Evening star., 1923-09-20
The North Window
BY LEILA MECHLIN

During the summer tle ldFBe6I dliu
most comprehensive exhibition or
American sculpture which has yet
been assembled was shown in New
York on the grounds and beneath the
roof of .the Hispanic Museum and its
sister institutions at 156th street and
/ Broadway.
When this great exhibition was
conciuded the LIST of September. the
i Baltimore Museum of Art, which is
not yet two years old, through the
cooperation of the American FEEDER
alton of Arts and the National Sculp-
| ture Society, selected 16l works
shown observation-disclosures. plaster casts.
marbles; had them packed and
shipped to Baltimore. where on the
| row--they will be set forth in Mount
Vernon Square and in the Garrett
House, now occupied by the museum.
This was an ambitious and enter
prising undertaking and one which
should rebound greatly to the credit
of the young Institution. Though 1t
will comprehend less than one third
of the works shown in New YORK, the
exhibit will be sufficiently large and
varied to give a fair idea OF current current
to the public the quality of the sculp,
! tural work of today. 1t is understood
that the exhibition will continue
! through October.
X X K
To a thoughtful observer it is quite
remarkable what the sculptors of
America have accomplished in a brief
span of years There are those still
living who recall the dedication of
the Jackson statue in Lafayette
Square, which was the first eques-
trian statue ever produced In this
country Less than seventy years
haYv cd fnnaU
there is no large city in the land that
has not some notable work in scul lp-
ture to which It's citizens may point
with pride. To be sure much that
goes by the name Of sculpture IS un-
worthy. but this is true of all fields
of endeavor, and the wonder is not
that so much is bad, but that so
many are good. And it is gratifying
to realize that the standard is being
raised and that more good things are
being produced every year.
OF course, there are those who criti-
cize adversely; there are those who
ridicule and scorn, and there are
pitiable examples, but after all, we
this country; some OF the public monu-
ments in Paris and London are mel
ancholy to behold. AS a sculptor once
said, Terrible, indeed, are blunders
| made in imperishable material
X x X 4
But how much good sculpture adds
to the beauty of a city or town.
How greatly, for example, Charlottes-
WILLIE Va, has been enriched through
the generosity of Mr.. Mcintyre, by
the sculptural groups-Lewis and
| Clark, by Charles Keck: Stonewall
| Jackson, by the same sculptor; the
George Rogers Clark group. by Rob-
ert Aitken; the Gen. Lee, by Keck,
and that superb seated figure of
Thomas Jefferson, by Kari Bitter,
which. with the Houdon Washington,
is placed on the campus OF the uni
| lversity.
| Chicago is peculiarly fortunate in
having a million-dollar fund, left by
Mr.. Ferguson. the income of which is
to be expended in sculptural works
for the adornment of the city. Through
| this medium Chicago has acquired In
trecent years the beautiful Fountain
/ of the Lakes" by dorado Taft; the
| Fountain of Time" by the same
lsculptor, and other interesting eX-
| amples of contemporary work in this
| field. Chicago also has Saint Gaudens'
! two LincoIns. the seated and the
standing figures; the Kemey's lions in
! front of the art institutes, Andrew
| O'Connors charming Boy Scout
Fountain" and host of other. good
things, among WhlCn Is DdnIel -
French's superb figure. The Statue
| OF the Republic" originally modelled
for the great worlds fair, as well as
fDallin's Signal of Peace" a great
! Indian statue. and, quite lately placed,
X, Edward McCartans charming Eugene
/ Field memorial, the figure of a fairy
! bending over two children who are
asleep. This last was erected by con-
| tributions from the children of the
public schools OF Chicago, and is a
beautiful tribute TO the children's
poet
Nor are all the good things in the
east. Eugene. Ore. has A. Phimister
Proctor's statue of The Pioneer
erected as a memorial to those early,
hardy colonizers who crossed the con-
| tinent. and in Portland, Ore, is Her
man MacNeirs Coming of the White
Man." a superb historical group.
1 * x x x
| So much more, in recent years, has
sculpture OF sheer beauty come into
vogue, replacing the one-time all
popular portrait statue, or funeral
memorial To an extent this is an
\ echo of the Renaissance, q recogni-
| zion of the value of art for the sake
of beauty alone. And how worth
! while IL is! How much, for example,
a little sun dial, such as that pro-
duced a year ago by Brenda Putnam,
adds to the loveliness of a garden
Vista! Art Inherently is joyous. and 1t
is at its best when it finds joyous ex-
nression More than many know are
fine works of this type-fountains'
sun dials. ideal figures-fnding their
way into the sumptuous gardens
which are today integral parts of the
great American estates. And one
thing can be said of American sculp-
lture, that it is chaste and pure. I'm
like painting, IL has remained true to
the best tradition and has not re-
flected, save in rare instances, the
abortive influence of modern times.
X x x y
Twice lately a public outcry has
!been made against works by Freder-
ick MacAIonnies. His Civic Virtue,
erected in City Hall Park, New York
was protested against by a. group of
iwomen who objected to vice being
represented in feminine form, and
perhaps without reason. More lately
his Venus and Adonis," a very beau
tiful group, purchased, 1t is report ted
at $4,000 by the Metropolitan Mu-
scum of Art as a permanent exhibit
tcaused no end of furore when in
jcluded in an exhibition at New Ro-
lcheIle, and to satisfy those whose
serse of propriety was outraged was
teJected from the town, wrapped 1T
sailcloth.
This episode brought to mind the
excitement caused away back in 1881
twhen Greenough, one of the earliest
tof our American scu1ptors, whose
lluckless Washington was for many
iyears the butt of jokers, sent tc
tAmerica two innocent little marble
figures, Chanting Cherubs," belong
ing to ]. Fenimore Cooper, the au-
Ithor. Dunlap, in his history, tells oi
a \ g. -
the young ladies of Mr.. Cooper's
family, then in Florence, in the course