Evening star., 1925-05-03

r y spite of scientific discoveries and
the reading of many riddles in
recent years. life still has it's
i mysteries, not the least of which
we are pleased TO call the per-
Sonal equation. Let Augustus Luke
man be an unknown member of a
thoughtful group OF people, and ten
20 one he will be taken for a successful
business man-short, stocky, forceful,
crisp of speech and clean of gesture,
alert to his even, firm fnger-tips.
But there is something about the
hands that arrests attention, so bal
anced is the broad palm by the broad,
strong, even fingers-hands that seem
to say: My business is to mold the
plastic clay to immortal shapes, to
catch the vision and to hold it in en-
during bronze and marble"
One looks again at the undramatiC
form of the man and knows with the
finality of the actual that Augustus
Lukeman is not a business man, but
an artist.
Ffguratively, an artist who wears
his shirt sleeves rolled to his elbows.
for he is dedicated to work. He talks
it, he loves it, and he exudes ii. Listen
to him, for he says: The genius you
speak of is just hard work. and all
the life you can bring into the things
you are doing. And after all, what
wonderful thing life really is"
Work, coupled with the sheer joyous
ness of living, that is the plus that
makes Augustus Lukeman different
from any other man; makes his
achievements distinct, marked with
the strange thing we call personality
of the man.
He seems dynamic. A torrential
energy leaps through him; CLEANS in
11a frtlI
tones of his voice. For him work is
somehow glorified, bathed in the
beauty of service, as it came fresh
from the hand of God. He clears the
atmosphere, as he talks to you for
little while, so quick his mind, so
clean-cut his sentences, so clear his
judgment. After he has left your
presence you are aware that power
has gone with his going. He leaves
a void; one misses his joyous energy
of mind, of body, as one misses clear
mountain air after one returns to the
dusty city streets. This surplus
energy is no uncertain proof of
genius; 1T is as though larger por-
ton of the divine thing we call
the creative force dwelt in a man.
Such robustness of spirit presup-
poses balance wheel for the vision
airy side of the true artist, sure prac-
ticality that makes for sanity, that
gives to the ideal in marble or bronze
the quality of reality. This Augustus
Lukeman has to almost as great a
degree as had Robert Browning. poet
who looked at life steadily and saw it
whole, saw it from all angles free
from prejudice, free from narrowness
Indeed, Lukeman resembles Brown
ing in stature and in manner as well
as in the approach to his work, that
overmastering spirit of joy in the
thing to be done 1t is. perhaps, the
spirit of eternal youth that dwells in
genius at its best.
If one will study Lukeman's statue
of Francis Asbury considered by
critics as representative of his best
work), he will observe the dual quail
ties of the ideal and the practical, for
the bronze figure reveals the quin-
tessence of the life work of the timer
ant preacher. his eternal seeking after
souls that they might be saved; OBJ
livious to all else. so he rides, while
his old horse takes his own way under
loose rein, so loose that he stoops in
irritated WEAKNESS to wipe the foam
from his lips on his knee. The statue
is a perfect revelation of that sanity
that balances the ideal with the real
that says to the dream: "Clothe your
self in the garments of reality" 1t
is, indeed, as though Browning were
pouring ont pictures of life in molds
of statues, varied, replete. true and
marvellous, as life always is when seen
with an eye that is single.
In a spirit of wholesome modesty
and gracious generosity, Augustus
Lukeman may declare in his emphatic
way, Hell, The National Sculpture
Society is full of men who could do
this Stone Mountain job as well as l."
But we are of the opinion that the
choice made of a successor to Mr.
Borglum could not be improved upon,
for, laying his genius aside, it must
be admitted that his joyous eagerness
in work and in mere living will do
more to utterly disperse the clouds of
controversy that have obscured the
project of the carving of a mountain
side than would he possible under any
other man. 1t is the plangent person
ality of the man that will once more
put the breath of wonder into the
giant bas-rehefs etched as by Titans
in the lofty living rock. The restora-
ton of the pristine glamour that made
it one of the great wonders of the
modern world is about to be accom-
plished.
Already Lukeman's creative power
has conceived new plans for the
groups on the mountain side-his spirit
fairly sings with the stupendous ad.
venture of carving a mountain sur
face in an Olympic atelier built with