DOI issue:
Nr. 220 (June, 1915)
DOI article:Brinton, Christian: The San Diego and San Francisco expositions, 1, San Diego
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43458#0335
• STUDIO
VOL. LV. No. 220 Copyright, 1915 by John Lane Company JUNE, 1915
THE SAN DIEGO AND SAN FRAN-
CISCO EXPOSITIONS
BY CHRISTIAN BRINTON
Editor’s Note.—It was Dr. Christian Brinton's wish
to have the two expositions run concurrently in this issue
but considerations of space have necessitated our reserving
San Francisco for the month of July. This will enable
us to illustrate the articles more fully. Other contributions
by the same writer will follow in due course giving special
heed to the paintings and statuary.
I. San Diego
It must be confessed that the congenital
weakness for hyperbole which obtains west of
the Mississippi leads one to be cautious not
alone of the Grand Canyon but of the eloquently
exploited expositions at San Diego and San Fran-
cisco. Superlatives not unwarrantably make for
suspicion, yet in none of these instances is there
occasion for undue conservatism. Like the
thumb-print of God pressed into the surface of the
earth so that man may forever identify His handi-
work, the Canyon transcends the possibilities of
verbal or pictorial expression. Although by no
means so ambitious as its competitor, or, rather,
its complement, farther northward along the his-
toric Camino Real, the Panama-California Exposi-
tion has scant reason to fear comparison with the
Panama-Pacific. Restricted in area yet rich in
suggestion the San Diego Exposition is a synthe-
sis of the spacious Southwest. It seems to have
sprung spontaneously from the soil and the vivid
race consciousness of those who inhabit this vast
and fecund hinterland. Regional in the sense that
the recent Baltic Exposition at Malmo and the
Valencian Exposition of 1909 were regional, it is
at once more concentrated and more characteristic
4
Panama-California Exposition, San Diego
ACROSS THE ESPLANADE ARCHITECT, FRANK P. ALLEN, JR.
CV
VOL. LV. No. 220 Copyright, 1915 by John Lane Company JUNE, 1915
THE SAN DIEGO AND SAN FRAN-
CISCO EXPOSITIONS
BY CHRISTIAN BRINTON
Editor’s Note.—It was Dr. Christian Brinton's wish
to have the two expositions run concurrently in this issue
but considerations of space have necessitated our reserving
San Francisco for the month of July. This will enable
us to illustrate the articles more fully. Other contributions
by the same writer will follow in due course giving special
heed to the paintings and statuary.
I. San Diego
It must be confessed that the congenital
weakness for hyperbole which obtains west of
the Mississippi leads one to be cautious not
alone of the Grand Canyon but of the eloquently
exploited expositions at San Diego and San Fran-
cisco. Superlatives not unwarrantably make for
suspicion, yet in none of these instances is there
occasion for undue conservatism. Like the
thumb-print of God pressed into the surface of the
earth so that man may forever identify His handi-
work, the Canyon transcends the possibilities of
verbal or pictorial expression. Although by no
means so ambitious as its competitor, or, rather,
its complement, farther northward along the his-
toric Camino Real, the Panama-California Exposi-
tion has scant reason to fear comparison with the
Panama-Pacific. Restricted in area yet rich in
suggestion the San Diego Exposition is a synthe-
sis of the spacious Southwest. It seems to have
sprung spontaneously from the soil and the vivid
race consciousness of those who inhabit this vast
and fecund hinterland. Regional in the sense that
the recent Baltic Exposition at Malmo and the
Valencian Exposition of 1909 were regional, it is
at once more concentrated and more characteristic
4
Panama-California Exposition, San Diego
ACROSS THE ESPLANADE ARCHITECT, FRANK P. ALLEN, JR.
CV