Evening star., 1936-11-08
By Lucy Salamanca.
wESTPORT, CONN:

ny AHCp oNSNHtUbC~s
wESTPORT, CONN:
A FEW days ago, on the Westpert
~ estate of James Earle Fraser,
~ the famous American sculptor,
I saw outlined against bright
blue sky the noble and massive figure
of Pegasus, the winged horse, arching
q dazzlingly white neck and thrusting
forth strong. folded wings. OF such
strength and grace and classic beauty
was the figure that could only stand
mute and admiring on the slope of
the hill below the terrace of the ivy
covered studio of its creator and wish
that its celestial background might
always be as brilliant as this days sky.
So ought one always to view Pegasus
and so ought always to be outlined
Literature and Ambition, as they were
now outlined against the brave bold
planes of the mythical horse.
Here in the Connecticut country
side, where the great sculptor has been
quietly at work upon its creation, stood
the finished model of the equine figure
that Is to stand eventually upon a
Potomac Parkway approach to the
Arlington Memorial Bridge on its
north side. The companion group, to
be set on the south side Of the ap-
proach, I saw later in second studio
hidden some 100 yards away beyond
q cedar grove wherein curly-haired
gray man and his younger helper la
,r1r
Neither group has been disclosed as
yet to others than members Of the
arts commissions whose responsibility
1t has been to select from submitted
photographs the sculpture best suited
to adorn the approaches to the bridge
to Arlington. The models soon will
be Grated and shipped to Washington
and in about years time their i'm
pressive counterparts, 16 feet high
and as large in volume, will take their
places within stones throw of the
Lincoln Memorial to endure, as James
Fraser put it, "for hundreds of years
to come"
Beauty hewn from granite should
long endure; beauty such as Fraser
has materialized here should endure
forever, so pure and noble it Is in
concept, so fraught with spirit that
one marvels at genius concrete
enough to capture it in materials that
can be shaped and hewn by human
hands.
HAD always in mind" Mr.. Fraser
told me, "the classic mind of
Abraham Lincoln. Some folks said to
me, Why do you not use the log cabin,
or some similar motif linked closely
with the life of Lincoln? But you
can see that such thing would have
been impossible. 1t is too trivial,
too inconsequential for symbolism, and
too obvious. 1t was the mind of Lin
coin wished to reflect, in all its
nobility and strength, particularly in
Its classic character. Remembering
that. and because the figures will
stand within the circle dedicated to
Lincoln, concentrated upon some
thing that would reflect that classic
mind, that strength of spirit
In both figures the concept is i'm
mediately apparent. The groups rep
resent peace and the arts of peace
time. The group for the north side
Is dedicated to literature and ambi-
ton. The central figure of Pegasus
represents the winged horse at ease,
yet poised as if ready for fight at
any moment. Its noble head, with
wide eyes and distended nostrils and
arched neck. Is filled with intelli-
gence and imagination; the huge
wings are thrust forward, folded, filled
with strength sufficient to lift the
heavy body of the horse from the
earth and bear him through the sky;
the foreleg is arched and lifted; the
breast outthrust, suggestion of iron
muscles ripping underneath. The
extraordinary thing about the sculp-
turing Of this horse is, to me, that
the broad planes suggestive of mas
sive strength, and so almost devoid
Of detail, have been preserved, while
enough detail has been introduced to
make the steed real, alive, strong,
vigorous, with none of the imper-
sonality of the conventionally cold
and classic group. The anatomy of
the horse. for example, is exact and
true to life, from the muscles Of the
neck and breast to the tendons of
the legs and the bones of the giant
wings. In describing the necessity
for a true rendering of the anatomy
and structure of these wings, Fraser
folded back his own arm, thrusting
out the elbow. "a wing Is the same
as the human arm," he said, "the
heaviest structure near the body, the
joint, and the more delicate tapering
end. The bone of Pegasus had to be
large enough to bear his weight, were
1t lifted from the earth by its own
strength, and the various parts of the
wing had all to be in proportion,
naturally. Even a mythical horse
must be structurally true" And this
has been carried out, although at
the same time none of the classic pro.