The original figures in the
south portal of the Palace of Varied Industries and the panel over the
entrance to the Palace of Liberal Arts are quite successful inserts of
new thought in old frames in spite of a touch, of this influence. Rodin,
the emancipator of modern sculpture, and a notorious anarchist as
regards architecture, is not always applicable. The imitation of his
style induces a negation of modeling only in evidence in one of his
manners of execution.
There is a vague tendency voiced by some critics to advance the theory
that the real future democracy of art depends on the verdict of the man
in the street. This is ridiculous. The future of art depends on no one
class of men, aristocratic or democratic. It depends on all men. Art is
neither democratic nor aristocratic. It knows no class - it is concerned
with life at large - elemental life. Art is praise and all things in
life are its subjects.
The group "Harvest" surmounting the great niche in the Court of the
Seasons is a fine placid thing - and the bull groups on the pylons are
time-honored, virile conceptions strikingly placed.
The three-tiered sculpture groupings of the Tower of Ages make rich
appeal in relation to the romantic architecture.
There are groups in niches in the west walls that will remain caviar to
the general, but which are conceived with a fine sense of decoration,
and need only a touch of relation to reconcile them to the observer.
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