A helmeted man and
pure-browed woman gaze tenderly in each other's eyes. Youth, full of
impulse and fire, stays to listen to the voice of Reason. The lover
keeps in touch with the guiding memory of the Mother. And the cycle is
completed from animal to mental toward the higher foundation of life
upon the earth. Seldom has more exaltation of thought or intensity of
feeling been infused, without mawkishness or exaggeration, into a work
of art. The Fountain of Earth, is deeply interpretive of the trend of
modern thought.
Helios
Separate Group, Fountain of Earth
On the wall of the basin of the Fountain of Earth, is a subsidiary group
called "Helios, the Sun." It is a decorative point of finish and is also
symbolic. The Sun is taken as the symbol of the Cosmos, the enduring,
the Day, the source of life. Man is pictured as clinging to it, in the
hope of being freed from the encircling coils of his baser self and the
old earthy entanglements that hold him down, and destroy him. This group
and the main fountain, as well as the sides of the beautiful court, are
mirrored in the long still pool in which the fountain stands - a pool
properly free from splashes or springs as befits the setting of this
intricate and massive work. The rapid and stable growth of Robert I.
Aitken, sculptor of the Fountain of Earth, is of particular interest to
San Francisco, the city of his birth, and the site of several of his
earlier efforts.
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