Sculpture of the Exposition Palaces and Courts Part 5

Leo Lentelli was born in Bologna, Italy, in 1879. He came to the United States in 1903, where he has been permanently located in New York. His most notable work is seen in the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, New York, where he has done "The Savior with Sixteen Angels" for the reredos. He has recently completed a group which has been placed over the entrance to the new Branch Public Library of San Francisco. He is still another of the sculptors who is self-taught.

Evelyn Beatrice Longman

Evelyn Beatrice Longman has risen constantly in her work since she took her first step in art at the Chicago Art Inst.i.tute. She was born in Ohio of English parents, being one of six children. At fourteen she began to earn her own living in Chicago, studying at night at the Chicago Inst.i.tute of Art. She saved her money, using it on her education at Olivet College. She returned to Chicago and studied drawing and anatomy.

So clever was she that at the end of the first year she began to teach those subjects at the Inst.i.tute. Later, she went to New York where she studied with Herman MacNeil and Daniel Chester French. She really made her debut in sculpture at the St. Louis Exposition, where she showed "Victory," a male figure which was so excellent in invention and technique that it was given a place of honor on the top of Festival Hall. In 1907 John Quincy Adams Ward offered a prize for the best portrait bust. This compet.i.tion was open to all American sculptors.

Charles Grafly won in the compet.i.tion, but Miss Longman won the second place with her "Aenigma." Besides some excellent portraits, she has done two remarkable bronze gates at the entrance to the chapel of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, and much fine figure work. Daniel Chester French says "She is the last word in ornament."

Herman A. MacNeil

Herman A. MacNeil was born in 1886, at Chelsea, Ma.s.sachusetts. After graduating from the State Normal School of Ma.s.sachusetts, he went to Paris, where he studied under Chapu of the Julian Academy, and two years under Falguiere of the Ecole des Beaux Arts. He came home and soon answered a call to Cornell, where he remained three years. Then three years were spent in teaching art at the Chicago Art Inst.i.tute. While there, he taught Miss Carol Brooks of Chicago, whom he married in 1895.

She is a very clever sculptor herself. Her "Listening to the Fairies,"

"The First Wave," "The First Lesson," "Betty," in the Fine Arts Palace of the Exposition, readily show how very charming her work is. Mr. and Mrs. MacNeil studied together in Rome for four years and on their return to America established themselves in New York, where the MacNeil studio is. He is the teacher of modeling of the National School of Design, New York. He has made a specialty of Indian subjects, "The Sun Vow," "The Coming of the White Man," and the "Moqui Runner" being some of his best pieces. To him the Indians are as fine as Greek warriors and most worthy of careful study. Whatever he does in sculpture is in its very essence national. He is extremely refined, a superb modeler and one whose every piece of work is strong and of the first rank.

Paul Mans.h.i.+p

Standing quite apart from the other sculptors in his special joyous line of work is Paul Mans.h.i.+p, a young man from St. Paul, Minnesota, born in 1885. He obtained the Prix de Rome from the American Academy, which prize allowed him to study in Rome and Greece for three years, from 1909 to 1912. His study in Greece gave a most interesting, individual touch to his work, for he united to his fresh, vigorous western style the cla.s.sic precision of the Greek. He has a certain archaistic mannerism in his work recalling the Aeginetan marbles, which individuality puts a Mans.h.i.+p stamp upon his work, striking a distinctly personal note. His statuettes are most charming and natural - little bursts of spirit and intense feeling. His work is always interesting - the kind you cannot pa.s.s by. He fills a niche all his own and is a most promising, gifted young sculptor. His "Spring Awakening" and "Playfulness" in the Twachtman Room of the Fine Arts Palace are delightfully exhilarating little figures.

Charles Niehaus

Charles Niehaus' great talent lies in the lines of monumental sculpture.

He was born in Cincinnati, in 1855. He was a pupil of the McMicken School of Art of that city, later attending the Royal Academy of Munich, Germany, where he took the first medal ever won by an American. He has won gold medals at the Pan-American Exposition, the Charleston Exposition and also at the Exposition of St. Louis. His work is of the extremely dignified order, and shows great simplicity of line. It is always the spirit of the work that claims you in all that he undertakes.

He has done nothing finer than his "Garfield" at Cincinnati. His Astor Memorial Doors of Trinity Church, New York, his "Doctor Hahnemann" of Was.h.i.+ngton, D. C., and his "Driller," symbolic of the energy of labor, are among his best works.

Furio Piccirilli

Living in New York in truly Florentine style is the Piccirilli family - a household of five families. It is said that nowhere in America is the old Florentine style of the fourteenth century way of living so well exemplified. The men of the family were marble cutters, but within the last few years Attilio, an elder brother, has been expressing himself in sculpture of a p.r.o.nounced order. Furio is a young member who is coming to the front thru the very lovely representations of his work at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. He has given a fine human touch to his work. It stands quite apart in its Italian feeling from the robust American sculpture.

Frederick Roth

Frederick Roth is one of the greatest animal sculptors of the United States and is studying abroad year by year. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1872, and was fortunate in being sent to Berlin and Vienna to pursue his studies when he was very young. He attracted very favorable attention at the Pan-American Exposition by his great originality and technical skill. He is extremely fond of modeling small animals, many of which can be seen in the Fine Arts Palace of the Exposition. "The Equestrienne" is as clever and spirited a small work as he has done.

Ralph Stackpole

Ralph Stackpole, one of the younger sculptors, was born near Grants Pa.s.s, Oregon, in 1881. At the age of sixteen he began his art study at the San Francisco School of Design, remaining here for the short period of four months. He later studied with G. F. P. Piazzoni and Arthur Putnam, and considers that from these men he received his best instruction. In 1906 he went to Paris, where he continued his studies at the Ecole des Beaux Arts and Atelier Merces, where he remained two years. He exhibited his work at the Salon in 1901. You meet the man face to face in his work on the Varied Industries Palace. He is sincere, broad, direct. As to his reverence and refined feeling, you need but to look at his "Kneeling Figure" at the altar in front of the Fine Arts Palace to see that he possesses these qualities in abundance.

Louis Ulrich

The world is probably receiving its first introduction to Louis Ulrich, a pupil of the joint school of the National Sculpture Society and the Society of Beaux Arts Architects. He has achieved a "crowning success"

in his dignified figure of sweeping lines.

Albert Weinert

Albert Weinert was born at Leipzig, Germany, in 1863. He studied at the Art Academy at Leipzig under Meichior zur Strapen, later coming to America, where he is now located in New York. He has done a great deal of munic.i.p.al work of a high order, among which can be mentioned sculpture work on the interior of the Congressional Library at Was.h.i.+ngton, a monument to President McKinley for Toledo, Ohio, a "Lord Baltimore" for Maryland and some very excellent statues on the facade of the Masonic Building, San Francisco. His work in the Court of the Ages has added greatly to the interest of that Court and is forceful, virile work.

Adolph Alexander Weinman

Adolph Alexander Weinman, one of the poets of the sculpture world, was born in Karlsruhe, Germany, in 1870. When but a boy of ten, he came to America with his parents. In his youth he began his student life in art with the great Augustus Saint-Gaudens, attending also Cooper Union, New York. Each year has seen him move successfully ahead until now he is among our finest American sculptors. He is one who stimulates the imagination and raises the standards of art in whatever he models. His work is pregnant with life and is thoroughly individual, so that you feel when you look upon his figures that you have met more than mere bronze or marble. His portraits are of a very high order, many of which can be seen in medal form in the Fine Arts Palace. He lives in New York, where he is well appreciated.

Mrs. Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney

Mrs. Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney is one of the foremost American woman sculptors. The Fountain of El Dorado is her first public contribution.

Bruno Zimm

Bruno Zimm, living in New York, was a pupil of the late Karl Bitter. He has designed work for former Expositions, and we trust that his name will be better known in the future. He has added great beauty to the Fine Arts Palace by his cla.s.sic friezes designed in effective, bold ma.s.ses. The archaic style used in his work is evident in many of the sculptural forms at this Exposition.

Sculpture Around the Fine Arts Lagoon

The first group of statuary in the following list is located on the south-east side of the Fine Arts Lagoon. Proceeding thence to the left and through the colonnade, the most important subjects will be found in the order described.

Sea Lions. Frederick G. R. Roth Most carefully studied as to form and babies; you almost: hear the bark of the great mate.

The Scout. Cyrus Edwin Dallin The horse and the Indian wait motionless; his hand shading his eyes from the sun, the Indian looks intently into the distance for sign of the enemy.

Wind and Spray. Anna Coleman Ladd A ring of figures - male and female - fleeting and gay - like the wind and the spray.

Diana. Haig Patigian The G.o.ddess of the hunt appears with her bow; the arrow has just left the string.

Peace. Sherry Fry Quiet, serene, she stands, her brow bedecked with olive leaves; her serpent bordered robe may betoken the wisdom of peace.