International studio (57.1915/1916)

Sculpture at the Panama-Pacific Exposition

UNIVERSITATS-
BIBLIOTHEK
HEIDELBERG

date from to-day, nor are its causes to be found
in the immediate past. Sculpture since its
initial florescence has submitted to various
transitions. Marble was the inevitable medium
in which the Hellenic ideal of beauty found ex-
pression. The jubilant richness of the Renais-
sance attained its apotheosis in
bronze, while during the rose-
tinted dawn of the Gothic age
the anonymous artist chiselled
his naive fusion of paganism
and piety into the surface of
stone. In due course, how¬
ever, plastic representation being
restricted to considerations of
form alone, found it increasingly
difficult to reflect the complex¬
ity of contemporary feeling and
aspiration. Cradled in joyous
serenity, sculpture could not
readily take upon itself the sor¬
rows and mortification of the
Christain faith. Its day of glory
had passed, and thus painting,
with its sensuous film of colour
and faculty of direct transpo-
sition, gradually wrested the
primacy from its sister art and
became the chosen handmaiden
alike of Church and State.
While one can scarcely con¬
tend that sculpture suffered an
eclipse, it cannot be denied that
from this period onward it
ceased to enjoy its one-time
undisputed supremacy. Stray
figures still haunted secluded,
vine-covered niche, or graced
the fountains and avenues of
formal park and garden. Pagan
laughter still lingered in the
gay wantons of Clodion and
Falconet, but the role played
by the plastic arts was hence-
forth subsidiary. And yet it is
not this perceptible loss of prestige which is re-
sponsible for the present plight of sculpture. It
is rather due to that radical misconception of
the functions of the art which followed close in
the wake of the so-called classic revival. Tur-
bulent and grandiose as he indubitably was,
Michelangelo proved a less baneful influence

than did such smug falsifiers of the antique
spirit as Canova and Thorvaldsen. The assidu-
ous imitation of these palpable imitators, and the
persistent placing of statue and bust in inept and
illogical surroundings, were the chief factors in
the progressive alienation of sculpture from
popular sympathy. Ruthlessly
wrenched from their original
setting, and displayed as mere
detached curios with no feeling
for background either aesthetic
or historical, it is scant wonder
that these pathetic fugitives
from a forgotten world held no
message for the masses. Sculp-
ture is a legitimate child of light
and air. It is indissolubly wed-
ded to an architectural, or at
least a decorative ensemble, and
once this precious connexion is
severed the plastic spell is for-
ever broken.
You will readily concede that
sculpture survived numerous
changes both social and spirit-
ual. It managed, as we have
seen, to adapt itself to various
media. It passed from pagan
blitheness to appealing frater-
nalism and came bravely down
to modern times only to falter
in the end through a series of
unfortunate misapprehensions
as to its true mission. The
most conspicuous offenders in
this respect have been, it can-
not be too often repeated, the
museum directors and other cus-
todians who have continued to
house the eloquent heritage of
antique civilization with callous
incomprehension. Stark halls
and dingy corridors have been
congested with genuine origi-
nals or chalky casts that strug-
gle in frigid futility for sunlight and the flash
of green foliage. The intimate relationship be-
tween plastic form and nature has been almost
wholly neglected and, in consequence, few of us
can be blamed for growing cold and unresponsive
to the claims of this noblest and most exalted
of all phases of artistic expression.

Swedish Section, Panama-Pacific
Exposition
SPHINX BY DAVID EDSTROM


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