Evening star., 1923-04-26
The North Window
BY LEILA MECHLIN

4
| Monumental sculpture was tho sub,
3ectz Under discussion at friendly
gathering OF artists and art lovers.
Quite naturally the suggested reniOv-
al of the Jackson statue in Lafayette
| Square. which has lately caused 80
much public agitation, was brought
! up, and, to the astonishment Of q lay-
man. it was the sculptors present who
most stoutly defended the statues
worth. .t -.-.- s.. Sd. ,
/ To tell the truth, the artists are
usually the most gentle critics, possibly
/ because they understand the. techni-
cal difficulties which have to be over
come. In this instance they took the
ground that the jackson statue, at
which fun has been poked by the sup
posedly witty for many years, was not
only to be regarded as a milestone
| marking an epoch in American art,
but also valuable civic asset because
of its decorative quality. There Is q
| Gaiety, a gallantry, about this much
derided statue which Is very charm
ing and which betokeu the spirit OF
the time In which 1t was produced.
! - "fe 49, Il + 4 II. -r
. In his admirable History of Ameri-
can Sculpture dorado Taft, one Of the
1
has told delightfully."- how the Jack
son statue came into existence,
sketching briefly at the same time
the life Of Clark Mills, the sculptor.
1t Is an amazing biography. re-
markable record. Clark Mills was
| born in New York state in 1915. His
| father died when he was but a lad.
AT the age Of thirteen he ran away
I
none too kind to him, and from that
/ time on took care of himself, work
ing frst on d farm, then on 4 canal,
! tearing cabinet making, becoming
| miltWrlgnt. then an OverSeer on
. southern plantation. the director Of a
cement mill. drifting from the north
| to the extreme south by the way of
| New Orleans to Charleston, S. c.,
where he set up as stucco worker
all this in seven short years, for in
| 1885 in Charleston he began modelling
busts In clay. He then invented a new
! method for taking a cast from life
and so was enabled to make busts
extremely cheaply. Many orders fol-
I effort in cutting in marble, and his
! first achievement was bust Of Cal
houn. the favorite son of South Car
| oiina. which was SO excellent that
the city counsel voted him a medal.
Thus his career as sculptor was COM
menced
He must have possessed not only
! facility and measure of genius.
4 but also winning personality, for he
was lucky in finding patrons and ex-
| tremeiy helpful friends. A commits
sion from John Preston to do some
family busts in Columbia, S. c.. led
10 commission for busts of Webster
and Crittenden. to he done from life
in Washington. which, in turn, brought
an offer OF funds for d trip TO Europe
for the purpose Of study.
Mr.. Taft tells how, Immediately
! upon coming to Washington. Clark
Mills visited the Capitol, and Toasted
his eyes" upon the noble works of
| great building. Cave Johnson, then
| Postmaster General, was president of
| the jackson monument committee,
[ and, bsing impressed by Mills tall
| ents. and possibly also by the dis
! tinction of his patrons. asked him
to make a design for the Jackson
| statue which was TO be erected in
Lafayette Square. -
k,x 4 g
! At first Clark Mills, being a modest
man, declined, explaining that he did
not feel capable of undertaking so i'm
| portant a work, and quite naturally, for
he had never seen an equestrian statue
! there was none at that time in
America. But, being ambitious, coura-
geous, and to an extent COM
omitted to adventure. he did make
tsketch. which. being submitted, was
accepted. and it was precisely that
| OF the statue as IL now stands. For
| nine months he worked on the model,
balancing the little horse on its hind
| legs in order to give 1t the spirit of
! freedom and action. Another nine
months passed and Congress voted
the cannons captured by Jackson a:
| the battle of New Orleans to be used
! for the purpose. The full size model
| was. made; then came the question
! of casting. There was no bronze
| foundry in the United States. but. un-
daunted, Mills made a study OF the
about three miles out of Washington.
! near what is now Lanhan. and, after
! six failures. finally succeeded. The
| statue was dedicated January 8.
that. besides the original $4,000 ap-
propriated for the cost, an additional
! $4,000 was voted the artist, and a
| few years later an appropriation OF
! $4,000 was made for the Washin gton
statue in Washington Circle, which
lis infinitely less meritorious. Truly
Ifrom every aspect this was a mar
velous achievement. -
X X x &
4 - great IifiH8 SCuiPIoI recently re-
marked that his profession suffered
because it was "the easiest Of all the
arts" explaining that almost any one
out of a lump Of clay. could model an
| object which had some sembIance to
nature, and that such accomplishment
| Invariably brought forth applause
( from the uninitiated. But a work of
| art IN sculpture is much more than
! imitation mere reproduction of
I form, a. counterfeit Of life. For in
ment place which deceives the visitor,
as compared with Michelangelo's
! David, has little artistic merit, yet
| the one deceives. the other does not.
A great work in sculpture. like the
! Venus de Milo. the Winged Victory
J of Samothrace or one of the remark
/ able torsos in the Vatican Gallery,
are infinitely precious, though broken
| and incimplete. How many Of our
modern monumental works would
some one asked. Comparatively few,
( we fear. -:
| = ks *
| In an article on Washington. pub
lished some years ago, the late Ham,
! ilton Mabie loosely remarked that
| it was to be hoped that future gener-
| ATOMS "ouiu realize thaL a majority
| of the statues in Washington had
| been erected through ignorance, not
| In malice.
| Some of the statues undoubtedly de-
serve this rebuke, but, a few do not,
| and. taken all in all. It is to be ques-
| toned if Washington has not as
| large a. percentage of worthy monu-
mental works in sculpture as any
other city: for instance, the Thomas
statue. by ]. .. A. Ward, is one of
the best equestrian. statues in the
world: the John Paul Jones and the