Evening star., 1939-06-04
By Leila Mechlin.

~ Atb" AI z num-
Like Venice, the New York Worlds
Fair is said to be best seen at night
when shadow hides the things one
does not want to see and a world
all beauty is summoned as by ma
glclan's wand to charm and be-
dazzle. That this should be Is
right and reasonable; artists and
lighting experts have in this day
and generation a rainbow palette
OF color which they may use in
Transforming effects of light. The
Folger Shakespeare Memorial Lii
brary in this city has such a palette
to place at the service of stage di-
rectors in its little theater. but it
is seldom put to service. Nature,
more even than modern man. knows
the secrets of light and employs
them effectually. From the time
the shadows of evening gather over
the Flushing meadows until the
curfew rings at 10 o'clock, the New
York Worlds Fair is a place of
glorious enchantment. See it thus
for the first time.
Do not forget, however. that to
Judge the fair from the standpoint
Of art as well as fulfllment of pur-
pose one must see it by day in the
merciless glare of the sun high in
the heavens. Under such circum-
stance 1t may at first repulse, over
Whelmlng by its size and apparent
confusion; but stay with it a few
hours and this impression fades. one
Of allure taking its place. This is
not city built to afford shelter and
satisfy the needs of life; 1t is not
planned for perpetuity, as were
Washington, D. c., and Canberra
in Australia. 1t is thing of the
moment, with purpose. but pass
ing; an incident of today, which.
however may cast its shadow be-
neficently, or otherwise, on the
morrow.
Practically every worlds fair has
made some contribution to the fu-
ture. The Centennial, in Philadel-
phia, in 1876, stimulated our me-
chanical inventiveness; the White
City which rose on the shores of
Lake Michigan. at Chicago, in 1898,
exerted powerful effect upon the
development of architecture, sculp-
ture and mural painting in this
country, and thereby favorably af-
fected taste in building and decora-
ton. The Century of Progress EX-
position Chicago, a double decade
later, thrust US headlong into
acquaintance with the STRINGS of
so-called modernism-even then
barely understood and often taken
jocosely. How far we have gone
since then. those who run may read.
provided they are willing to see and
to ponder. =,
Language of Day.
That the prevailing style of archi-
lecture at the New York World s
Fair is modern none can deny-also
1t is quite obvious that in the use
OF this style we have not as yet
arrived, but 1t is equally evident
that we are getting somewhere. We
are not so awkward as we were
and for an idiom we have exchanged
bit of honest diction. In other
words, We are learning to talk in
the language of our day-a language
we have helped to form and about
which we have had many misgivings.
OF course, we are not yet fluent
our expression is frank, but not
as yet altogether free-and by no
means is it always-one might even
better say, often, beautiful. But
poor thing as it is, it is our own
and we need not be ashamed of it.
We can justly learn from all-in
fact We must, If we are wise, build
on tradition-but if and when we
have ideas of our own we shall no
longer need to copy And when
that time comes we shall discover,
to our surprise, that, far from re-
voting, we have simply fallen into
step with the best builders of all
time who used materials to serve
their purpose with feeling and con-
scious strength.
Instead of little Parthenons and
miniature Gothic cathedrals, we
have in the New York Worlds Fair
an aggregation of, for the most part,
very simple structures admirably
attaining their purpose and taking
on thereby an air of fitness and
calm stability All are not equally
good, but the majority are far and
away better than the buildings
erected for the Century of Progress"
Fair, which, despite all efforts to
the contrary, had the semblance of
laundries, bake houses, factories, etc.
Frank Lloyd Wright is said to have
offered to put up building at this
latest of Chicago fairs at his own
expense to show how it should be
done-as his colleagues had not, he
insisted, yet learned the potentiaI-
ties of the modern. And he was
quite right-but the privilege was
denied.
Perhaps he may feel the same Vay