ines upon
it, and that the mouth, though par
tally concealed by the beard, is SEN
sitiVe, grave in repose, but quick to
smile. 1t is the mobile face of a
dreamer, a poet, cloudinS at times
with q shadow of brooding, sad per-
haps. but never morbid. and at times
lighting with the JOY of youth, free
from cynicism or distrust. In the pres
encc of this MAJ anything artificial
*. 49, ,-.. n.-l r-,.,++fDr, t1, ftpo
fame Of the man, one only is conscious
of Il fine personality, one that has
tasted deeply of the passions OF the
human heart, yet smiles with no menu
DRY Of bitterness. Mr.. Taft is essen
TALLY sane and healthy in his outlook
on life, and one cannot imagine his
swing expression to any of the cryptic
conceptions which MAJ a subjective art
with their erotic distortions.
From all this it will be judged that
Mr.. Taft is an idealist; he is, but his
feet are firmly planted on the same
earth we workAlay mortals thread,
and his language is such as is intel
ligent to those whose thought is of
commerce rather than art. Indeed, one
feels that Mr.. Taft's enthusiasm en-
braces many other aspects of life than
those in his particular art, and just
because this is true he touches us as
no other sculptor of the day has done.
This is the splendid achievement of
the man. Through the disguise of a
material age he has grasped all but
unconscious spiritual life and has eX-
pressed for us those vague emotions
which sometimes stir dumbly within
us; he has stripped away the artificial
con]trivances of our hands and has re-
vealed to us that in spite Of our appar-
ent Indifference, our contcntment, our
pre-occupation, there IS something we
yearn for, something We seek, how
ever blind!y. The great wonder of Mr..
Taft's success is that he has touched
us 50 poignantly through 50 objective
and unresponsive a medium as marble.
Music, poetry, the drama, painting, all
these stir us more or less c~motionally
to Il keen consciousness that the life
of the flesh is not the true life, but
it has remained for Mr.. Taft to speak
so intimately through a piece of cold,
white stone.
Perhaps better than anything else
in his Chicago studio two things, a
painting and q cast, express the ma
Iturc Of the mans spirit. The paint
ing is by his brother-:n-iaW, Charles
river valley at oregon, H., Mr.. Tafts
home. From the brow of a hill we
look past the deep black of ~silhouetted