The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-01-06
SCULPTOR TAFT A
 DEBT AND WONDER WORKER IN PLASTIC.
NOTED MARBLE WORKER GIVES ENTERTAINING LECTURE BE-
 FORE ART LEAGUE.
STRATFIELD BALL ROOM TRANS FORMED INTO VERITABLE
 STUDIO.

Entering the ballroom, of the Ssrat-
 field hotel at about o'clock yestercayl
 afternoon. ones ear was Immediately \ attracted toward the front of the hall | by an unusual sound as of the tem- bling about of heavy articles. Unusual i too, was the scene. A number of large,
 black, mysterious looking boxes were, | being shifted about in a hurry, some
 half opened, others being opened,
 while on the top of one stood huge
 forbid ding looking human skull Sev. l eral other figures, mostly gigantic
 heads, also stood about. A casual v1s- i itor might have paused excitedly,
 thinking perhaps that the oft sought
 treasure of Captain Kidd had at last
 been found.
 1 To those assembled there yesterday.
 however, this scene, which so readily
 excited the imagination-m merely meant
 that Professor Laredo Taft, one of the
 most renowned of living scu1ptors. wac
 to give his illustrated lecture, A
 Glimpse of the Scu1ptor's Studio,'' be-
 fore the Bridgeport Art League. Unfortunately, the. professors para
 phernalia for the lecture had been de-
 1ayedz in transportation but the .au-
 dienee was especially considerate. aild
 spent the half hour of waiting in
 pleasant conversation.
 They were. Indeed, well repaid. for
 the Professor proved to be an exceed
 ingly interesting speaker who possess i ed besides the quality of holding his
 audience, The ability to amuse them
 as well. Many were the peals of
 laughter as he transformed with his
 delft fingers, a piece of clay necktie in ] to a nose or some superdous hair into i ears
 He began his lecture by saying that
 most people do not have oppor- | tunity for visiting studio and seeing
 the work in the making.
 | The sculptor, of course, has his
 dream but a great deal of time and
 hard work must e1apse before it's con-
 ception.
 l He does not, as the poets tell, imme-
 diately take up his chisel and hew out
 the wonderful figures. Marble is too
 costly a thing with which to experi- ment and so all his modelling is done
 with ordinary clay. the same with which the unpoetical brick is made He is continually groping for some
 thing, some expression, or position. al ways something. His is perhaps the ,irs. are really piaying in mud all their One thing he must know. that is the hNman body. This he must study and become thoroughly acquainted with and particularly the human counten- ance with it's varying expressions. This illustrated by the huge. papiera mache skull mentioned before and by a mask showing the various
 muscles of the face. Professor Tafr pointed out each of these and describ- ed their Wses for expressing pain, joy, sorrow, surprise and all the different emotions. A thorough knowledge of all these and of their functions is absolutely essential to the sculptor. His work is different from the pom and ink or water color artist who only depicts light. fantastica1 things. different, too, from that of the oil
 painter which deals with deeper sub- jects, for his work is in marble, it must be massive, unbreakab1e, for above all, it bears hint of eternity. For this reason the sculptor should seek to portray the grave, the ma ljestical, and the dignifed. Scu1ptors aim to work in planes. This was the secret of the power of the Greeks in this line.
 The tools required for the modelling
 are simple enough-a short p1iable
 box wood stick with triangular
 piece of wire affixed at one end, an other piece of common wire, pair of wonderful hands and a perfect ge-
 was made by the writer, not the. llecturer).
 Professor Taffs first demonstration was the modelling from life of the head of his assistant, MT. CruneIle, and many were the exclamations of
 astonishment from the audience as the figure grew more and more like
 the original
 Next the clay features of 8 beauti- full princess were transformed from an expression of -hauteur to that of laughter, sorrow. pain, and finally to an old, old woman who had lost her teeth and who was at first sorrowful
 then jolly and finally "a woman of character with g. very much astound- ed countenance, indeed.
 It fa 0ino +a Ls,
 he deftly removed a piece. from the nose with the wire and made it a pug or as he puffed out the. eye1ids, raised the eyebrows, caused the cheeks to sink in. or furrowed the wrinkles of old age, or of care and sorrow in the yielding clay.
 Next came a demonstration of the making of the plaster cast from the clay model. And this was described at length.
 The beginning of a statue was then shown. The little clay model was moulded over wires and a number of possible attitudes suggested.
 In early days of art. figures were made perfectly rigid. Gradually the right arm was raised and then after perhaps, centuries of development a figure was moulded stepping off with the left foot. This marked a new era in the history of art.
 After the figure has been nodded CO1AeS L11S 1Ldh4HS OI the plaster cast and then the chiseling of the marble. This is all done by a system of meas urement by points and by little borings which mark just how deep the scuIp- tor may cut.
 While Professor Taft had been talk ing, his assistant, MT Lenard Cru nelle, had transformed the head which had first been modelled of himself, in- to exquisite head of a young girl, which brought much applause from the audience. When the young man modestly retreated from the lecture room, Professor Taft told how once when he was featuring in western city a school teacher came to him and told him of young French boy who was working in coal mine but whose l