DOI Heft:
No. 31 (October, 1896)
DOI Artikel:Cortissoz, Royal: An american sculptor: Frederick Macmonnies
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17295#0038
An American Sculptor
from his studio to stand beside the Hale in the flexibility has not been aggressive. The figure is
record of his career. I refer to a monument to buoyantly picturesque, but it is also monumental.
Sir Harry Vane which now stands within the pre- I have pointed out the elements of a purely
cincts of the New Boston Public Library, that plastic character which give value to the work ot
stately building in which Sargent, Abbey, Whistler, Mr. MacMonnies, but in taking leave of that work
Vedder, Puvis de Chavannes and other men of it is desirable to emphasise what has already been
eminence have been given space for decorative work, said in regard to his individuality. It is a tem-
The statue by Mr. MacMonnies represents an peramental quality which after all endows his
Englishman of haughty yet elegant carriage, a man sculpture with charm. Say that it is conceived
who wore the attractive costume of his period with along perfect lines of design, say that it is executed
a due sense of its possibilities and was always in with power, that the modelling is full of subtlety
his bearing, as in his blood, a man of birth, of and of the most amazing skill. In touching upon
high antecedents. When he was Governor of these matters the essential substance of the work
Massachusetts in the seventeenth century there is traversed. Yet that which makes it linger in the
was perhaps no great dainti-
ness of dress among his
colonial friends, but it is
significant that Vane re-
turned to England long
before he died, and through-
out his career he was dis-
tinctly a citizen of the British
metropolis. Some critics
have thought that Mr. Mac-
Monnies has exaggerated
this trait of elegance in him.
He makes the Governor too
much a man of the world,
they say—nay, makes him a
curled exquisite, standing
there with very little of the
stern dignity of New Eng-
land about him. This
sounds plausible, but Sir
Harry Vane, for all his rec-
titude and stern feeling, was
a figure who lives in Ameri-
can and English history as
peculiarly gracious, and to
the comparatively youthful
years of his life which were
spent in the Colony there
undoubtedly belonged the
exterior and the gait which
Mr. MacMonnies has pre-
ferred to celebrate. To
return to the question of
composition, of equilibrium
which was mentioned just
now, I venture to assert that
this has as much merit as
the Hale and as the others.
The conception is virile as
usual, but the sculptor's fig. i.—oak door. {Seepage 26.) early xvi century
25
from his studio to stand beside the Hale in the flexibility has not been aggressive. The figure is
record of his career. I refer to a monument to buoyantly picturesque, but it is also monumental.
Sir Harry Vane which now stands within the pre- I have pointed out the elements of a purely
cincts of the New Boston Public Library, that plastic character which give value to the work ot
stately building in which Sargent, Abbey, Whistler, Mr. MacMonnies, but in taking leave of that work
Vedder, Puvis de Chavannes and other men of it is desirable to emphasise what has already been
eminence have been given space for decorative work, said in regard to his individuality. It is a tem-
The statue by Mr. MacMonnies represents an peramental quality which after all endows his
Englishman of haughty yet elegant carriage, a man sculpture with charm. Say that it is conceived
who wore the attractive costume of his period with along perfect lines of design, say that it is executed
a due sense of its possibilities and was always in with power, that the modelling is full of subtlety
his bearing, as in his blood, a man of birth, of and of the most amazing skill. In touching upon
high antecedents. When he was Governor of these matters the essential substance of the work
Massachusetts in the seventeenth century there is traversed. Yet that which makes it linger in the
was perhaps no great dainti-
ness of dress among his
colonial friends, but it is
significant that Vane re-
turned to England long
before he died, and through-
out his career he was dis-
tinctly a citizen of the British
metropolis. Some critics
have thought that Mr. Mac-
Monnies has exaggerated
this trait of elegance in him.
He makes the Governor too
much a man of the world,
they say—nay, makes him a
curled exquisite, standing
there with very little of the
stern dignity of New Eng-
land about him. This
sounds plausible, but Sir
Harry Vane, for all his rec-
titude and stern feeling, was
a figure who lives in Ameri-
can and English history as
peculiarly gracious, and to
the comparatively youthful
years of his life which were
spent in the Colony there
undoubtedly belonged the
exterior and the gait which
Mr. MacMonnies has pre-
ferred to celebrate. To
return to the question of
composition, of equilibrium
which was mentioned just
now, I venture to assert that
this has as much merit as
the Hale and as the others.
The conception is virile as
usual, but the sculptor's fig. i.—oak door. {Seepage 26.) early xvi century
25