Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-07-03

T fame by treading in path
~ ways worn deep by his pre-
decessors. In science, in
music, in art, it is he who risks his
path away from the orthodox-he
who follows an ideal far from the
may live when his more timid COM
patriots have vanished in the mists of
time.
AS some modern composers have
given a new understanding of the
beauty and harmony in the weird
melodies of the American Indian and
| the Southern negro, so has Herbert
Ward. in his classic African bronzes,
given to the world new appreciation
and .ecognition Of the artistic merit
of these primitive tribes.
The darkened alcove wherein is dis
played the Ward collection of bronzes
| in the National Museum Immediately
transports one from the modern at
mosphere of the National Capital into
the haunting mysticism of this dark
race. Here is the work of man
who lived in Africa long enough and
| intimately enough to allow his artist
soul to respond to the primal beauty
of this mysterious land and it's people.
The great complex of weapons. uten.
sis and other fascinating objects as
sembled by the sculptor serve as
| fitting paraphernalia to create the
atmosphere necessary for a proper
appreciation of this group of dark
| figures in primitive posture-warriors
| laborers, craftsmen, chiefs and slaves
so remarkably executed by the
genius Of Herbert Ward, artist,
writer, humanitarian.
Mr.. Ward was a genius In many
| lines. Some of his talents were in
| herited from his father, Edwin Ward,
an English naturalist and sculptor.
| His grandfather, Henry Ward, also a
naturalist, frequently accompanied
Audubon in his wanderings through
the United States.
London was Herbert Wards birth
place, but restless desire to see the
world, a vision of bigger life, urged
him as a boy of 16 to break away
from the restraints Of his comfortable
home to face experiences that one of
less courage and determination would
| have called uncomfortable hardShips.
He secured passage on a 7O0-ton
barque bound for Auckland. New
| Zealand, where, as Mr.. Ward says:
! Il, with my hands deep down in my
| otherwise empty pockets, formed one
of little group of poor emigrants,
who huddled together on the main
deck. 1t was in this way that my life
Of travel and adventure began, and /
faced the world a friendless boy, with
stout heart and strong arms my
only capital"
Then followed several years of
vivid and varied experience in New
| Zealand and Australia, a struggle at
times for very existence among the
toughest Of the worlds riff. raft. He
| tried his hand at many things. On
I one occasion. while working his way
! in the antipodes, he joined a travel.
| ing circus, but this, like all other
| jobs, was but a detour from the main
| road, for he was soon off again-fol-
| lowing the ideal that led him to the
very heart of the jungle. Conva-
| lescent from a fever contracted in
| Borneo, the lad returned to England.
| where, fortunate for him, he met
| Henry M. Stanley, who was instru.
mental in securing for him position
| in the Kongo in the service of the
| Belgian government.
THE boylsh adventurer, broad
! shouldered, blue-eyed and shy"
| reached his first station on the Kongo
/ River in the Autumn of 1884, and was
assigned the important duty of hiring
| native carriers for the transportation
| of goods to the interior. In a very
|
mate relations with the people Of the
wild. He shared their daily existence,
sketched them and wrote about them.
! and gradually made an interesting
collection of objects used by the ma.
| tives. He was known by the name
J of Mayala Mbemba Eagles Wings)
! because Of the swiftness of his nu.
merous journeys up and down the
| Kongo.
| After three years Of exile, although
| a happy exile for a person of his tenn
| permanent, he had the opportunity of
| serving Stanley by sending a large
number of native porters to his aid.
Stanley was on the way to rescue
| Emin Pasha. and, to the youthful ex.
plorer's delight, he was accepted as a
! member Of the relief expedition.
Returning from Africa, Mr.. Ward
| married and began his work with re.
| newed devotion. From his earliest
days in the Kongo it had been his
ideal to preserve an epitome of primi-
| tive life among the natives of Cen
| trail Africa. This ideal, although not
| without a vast amount of hard work,
was gradually realized. 1t was his
| custom to model figures in sculptors'
| wax, and from them draw illustra.
| tions for magazine articles. With the
same lump Of plasteline he formed