The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-02-28

why. why are our great city
street crossings and public squares
SO d~isfigured? have been propounded
80 frequently that patriots can now
no longer reply in calmness. We
have explained until we are tired that
these board fences. huge dcrricks and
piles Of sand are there in the central
places of the city because of great
public improvements that are under
way.
The foreigners who have been here
before come back with: Blu 1t was
always so, twenty years ago 1t was
40. and the joke that perhaps
New York will he fine when II IL fin
ished' is at least forty years old, YOU
Know you like rubbish 'hcaps and
tearing down and building up again.
You'd rather build an ugly new build
ing any day than take steps to pre-
serve a fine old one"
This We stoutly deny of course. hut
as discretion is at all times cheaper
than valor, We endeavor to steer these
critics away from a glimpse Of City
Hall Park, Union Square, Thirty
fourth street and Sixth avenue and
other neighborhoods that theoretically
ought to be the city's pride but which
now. alas, are difficult to explain to
visiting Englishmen.
1t is difficult to explain even to
ourselves why we continually upset
and destroy the public breathing
places. In European capitals great
public improvements are also under
taken, but something fine and con-
unlatnrxs to alt..a.Dy lae, - thA ag,,,n,.
and sightseers. Here the alarming
tendency of Indifference to city Rs-
thetics has grown to such proportions
that the chance for effective work
upon the part Of sculptors is almost
nil. h City Hall Park at a still
recollectable date was q place of
charm, and n we'll known artist of
twenty years ago said after a return
from a trip abroad that nothing that
he had seen in the way of foreign
squares pleased him more than our
Madison Square. The trees In these
parks then received more sunlight
and were not so sickly as they are
now. but the important thing was
the agreeable sky line one obtained
from these open places.
Sky lines in New York are no
longer obtainable. One must go to
Jersey or Brooklyn TO get them. The
towers around our once pretty parks
are so lofty that one cannot get far
nough away from them to see them
properly. To decorate these places eff
fectively with sculpture is now i'm
possible. To decorate a place. hat
place must have an assurance OF per-
manence. Decoration lies entirely in
relationship. If YOU relate n object
to a place one day and then destroy
tho place the next day the object has
lost its function.
Nathan Hale. by M~acmonnies. has not
decorated City Hall Park for some
time past. The F%'arragut. by Saint eau
dcns, in Madison Square seems so much
closer to the clifflike buildings oppo-
site because Of their Overwhelming
height that one-third of its value as
a work OF art has gone. Instructed
people know the work TO he good. but
the masses pass it by as the setting no
longer makes il effective. Both Lafa-
yette and George Washington in Union
Square must wonder why they are
there, their outlooks at present are so
purely mechanical.
The derricks and piles OF sand due
10 the new subway and the new aque-
uct must be suffered. Everybody
sighs for more suhways, so We must
pay the price for them. In regard to
the sky line. however. II really seems
that the time has arrived when some-
thing may be done.
Artists alone in such matters are
powerleSs, but the concern OF tho great
real estate interests has been touched
by the great slumps in values in Ger
ain sections of the town and they arc
now in a mood to listen to tho practi-
cality OF municipal artistic control Of
public places, great pubic terminals
and finally control of the architecture
at important street crossings. The
subject is recommended TO the Archie
tectural League and to the National
Sculpture Society as one that deserves
renewed study. That something has
already been lone by these societies
IS OF course vel known.
This uncertainty as to environment
10 al the back of many Of the errors in
scale that are always go hotly dis
cussed when architects and sculptors
meet. 1t is indeed difficult to draw To
scale with the uncertainties Of a New
York site always tempting one TO
hedge.
Considerable in the way OF sculpture
mas been placed during this year. bur
nothing that has been done causes the
people 10 sing aloud in the streets for
JOY nor the poets 10 rhapsodize in
Alexandrines. The second Barnard
pediment upon the Public Library is
better than the first one certainly. but
ii is not likely to add 10 the sculptor's
reputation. Both are too large for tho
places they hll. The Macmonnies
figures on either side OF the main door
of the library are open to the same
criticism, but they are models tenn
porarily set in place and will be doubt
less altered later.
The Saint Gaudens sherman has
marched again this winter. as our
amusing photograph shows. II is
printed not because +; points a moral
but bccausc it adorns the tai" The
great new white fountain in the space
before the Plaza Hotel j. not vet fin
ishcd, but ALREADY the Tread word
against II. II does seem huge. and
the Vanderbilt residence suddenly
seems small in proportion.
b.. Speaking of sculptures VicisSitudes
Q trio of sculptors not long ago were
Mortified to see some incNpNrt work
men calmly chipping away with their
chisels upon the stOne base Of Saint
GaudpnS'S EaIragut IN Madison