The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-02-01
Meunier-Sculptor of Labor
by SAMUEL HOWE

CThe Meunier exhibition, recently shown
in Buffalo and Pittsburg, is now In New
York. 1t will soon go to Detroit. Chicago
and st. Louis. America is, indebted to
CorneliP B. Sage, director of the Albright
gallery. Buffalo. for bringing the exni-
bition of the Belgium sculptor's work to
this country)
Exclusive Service The Survey Press
Bureau)
In endeavoring to depict the life of the
laboring man of our times Meunier
struggled with several materials-challs,
color wax and clay. His distinction
rests In the main upon one worth while,
understandable monument which, while
rnodestly termed a monument to labor, is
In reality tribute to humanity and its
ebii!ty to endure
His Masterpiece
This piece 50 vividly illustrates the tri-
umphs and tragedies of daily labor that
even the most untutored people must un-
derstand. His four great panels ia high
relief and groups If detached figures are
not extravasint outlines of occasional but
of daily occurrences. They typify splen-
ddly four great adventures wherein man
is admirably and naturally working as a
child of nature. In the field is man
shown gathering the harvest; in the mine
picking coal: In the glass house husband
ing the heat Of the furnace and in the
dockyard carrying merchandise.
The intensity of Meunier's feeling his
ability to concentrate and to transmit TO
others is illustrated in the sccus IN the
g.ass house. i is obvious to tho IN, st
casual observer that the pogng of men
engaged Il tlis peculiar avocation WITS
practically an impossibi.i.y. They are
ov! !icntly caught on the fly extractiag ;he
broken r,elting pot from th, furnace. an
operation fiaught with danger - The
men as we'll as to the remaining crucibles,
holding the amalgamatlon of earths sill
icas and metallic oxides.
Meunier has caught the general move
ment. the excitement, the temper of the
occasion-an occasion which may happen
twice in "a hours or onN once in sea-
son. The melting pots used in glass
making are made of clay; they hold the
silica until II eats its way through the
thin side. Fer the breaking of the pot
there is no prearranged sign signal or
test-nothing but the cry of the fire.
man In the pit who, raking the clinkers,
finds glass running like water upon the
heap OF cinders or partly burned coal. or,
perchance, the prongs of his work may
betray the leak. To bank the fire, rush
up and sound the alarm is the work of
a few seconds Panic. may be the result.
"All handsr' is the cry.
Toilers' Qualities Revealed
The men vary in age. temper. dispos-
tion-all this the group reveals. They
have been brought to the work by the
hurry-up call. Some of the men are old.
Others are young. Both qualities are of
rare value this moment-the madcap
abandon of youth and the older. more
staid experience. Some have been called
from the clay bin where they have been
treading to extract the air bubbles, to To-
cate tiny pebbles. Just as they are. bare
footed, they have had to respond to the
call The temporary steel curtain of the
fire opening has been lifted and the fumes
strike the faces of every man deflantly.
In the cool depths of the mine Meunier
shows a different condition. He has con-
trived to show some of the miners working
in narrow channels. galleries, some of
<hem only 20 to so inches In depth, with