Evening star., 1933-01-15
ATTACK LAUNCHED
ION NIGHT LIGHTING
!OF C|TY'S STATUES
Fine Arts Commission Says
Beams Detract From
Merit of Art.
TRAFFIC CONSIDERATIONS
ARE CITED BY COL. GRANT
Building and Park Director Denies
General Program for Illu-
minated Shafts.

Although the ONCE of Public Build
ings and Public Parks has illuminated
the John Paul Jones statue, at the
foot OF Seventeenth street, and is con-
sidering night lighting Of the statue
in Washington Circle, Charles Moore,
chairman of the Fine Arts Commission,
today went on record as opposing this
practice.
"The statues in Washington were not
designed to be lighted at night" said
Mr.. Moore. 1.-THE light beams make
something the sculptor did not intend
and they take away part of the merit
OF the art. A number of shadows are
created that were not calculated upon.
The chairman Of the Fine Arts Com
mission laughingly referred to the
dictum of former Senator Phelan OF
California, who said that it was enough
to have to endure the statues by day
without forcing them on us by night.
Washington Circle, in which is located
an equestrian statue of the Father OF
His Country contains probably the
worst Washington statue in existence,
said Mr.. Moore, particularly in this
country. In the daytime, it is sur
rounded by trees, so one does not notice
1t especially, but night lighting would
emphasize it. he said.
Grant Points to Traffic.
Lieut. Col U. S. Grant, Sd, director
of Public Buildings and Public Parks
who is considering night illumination
for the Washington Circle statue, said
this would be done from traffic con-
siderations. 1t is considered desirable
to light this statue, because in the
past, it has been run into by careless
motorists. This Is the reason why
the John Paul Jones statue has been
Illuminated, the colonel said. He made
it clear that there Is no general pro-
gram for lighting all the statues in
Washington at night, as this would not
only be costly, but the sight OF them
would become tiresome.
Mr.. Moore's assertion is that the an
swer to motorists running into the
statues at night "is the answer that
Paris makes"-the use of low stone
posts. Even If the statues are lighted
at points dangerous from a traffic
viewpoint, MFR. Moore said that he did
not know how to prevent drunken
drivers from colliding with the statues.
Mr. Moore said that the problem OF
properly Illuminating the statue of Lin
coin in the Lincoln Memorial has not
been solved"
There is not sculptor in the coun-
try, who has seen it and approved the
lighting" said Mr.. Moore. THE top
lighting is very strong on the head OF
Lincoln, but very bad about the eyes
At night, it makes Lincoln sit up in a
perpetual wake and kills the mural
decorations"
Bronze Screen Omitted.
The statue, he explained, is designed
for top lighting. A proposed bronze
screen back of the columns to control
the lighting was omitted for reasons OF
economy, he said.
As matter of precaution. the Of
flcials have had to light the Washing
ton Monument and the dome of the
Capitol, Mr. Moore asserted, and I'VE
would like to leave them the predomi-
nant night features of Washington .
The lighting of buildings at night, he
characterized as pure advertising,
adding that this Is not art and the
glory of Washington is its spaciousness
and at night this comes out from the
myriad of low lights"
The chairman of the Fine Arts Com
mission asserted that treating the
statues with "lampblack" makes the
modelings all alike, reducing them to
a uniform black surface Cleaning OF
the statues is done under supervision
of the Office of Public Buildings and
Public Parks. Repeatedly, Mr.. Moore
said, the Fine Arts Commission has
recommended that only soap and water
with trace of ammonia, be used for
cleaning the statues. Under the present
system, he says, the statues might just
as we'll have been whitfield out of black
wood"