New-York tribune., 1920-01-25
Soul ptllre by Helen Mears
And Paintings by Taos Society

ana IN the New York MacDowell Club
''ei marble statue Of Frances Willard
IS IN the Hall of Fame in the Carjtol
ashington; her monumental Adm
NahoaIl fountain. with the heroic
bronze figure of Adm Randall (Ceorpo
D. rose q Sons, collaborating ARCH
oectsl, was erected in 1914 at Eau Claire
WIS. Her bronze portrait relief Of the
ARTIST 5 mother is owned by the Madison
Art Association; her bronze bus,
OF General Rogers Clark is in the Mil
"aukee Public Library: her bronze
o"st OF DR. William 7 G.. Morton is in
'ne Smithsonian Institution in Wash
ington All OF the above works are
represented by casts or photorranhs IA
lew OF the latter in the present exhj-
olt4on, and other interesting and beau
tltui exhibits are originals of private
ownership or casts Of such pieces. The
most important exhibit, both as re.
CARDS dimensions and as REGARDS mon
umeHtaI composition. in the present ex
hlb'tlon is "The Fountain of Life
'henry Bacon, collaborating architect).
"Alch was awarded place of honor
and silver medal at the St. Louis Fx-
position. in 1909 height, 1929 inches:
"ldth, l'o' = inohes). This monument is
SHOWN IN cast and has never been ex-
ecuted Another fountain design is
Inc fountain of JOY" with central
Agure OF an infant Pan, which is
SHOWN IN the original bronze. There
are many remarkably beautiful
sketches. reliefs. statuettes and repro-
ductions of unexecuted monumental de-
signs. among which is the invited com
petition model for monument to Mary
Baker Eddy Henry Bacon. collaborat-
ing .architect
The genius OF Helen Fsrnswortb
Nears has been widely recognized by
the most distinguished critics. Her
designs were spontaneous. highly in
dependent and beautiful Her talent
4or monumental composition was ey
traordinary and her early death was
c'~S@ 'CoS 20 -1IUt!!CdN art
A the time Of her death most in
teresting Biographical notice was pub
lished in "The New York Sun from,
which the following extract is conied.
AS baby, before she spoke. She was
N the hab: Of biting her bread into
the form Of animals dogs, cats, horses
She modelled her doll babies out Of tar
and preserved them in dishes Of cold
water, while her paper dolls were such
excellent llAenesses OF her friends and
townsfolks as to be embarrassing when
Unexpectedly picked up When she
was about eight years old she modelled
out OF clay and baked in her mothers
kitchen oven & head Of Apollo. which
won prize at the county fair.
while still little girl at school
she designed in the woodshed Of her
home her Genius of Wisconsin,.
chosen by the Columbia Fair Commis-
sion 20 be erected a. the Worlds Fair
IN Chicago. This was before she had
studied a. al and while she was TOO
young TO sign a contract. The statue
nsnc feet in height. vas erected At the
Worlds FAIR and afterwsrd. much 10
her distress, It was put in marble. &C
cording 10 the contract"
81, won an independent prize Of soOo.
and with TINS money Miss Mears Wen,
to New York and entered the Art STU
dents League. During her first week
there Mr.. Saint-Gaudens promoted noe
from the antique class mo the sff,
class and took her into his private
j studio, where she began 20 work upon
his commissions Finally when MIR
Saint-Gaudens gave il "a his opinion
that there was absolutely 10 Limit 20
be SCI 20 Miss Mearss possible achieve
rent in sculpture, wealthy and dis
cernlng lady financed her three year
study n Europe, where she worked in
Paris with Puesch, Merson. Charpen
tier and Colan. and later Travelled i'm
Italy, working in the galleries there
under the direction Of Mr. saint-Gau-
dens
The present memoria. exhibition in
Brooklyn is the first complete and com
prehensive showing Of the artists
work. including many pieces from nor
studio which have not previously
been shown None OF the sketches
has been previously shown. About
one-half Of the present exhibition is
rev material for the public and for the
critics. Ar important memorial exhi-
bition was made however, in 1917 at
the Milwaukee Art Institute. in asso-
Cation with the John W Alexander