Studio: international art (6.1896)

An American Sculptor

ideals. The work suffered somewhat from its sur- bacchante which is one of his latest productions,
roundings. The great court in which it was set was But it never seems necessary to Mr. MacMonnies, ■
planned on a massive scale in antique style, and its because a figure is in motion, that it should carry
grandeur made the fountain appear almost decora- the mental vision far outside the limits of that
tive, assuredly less monumental than was intended. which is complete, ordered, subject to the unity of
It was hard not to find imaginative conception

a dash of chic in the ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ and plastic design. Even
picturesqueness to which his exhilarated bacchante

I have just referred. sways within a certain

But this chic disappeared formal boundary, the

under close scrutiny, and movement is unimpeded

to a practised eye the ■ jji JEifflHI yet rhythmic, and so it is

composition soon re- jHWfcJ in every case at which I

vealed itself as entirely wk ^mk must glance. The Pan

dignified, entirely quali- W of Rohallion is a capti-

fied to cope with its f *. vatingly animated de-

severe environment. The W^i / / / ■ S^>n' a ^&mG which

note was more florid W I \ S I A/q. ™ stands on its base with

than reposeful, yet the W "i ^'^z&k If ^mmWm^vm unquestionable potenti-

vivacity, the luxuriance Mm *0m^> ■ mmwr * v alities of boyish vigour,

of the scheme was not SMuIH but its lines are all ad-

rococo ; if it was ilorid, "^^^B^^B* mirably wrought into a

it was so with much ■,J ' .....^~-^tmjw(f. V structural whole. The

shrewdness. Analyse ^ic. m Wl'^ Heron is even

the colossal group as W i mm more convincing in this

you might, you found ~M-\ m regard. It is a curious

that it kept together, M \ . A ■ group, made to fit into

that none of its features Jftjfe' 11 Ij, \B an exterior niche in a

was merely pictorial, like ■ jH I yjp" ■ Massachusetts country-

the subsidiary features B '^¥:' ^HB house. In spite of the

in some passing spec- mm\ m\ m curve of the bird's

tacle. The grouping mm H :t IL wings, imposed by the

was coherent, brilliantly h Hf» ''^\Wpmm\ niche aforesaid, and in

studied. Gorgeous as I | ^^"^w. spite of the pose chosen

the fountain was, brim- f IHhlJ '"or bird an<^ boy, the

ming over as it was with two are charmingly com-

the high-hearted rejoic- ■ JKL I bined. The outlines

ing by which its presid- m^^A m are accented with tact,

ing figures were sup- ^^^^ jiijP*li>4B the relation of one figure

posed to be electrified, to the other is entirely

and rich as it was in "^^-^ij^r —"* novel, yet right and

those qualities of sen- jfef: ~*~~i0*f^ ^^mm reposeful in the ultimate

suous beauty to which I ^mmmmmmWm effect upon the spectator,

have called attention, it *"* I have seen few modern

yet retained the rare and groups which have as-

, , r " J. S. T. STRANAHAN " BY FREDERICK MACMONNIES ■■ ,' j i

bracing atmosphere of sociated such piquancy

sound design. of idea with such

That, I take it, is an atmosphere of uncommon naturalness, such logic of design. The same

significance, and it is because Mr. MacMonnies admirable equilibrium which distinguishes these

always secures it that his statues seem to me to be idealistic productions, which marks the Fame

lifted above a common plane. He has all the set with enchanting grace and dignity upon the

vitalising qualities of a man in the full tide of top of a great battle column lately reared at West

modern picturesqueness ; he has movement, ebul- Point, has been obtained by Mr. MacMonnies in

lient movement, as in the statuette of a dancing the portrait statue which has but recently emerged

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