International studio (17.1902)

American Studio Talk

ECENT MURAL DECORA-
TIONS AT BOSTON

Both in the State House at Boston and
also in the Public Library mural decorations have re-
cently been set in place. In the latter building the
embellishment of the Delivery Room has been com-
pleted by the addition of the remaining panels of
Edwin A. Abbey’s series of the Quest of the Holy
Grail. These some of us had an opportunity of
seeing a few months ago during their exhibition in
New York at the American Art Galleries; but a
proper appreciation of their merits is only to be
obtained by studying them in the actual environ-
ment for which they were painted.

Many visitors, I expect, will find themselves, as I
did, reaching a conclusion as to the tout ensemble
of this room, and then seriously modifying it by the
inevitable comparison of the staircase decorations
of Puvis de Chavannes, and then, perhaps, at last
reaching a certain assurance of appreciation of the
Abbey decorations per se. At any rate this is the
way in which my own mind worked. I had lin-
gered for a little while on the staircase and in the
corridor of the Hall to enjoy again the Puvis panels.
One had seen them many times before, so often
as to feel in the presence of old friends, the details
of whose lineaments one has ceased to study, feel-
ing rather the general effect of their influence, its
admirable harmony with the chaste dignity of the
surrounding architecture, to which it adds the final
accent of human interest and elevation. Then
one entered the Delivery Room, and the first im-
pression presented by the mingling of oaken wains-
cot, of the superb marble work of the mouldings
of the doors and fireplace, of the frieze of painted
panels, and of the soft richness of the colored
timber ceiling was one not only of sumptuousness,
but of vital force.

Yes, sumptuous was the word that sprang to
one’s thought; a lavishness of color, not garish by
any means, yet glowing with fervor, a suggestion of
rich full-bloodedness. The Puvis panels seemed
by recollection bloodless, almost tame. Here was
the force of full and fervid manhood. The panels
when seen in New York appeared virile work; but
even more so now in the reinforcement which they
gathered from the architectural surroundings. For
the relation between the structural and decorative
features of the room is admirable. One had had
one’s doubts as to whether this would be the case.
The panels, seen in detachment, had presented con-
siderable diversities of color and feeling, amount-

ing almost to a difference of character; they varied
also in size, and there was no very apparent rhythm
of line and mass in the successive compositions.
It was, therefore, both a surprise and a gratification
to find that these panels, when viewed together and
in union with their setting, produce a consider-
able homogeneousness of effect; their diversities
offering variety without any jar of contrast, while
through them flows a rhythmic movement of com-
position ; a surging roll of line and mass, palpitating
with strong heaves of color. I can only speak for
my own impressions ; but, for the first time, I real-
ized that the artist had planned a scheme of deco-
ration, as well as a series of illustrative pictures;
and the discovery was a very pleasant one, for
hitherto these panels had counted more as episodes
than as contributory elements in an architectonic
whole. Even their disparity in the matter of size
had ceased to appear noticeable, especially among
the recently painted panels, for these unquestion-
ably have more flow and force of movement, a
larger feeling and more assurance of manner, a
closer accord of intention and treatment than the
earlier ones. In them the artist has more thor-
oughly attained his gait and more clearly worked
up to it.

According to our taste and temperament, we
shall single out certain parts as particularly admi-
rable ; perhaps, for example, the combat'of Sir
Galahad with the seven knights. The figures of
the latter, presenting a confused mass of arms and
spears, of leather corselets and greaves, of steely
helmets and hauberks, is a fine spot of pattern, of
subdued splendor; another passage, the panel in
which Sir Galahad is leaving his bride, Blanche-
fleur, is an interlude of tender quiet; the figure of
the maiden wife infinitely sweet; that of the knight
by its movement skilfully leading on to the exalta-
tion of feeling in the death of Amfortas, the Fisher
King. The scarlet of the knight’s robe, the white-
ness of the old man’s, and his bleached face and
hair, and the iridescent radiance of the angel,
make this the most brilliant of all the panels, — a
flash of accentuated splendor in the general rich-
ness. And following it is the Depa7'ture of Sir
Galahad, the most largely planned of all the panels
and the most dignified in the noble quietude of its
color. It contains also in the kneeling figure of
the woman upon the left one of the best morceaux
of painting in the whole frieze; the figure of
Blanchefleur is another, and there are others among
the group of the Virtues. But these are beautiful
in a tenderer vein; while the kneeling woman

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