International studio (35.1908)

The Munich Exhibition, 1908


MUNICH EXHIBITION : FOUNTAIN IN FRONT OF THEATRE
The central portion with its graceful lineaments
makes a very favourable impression. This encloses
a large “Festsaal,” while to right and left are
smaller saloons communicating with half-open
promenade halls, which again are surrounded by
terraces and terminate in two tall pavilions. In
the design no recourse has been made to traditional
forms, nor on the other hand has there been any
fantastic trifling ; it is the spontaneous product of
Seidl’s wholly individual talent. Externally the
building has all the charm of a modern private
mansion or of such a house as a man of refined
taste might build for himself, and with its pleasant
coloration, its dark-grey ornamentation on walls of
white, and bluish-grey tiles on the cupola-like roof, it
fits in admirably with its natural environment. The
interior is equipped throughout with exemplary
taste, the most costly materials having been used
for it, giving to the place an aspect of festal
brilliance and cultivated ease. The walls of the
covered promenade, which connect with the central
building and open on to the garden terrace, are
decorated with some sparkling pictures of crinoline
days by Prof. Julius Diez.
Opposite the chief restaurant is a large fountain,
which also is due to Emanuel von Seidl. Six

HEINRICH DULL & GEORG TEZOLD, SCULTTORS
imposing stone figures, each more than life-size, form
part of the scheme, four of them being of an alle-
gorical character represen ting Beauty, Wealth, Power,
and Fantasy, by Bernhard Bleecker, Hermann Kahn,
Fritz Behn, and Karl Ebbinghaus, while the other
two are half-reclining figures of mythical subjects,
excellently handled by Erwin Kurz.
Another scheme in which plastic art predomi-
nates is the “ Figurenhain,” or statuary grove,
designed by Carl Jager. It is a semicircular space
enclosed by a wall with seats. The central feature
of this grove is Georg Romer’s fine group of
horses in patina-covered bronze, mounted on a
massive stone pedestal standing in a basin or tank
whose periphery is overgrown with ivy, and at the
entrance to the grove are two charming groups
of children, by Knut Ackerberg. Here, too,
Theodor Georgii’s stone figures, symbolising
maternal love in the animal world, have found
a place—works characterised by shrewd observa-
tion and perception of the essential qualities
of an object. Georgii is also represented by a
capital series of bronzes placed around the edge
of the park and on the grass lawns. In front of
the theatre Heinrich Dull and Georg Pezold have
contributed the supple figure of a fountain nymph

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