A History of American Art [2]

Citation preview

Digitized by the Internet Archive in

2013

http://archive.org/details/historyofamerica02hart

\

A HISTORY OF AMERICAN ART

Cf)e art ILobets' Series Each volume profusely

illustrated

with full-page plates

mt of mtm THE RAPHAEL BOOK By Frank Roy

net

By

2 . so

.

3.00

.

.

2.50

.

.

4.00

M. Hurll

Estelle

A HISTORY OF AMERICAN ART.

2

vols.

By Sadakichi Hartmann

THE MADONNA IN ART By

1.50

M. Hurll

Estelle

CHILD LIFE IN ART By

1.50

M. Hurll

Estelle

ANGELS IN ART By

1.50

Clara Erskine Clement

SAINTS IN ART By

1.50

Clement

Clara Erskine

HEROINES OF THE BIBLE IN ART By

.

.

.

Sadakichi

1.50

Hartmann

SHAKESPEARE IN ART By

Sadakichi

1.50

Hartmann

LOVE IN ART

1.50

By Mary Knight

CLASSIC By

1.50

Ciara Erskine Clement

JAPANESE ART By

$2.50

Fraorie

THE WHISTLER BOOK By Sadakichi Hartmann ARTS AND CRAFTS IN THE MIDDLE AGES By Julia de Wolf Addison PORTRAITS AND PORTRAIT PAINTING

MYTHS

Julia de

Potter

IN ART

W. Addison

CHRIST IN ART By Joseph Lewis French

BEAUTIFUL

1.50

WOMEN

IN ART

By Armand Dayot

FAMOUS BEAUTIES IN ART By Armand Dayot MUSIC IN ART

.... ....

J*

53

PAGE & COMPANY

Beacon

Street, Boston,

1.50 1.50 1.50

By Luna May Ennis

L. C.

1.50

Mass.

Mural Panel

(detail)

In Boston Public Library

Photogravure from the painting by John

S.

Sargent

A HISTORY OF

AMERICAN ART By

SADAKICHI

In

HARTMANN

Two Volumes Vol.

II.

Illustrated

L. C.

BOSTON PAGE fcf COMPANY PUBLISHERS

Copyright, igoi

By

L. C.

Page & Compani

(incorporated)

All rights reserved

Fifth Impression, May, 1909 Sixth Impression, February, 1913

Colonial Press

Electrotyp6d and Printed by C. H. Simonds Boston, Mass., U. S. A.

&

Co.

CONTENTS. PAGE

CHAPTER I.

II.

III.

IV.

American Sculpture

.15

.

.

The Graphic Arts American Art in Europe

.

•

.

160

Latest Phases

•

•

•

223

American Art, Vol.

II.

.

94

LIST

OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE

— Mural Panel (Detail) Frontispiece 21 Powers. — Greek Slave Browne. — Statue of Washington 33 St. Gaudens. — Robert Louis Stevenson 47 Rogers. — Nydia Donoghue. — Venus 57 Sargent.

In Boston Public Library.

.

.

•

51

....

— —

Barnard. Two Frjends French. Death Staying the Hand of the Sculptor Adams. Bust of Mrs. Adams Triebel. Love Knows no Caste. • Linder. A Figure Proctor. Indian Warrior Farge. La Wolf Charmer

61

...

67

.

...... ....

75

....

83

— — — — — Pyle. — Illustration Gaul. — The Last Letter Wenzell. — Illustration Sterner. — Illustration Oakley. — Illustration Verbeck. — The Chicken Girl

79

99 103

.

•

.

.111

.

.

•

.

.

.

71

.

,

.

%

. .

•

115

.119 .125 .129

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE

— Thames Warehouses Stieglitz. — Winter Whistler. — Portrait of Carlyle Bridgman. — The Sacred Bull of Apis Whistler.

.

.

— The

Cassatt.

Rosenthal.

.133 155

.169 .

Toilet

— Constance

189

Beverly Neal Cromwell Entering the House of Milton vedder cum^ean sybil Sargent. Carmencita Vonnoh. Sad News Reid. The Calla Kronberg. Queen of the Ballet • . Lady in Brown Henri. Kline. Our Flag •

—

.

.

•

—

—

—

—

—

—

185

199

203 207

217

......

243

....

253

249

257 261

A HISTORY OF AMERICAN ART.

CHAPTER

L

AMERICAN SCULPTURE.

S

late

as

1816,

John Trumbull

declared to John Frazer, a stonecutter, that " sculpture

would not

be wanted here for a century."

This statement proved to be a paradoxical one.

To

this very

day

be said that there exists a sculpture

beyond

portrait

it

can hardly

demand statues

for

and

decorative

work, and yet some of

plastic art

compares favourably with the

best

that

times,

our

has been created in modern

and even before the time when

Trumbull and

his contemporaries, Copley,

1

A HISTORY OF AMERICAN ART.

6

West, Allston, and Stuart, demonstrated their capacity for pictorial art, a careful

observer could have noticed indications

an awakening for plastic art

of

in this

country.

William Rush, a ship carver by profession,

was the

trace

first

evidences

in

of

whose work we can a

genuine

gift

for

His figureheads of Indians or

modelling.

naval heroes added a regular merit to the

beauty of the merchant marine which

first

carried our flag to the farthest seas,

and

the men-of-war that wrested victory in so

many

a hard-fought battle.

His wooden

allegorical statue of the Schuylkill River, for

which a celebrated

belle of the time

consented to pose, standing

still

near the

water-works in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, is

one

American

statues.

painted a picture of statue.

and best

of

our

Thomas Eakins Rush modelling

has

of the earliest

this

AMERICAN SCULPTURE.

17

portrait reliefs in

wax

modelled rather high and delicately

col-

Also,

some small

work

oured, said to be mostly the smith,

— many examples

of a lock-

which can

of

still

be found in the possession of old families at

Philadelphia

and Newport,

The name

a decided artistic ability.

one of

Bordentown, N.

bust in marble,

—

— that

itself

artists,

John Wells,

in

however, only as

a

of

felt

in

several

who were

at

serving their apprenticeship, uninstructed

our

a portrait

Nevertheless, his

fact.

ence made

of

first

who executed

interesting,

historical

younger

come down

has

J.,

John Frazee was the

native sculptors

1824,

of

modellers, Joseph Wright,

of these

to us.

— showed

influ-

of

time

that

for,

the

though

and untrained except

for

rude and unpretentious monumental work for cemeteries,

he was a

feeling for the ideal.

man

with a true

Clavenger, another

stone-cutter, presents one instance

more

18

A HISTORY OF AMERICAN ART.

of the

sudden yearning toward the execu-

tion of the plastic art which, early in this

century, sought an expression in various parts

of

others

after

Like so many

country.

the

him, he

to Italy to find the

directed

He made

istic

portraits

of

path

knowledge which

native land could not give time.

his

several

poets

him

his

at that

truthfully real-

and

statesmen.

German by the name of Korwan executed several monuments which show Also, a

conscientious labour and good taste. It

was

not, however, before

the

rare

genius of a farmer's boy from Vermont asserted

itself

in

our sculpture, that

could be seriously considered as an

And, strange

art.

to say, at its very birth

produced some of

its

it

it

best effects, as the

founder of the American school of sculp-

Hiram

Powers (1805-73), was at the same time, with one exception, our ture,

foremost sculptor.

After being in turn

AMERICAN SCULPTURE.

19

clerk in a store, commercial traveller,

mechanic

in a clock factory,

and

he went to

Cincinnati in 1826, where he frequently

German artist and own talents. Speedily

visited the studio of a

there discovered his

acquiring a knowledge of modelling, he " artist "

secured a position as an

waxwork

department

Museum, where some illustrations

of

of

the

of

his "

Dante's

tracted attention.

in the

Western ingenious

Inferno

"

at-

Aided by the gener-

ous patronage of a Mr. Longworth, he executed

in

the

years

1834-37 several

portrait busts of notable public

men,

like

Webster, Jackson, Marshall and Calhoun.

They

are noteworthy for their vigour

vital

appearance, and in

scarcely surpassed

by any

and

these respects of his subse-

quent work. In 1837 Powers went to Italy, and

Florence his permanent home.

made

There he

rapidly developed into one of the

most

A HISTORY OF AMERICAN ART.

20

brilliant

representatives

the

of

classic

school.

Sculpture at that period was

entirely

under the canons

The

still

antiquity.

of

note of modernity had not yet been

Canova and Thorwaldsen were

sounded.

the generally recognised ideals, and thus

young

also

Powers

strove

of line, perfection of form,

for

purity

and dignity

of

working

is

conception.

His method

said to have

been rather mechanical, but

we cannot help admiring His famous

"

of

the final results.

Greek Slave,"

at

the Cor-

coran Art Gallery, inspired by enthusiasm for the Greeks, then struggling with the

Turks

for liberty,

is still

the best nude, in

marble, our country has produced, despite the fact that she reminds

the

Venus

His "

"

of

of Medici.

Penseroso,"

Proserpine,"

to us,

some people

"

Fisher

Boy," and

seem rather old-fashioned

costume and drapery were not his

strength,

and the treatment

of

accesso-

Powers.

— Greek

Slave.

ries

AMERICAN SCULPTURE.

23

becomes almost obtrusive

at times.

The " California," at the Metropolitan Museum, a nude, symbolical figure with a wishing-rod in her hand,

open

creation, although

tiful

as to

its

also a beauto criticism

Powers never

proportions.

lowed himself to give emotion.

is

al-

vent to his

full

Puritanism rooted too deeply in

him

to allow

ous

effects.

him

to strive for

Only

more sensu-

a few cases

in

his

genius proved superior to the convention-

and After the Fall

his "

and

alities of tradition, "

Eve Before

are two statues with

whose idealism and academic workmanship one can find but these

little

With

fault.

noble works he earned his rank

very near to that of Canova and Thor-

waldsen

worthy

and

rendered

of lasting

his

art

career

remembrance.

Horatio Greenough, a contemporary of

Powers and

whose statue

also a resident of Florence, of

Washington seated

half

24

A HISTORY OF AMERICAN ART.

nude

on

sword

in

a

his left

of the Capitol),

Roman

holding a

throne,

hand

the grounds

(in

shows how

little

the true

vocation of sculpture was understood, will

only be remembered by the Bunker Hill

Monument, which

impressive by the

is

size of its proportions.

A

more talented

Thomas

Crawford

artist

by

far

was

In

his

(1813-57).

work we

find a certain largeness, not too

common

in

He was

our art

of sculpture.

There

is

our Allston

a classic majesty

and a mediaeval grandeur about

his

works

which compare favourably with the heroic canvases of the

Among "

his

" artist of

Cambridgeport."

most important works are

his

Orpheus," the colossal bust of Beethoven

at Boston, the impressive equestrian statue

of

Washington

at

Richmond, the

and graceful figure

dome of

of

stately

Liberty on

the

the Capitol, by far too beautiful to

be placed out of sight, and the bronze door

AMERICAN SCULPTURE. for the Capitol, illustrating the

Revolution,

which

masterpiece.

In

arranged

exhibition

an

work, one of the

is

American

undoubtedly

of

his

Sumner

Charles

1842

first "

25

Crawford's

one-man shows

"

ever attempted.

Another sculptor, (1825-92),

door

The

Capitol.

Randolph Rogers

most favourably known by

is

his bronze

also,

in

the rotunda of

the

eight panels, representing

scenes from the history of Columbus, indicate fine sentiment and fancy.

Of course

he borrowed the idea from Ghiberti, artist

attempting a bronze door can escape

that influence,

— but yet had

ability suffi-

The

cient to give us an original version. "

Angel

ment one

of Resurrection," for the

monu-

of Colonel Hall at Hartford, is also

of his

most important

The work

of

creations.

Paul Akers, of Portland,

showed considerable

man

— no

of fine taste

ability.

He was

a

and temperament, and

A HISTORY OF AMERICAN ART.

26

could probably have done great things,

if

he had not died before his powers attained

His

maturity. quisite

original

and

ideal

"

his

Pearl Diver

Hawthorne his "

Elizabeth

creation,

beautiful,

and the

" St.

"

and

bust

an ex-

tenderly of

Milton

inspired Nathaniel

Marble Faun." Bartholomew, "

Ganymede," and

who

is

to a beautiful description

necticut, the sculptor of "

"

"

of

in

Con-

Eve Repentant,"

Hagar and Ishmael,"

died in his thirty-fourth year, also

achieved

little

immortality.

imbued with

more than

a promise

of

Everything he made was his

own

spirit, instinct

with

refinement and fanciful poetry.

A

noteworthy circumstance

omew's

That

life

is

was his

surely no

in Barthol-

total colour-blindness.

disqualification

in

a

many may think, but I have met who not only think otherwise, but

sculptor,

several

are conscious of a sense of colour while

modelling.

AMERICAN SCULPTURE.

27

All the sculptors of this period were

men

rather

Joel T.

Harts

"

tona

and

works

"

of

genius.

"

Woman

and

M

of E.

"

Rineharts

La-

Frank-

his " Sleeping Infants,"

Simmons's

lin

than

Angelina

W. H.

Triumphant," "

talent

of

Promised Land," and the

D. Palmer and Thomas Ball

show many praiseworthy

traits,

— they

are in fact pieces of sculpture that would

do honour

to

any

rich

man's vestibule,

but they lack breadth of view and

ment.

The

They

were perhaps sincere and

conscientious enough,

dustry

who won

men

of

conditions were unfortunate

men

time the

good

in-

their reputation step

step by thoughtful calculation.

of

treat-

and academic.

are cold

artists

—

;

by

But the

the majority

received their ideas about art at a

when fashion

colonial architecture in

this

was

country, and

still

when

nothing was called perfect and beautiful in sculpture unless

it

was produced under

A HISTORY OF AMERICAN ART.

28

the strict regulations of the pseudo-classic style

and cut

in marble, the only recog-

nised

medium

of expression at that time,

not by the artist himself but by Italian

No

workmen.

sonality was,

it

tional technical

such

within

of those

impossible to

its

conven-

William Wet-

methods.

more Story was one found

a per-

could not give vent to

fancies

individual

how marked

matter

men who his

lofty

conceptions in his finished work.

His

"

it

Jerusalem

realise

" Cleopatra,"

Lamenting,"

" (the latter at

the Metropolitan Medea Museum) might have become master-

"

pieces

treated with

if

the

broader and

more picturesque methods of to-day. Harriet Hosmer, who worked in a similar strain,

sex, for

owed her success

until

this

century

exceedingly rare to see a ling clay

Other

largely to her

had been

it

woman

model-

and chiselling marble. sculptors, the direct

outcome

of

AMERICAN SCULPTURE. the period, were

Howard

Roberts, of Phil-

somewhat

adelphia, with his original but

sensational

"

Hypatia

"

29

and

"

Lots Wife,"

Volk, Ives, and

W.

est of the living

exponents of the classic

Couper, the young-

style.

By taste

more sympathetic

far

to

was the decorative work

Gould, of

with mastery. like the

He

Boston.

"

modern of

T. R.

handled drapery

His more ambitious works,

Ascending

Spirit " at Mt.

Au-

burn, bear the traits of his contemporaries. In pure

sandstone in

decorative fancies, like his red relief of

an old Viking warrior

helmet and flowing beard, which he

pleased to call "

The Ghost

he was seen at his

best.

of

Hamlet,"

Gould and

his

later career drifted entirely out of sight,

the latest news of in the

Sandwich

a bust of

Nearly

him being Islands,

his residence

where he made

King Kamehameha. all

the sculptors of this period

A HISTORY OF AMERICAN ART.

30

had not only made but

their studies in Italy,

permanently

lived

Rome

in

or

Florence.

At

the end of the sixties with Martin

Milmore and Mills

as pioneers

began the

era of equestrian statues, soon to be

lowed by innumerable

sailor

and

fol-

soldier

monuments, and other military memorials in

honour

of the

dead heroes of the Seces-

The American

sion war.

sculptors be-

came more stay-at-homes and abandoned former

ideals

more

for

About 1875 the monuments began

time-pleasing

work.

inflow of munici-

pal

in

earnest;

and

has continued with unabated force ever since.

The

successful dexterity,

General

—

first

ventures

Mills, a

man

had proved

of considerable

had received $50,000 Washington,

mechanical

skill,

notable

for

for

his

the

which so balanced the

weight that the prancing steed without other support than

its

stands

own pon-

1

AMERICAN SCULPTURE.

— and

derosity

hundreds

3

and

probably

thousands of statues and groups

pronounced foundry type were

and are our

erected

being erected in nearly

still

Some

cities.

them

of

are

and

they

that

Not more than one

there.

any respect

artistic,

public still

ever thor-

remain

in fifty

and nearly

as-

is

tounded to think that they were permitted to be placed in

all

such

of

exceptional uncouthness that one

oughfares

the

of

all

is

in

show

the thoughtless and careless workmanship,

due

to the

haste

and hurry with which

such commissions generally have to be executed in order to throw off a profit to the contractor.

A

few

men were

tions.

Franklin

Navy

Monument

hibits in parts

and sense kin

J.

for

praiseworthy excep-

Army and

Simmon's

some

at

Washington

ex-

true artistic feeling

monumental beauty.

Meade, a resident

of

Lar-

Florence,

A HISTORY OF AMERICAN ART.

32

became known by

monument

Abraham Lincoln

his

at Springfield,

111.,

a work of

colossal dimensions, ranking in size with

the

mammoth monument

designed by

Hammond

at

Plymouth,

Billings,

Meade

superior in decorative feeling. in truth

our

his sense for

first

but really is

decorative sculptor, and

rythmic lines and the ac-

centuation of light and shade have rarely

been surpassed.

charm in the

of colour

him

and purity

in securing

of expression

rendition of strictly classic forms

was not long for

His success

in

in creating a

modern

unique place

sculpture.

Thomas Ball (1819- ) was who first realised the difficulty trian sculpture. To design a

the

man

of eques-

horse in

motion, the artist should, one might suppose, love horses, but

most sculptors have

no natural equine bias and, only

after

accepting a commission, begin to study a horse for the purpose

of

information

Browne.

— Statue

of Washington.

AMERICAN SCULPTURE. rather

from

than

35

sympathetic

feeling.

Ball struggled with these difficulties with

very creditable success, and gave us in

Wash-

his equestrian statues of General

ington and General Scott attractive speci-

mens

of the

war-horse.

Arab steed and the American It was however left to H. K.

Browne, active also in ideal figure work, of

which his

lar,

"

Ruth

"

became most popu-

to give us in the General

on the Union Square,

Washington

New York,

the best

equestrian statue which America had pro-

duced

good

until then,

and the verdict

holds

still

Browne's work was very un-

to-day.

even, at times even hopelessly mediocre;

strange that the same sculptor should pro-

duce such a masterpiece as his Washington.

The

simplicity

and

solidity of

appearance are highly impressive

monument which bespeaks which has a touch noticeable in

of

American

;

its

it is

genius,

a

and

grandeur seldom sculpture.

"

A HISTORY OF AMERICAN ART.

36

The new

school,

canons of Greek

which broke with the

art

and

tried to see

with eyes, and to translate

it

spirited compositions of a

form

into fresh

more

and

pictorial

tendency and an individuality of touch,

W.

began with E. D. Palmer and

O'Donovan, whose earHer

potrait

R.

busts

show a vigorous technique and almost startling grasp of character. "

Washington Crossing

and

"

The in

which

conjunction

reliefs

Delaware

Trenton

of

Monument,

Trenton

worked

Battle

the

His

for

"

he

with

the

lately

Thomas

Eakins, are delightful in their naive and picturesque realism.

Other men who char-

acterise this stage of

which our

plastic art

transition

was passing

early eighties were Olin in realistic portraits

ley

and C. Calverly

more than Cincinnati.

and of

through in the

Warner, excellent bas-reliefs,

New

Hart-

York, and the

ordinarily talented Dengler of

Also Launt Thompson be-

AMERICAN SCULPTURE.

Among

longs to this period.

may be mentioned Sedgwick

eral

at

37 his

works

Edwin Booth, GenWest Point, President his

Pierson of Yale College, and his

rather

unsatisfactory bronze figure of Napoleon at

Museum.

Metropolitan

the

Rogers enjoyed popularity

groups,

at the

with

same time great numerous

his

and although

they

realism

genre

cannot

taken very seriously as works of

how

John

art,

be

show

became more and more the

order of the day in our

new

school of

sculpture.

Dr.

W. Rimmer

(1860-79), powerful in

the modelling of quaint archaic fancies

and the drawing lines, a

of weird fantasies in out-

master of art anatomy and author

of a valuable

work on

also exerting

an important influence

this

subject,

was in

drawing attention to a more simple study of the

Cooper

human

figure.

Institute,

New

He

taught in the

York, 1865-74 and

A HISTORY OF AMERICAN ART.

38

directed the studies of several of our

He was

ing sculptors. liant

one

phenomena, who are too

ideal to

ris-

of those bril-

versatile

and

produce anything of lasting value

themselves.

The ture,

American

latest efforts of

however, are

direction.

an

in

sculp-

entirely

new

Until 1890 the decoration of

had rarely

civic structures with sculpture

been attempted.

The World's

Fair gave

a sudden impetus to decorative sculpture.

The

Worlds

buildings of the

Fair, with

their boundless wealth of columns, arcades,

fountains, statues, groups,

and high

reliefs,

with the addition of the festal features of fluttering

banners,

decorated

craft,

ment

giving

to the waterways,

intensely on

all

sharply outlined the

rich

blue,

this

life

and

move-

— the sun shining

glowing whiteness,

against

unlimited

awnings, gaily

the

surfaces

sky,

of

and

Lake

Michigan, opened the eyes of the archi-

AMERICAN SCULPTURE.

39

tects to the practical possibilities of this

new and

rich

addition

have taken place

ture

is

in

eigners,

life casts,

ble,

said

sculp-

executed by Phidias's

and for-

art

nothing but a superior form

mechanism,

The

is

American

mostly Germans.

at present

of

plastic

largely limited to architectural

" exposition " sculpture,

is

our

But the Renaissance that

art.

to

to

depending

calipers,

entirely

on

and pointing-machines.

delight of touching a block of mar-

pregnant with ideal

human

form, re-

Many of our sculptors do even know how marble feels, and for

mains a myth. not

years at a time do not have the opportunity to touch a block of

according to Platen, the classic poet,

aesthetic

is

one

Carrara, which,

German pseudo-

of the

enjoyments

that

most delicious this

perhaps

prosaic, but nevertheless very virile

joyous, world of ours offers to

choly children.

its

and

melan-

A HISTORY OF AMERICAN ART.

40

Although one may wander over

the

borough

one

Manhattan, from

of

Inwood, and from river

the Battery to to river,

not have the opportunity

will

to halt before a statue or

exclaim, " This

is

once or twice.

strikers

on

monument, and

beautiful

"

the

"

take a fancy

Hale,"

Herald

more than

!

One may

MacMonnies's

to

days

for

to

the

bell-

Building,

the

Columbus monument, the Farragut

in

Madison Square, or the equestrian Washington opposite Keith's, but one will seek in

vain for a single

ideal

statue

or a

graceful fountain.

There

is

no demand

for

ideal

figure

work, hardly for portrait busts, and the bric-a-brac statuary

The

is

nearly

all

imported.

majority of the statues for the

Wash-

ington Library, the Appellate Court Building,

New

York, and the Pan-American

Exposition are solemn infamies in the barrenness of their ideas and incompetence

:

!

AMERICAN SCULPTURE. of

Despite the numerous

workmanship.

and the well-stored

schools casts,

4I

galleries

which should increase the

for the

growth

of a

home

art,

faculties

sculpture

has become shamelessly mercenary. don't be too hard on the tors.

American

American sculpture

is

of

Yet sculp-

strictly

and

necessarily commercial for two reasons first,

work and

that only decorative

trait statues are in

intended

by

por-

demand, which, super-

architects,

politicians,

and

other lay committees, do not permit a free

unfolding of art; second, that sculpture is

very expensive, the cost of

material,

and

recasting,

help, iron, supports, casting

forcing the sculptor to execute his work

only so well as he can afford.

Is

it

any

wonder that sculpture has degraded, when so

many

regard

and depend upon

And

it

it

in the very

as an ordinary trade, for a livelihood

midst of these deplor-

able conditions, the genius of

Augustus

A HISTORY OF AMERICAN ART.

42

Gaudens (1848same dignity as do St.

gut and Lincoln.

trained

in

plastic

art,

the

his statues of Farra.

genius

a

Paris,

of

thoroughly

modern

best

that

looms up with the

Superior in technical

moved by

skill,

)

school

of

Gaudens

St.

has given us one masterpiece after the

He was

other.

born at Dublin, Ireland,

Irish-French parentage, and

of

this

country as an infant.

the

Ecole des

his

to

studied at

Beaux Arts, and under on

his return

he began

once to work independently.

Already

Jouffroy at Paris at

He

came

first

serious

;

work, executed at the

age of twenty-nine, the exquisite group of angels, called "

Cross,"

in

St.

The Adoration

Thomas's Church,

of the

New

York, had to be considered one of the

most important and beautiful works

in

the country.

He

was capable

of

producing master-

pieces within the very limitations of his

AMERICAN SCULPTURE.

He

profession.

43

never overstepped them,

but he never undertook a commission

when he knew to

justice

it,

that he could not do full

because the remuneration

was too small or

And tist

enough

yet he was

and

own

his talents not sufficient. of a diploma-

get more work, at his

artist to

than he can execute during his

price,

lifetime. " I

ever

do not think that an be

too

artist

remarked

conscientious,"

Mr. Augustus

St.

Gaudens

can

to

me one

afternoon in his studio.

This one sentence explains his art; is

the key-note of

left his

crease

Nothing

his work.

studio which was not as perfect as

he could make

months

all

it

at

of

it.

the

a

He would model

fold

trousers.

the tower of the

of

a

coat or the

His

had

it

Diana

for

Madison Square Gar-

den did not please him when up, so he

for

it

was put

taken down, remodelled,

A HISTORY OF AMERICAN ART.

44

and

recast

at

his

own

shunned no labour and big commissions colleagues

view, to

of

Whatever he may lack ness,

envy

and

his

all

his

of

mere nothing.

a in

finan-

power and

bold-

he makes good by conscientiousness,

which gives

to

charm

peculiar

and even the of

pains,

— often dwindled, from a

point

cial

— the

He

expense.

the

all

of

his

compositions a

harmony and

austere,

awkward costume

Puritan assumed

under his gentle but

sincerity,

artistic

virile

shape

touch.

All his work bears the stamp of great-

which

ness,

more than was

in

will

appeal to posterity even

to the present.

And

no way a revolutionary

yet he

spirit,

who

astonished us by boldness and an abun-

dance of

He

ideas.

never attempted to raise himself

above the narrow lines that contemporary conditions have so tightly drawn around

American

sculpture, clearly

shown

in his

AMERICAN SCULPTURE.

45

submitting to the ridiculous accusations of the

Worlds

impropriety of his

medal, instead of flinging

it

Fair

into the face

of his critics, but within these limitations

he has achieved more than

He

artist.

is

a true product of his time.

Gaudens has succeeded

St.

ues and

reliefs

in

as highly artistic

in a realistic as well

manner,

body has excelled him if

for nothing else,

history of

He

in his stat-

rendering our modern

costume picturesque

this,

any other

— probably no— and

in

he

for

it,

will live in the

art.

has actually succeeded in reducing

the garb of to-day into decoration, and

is

convincing us that a dress-coat and trousers are possible in sculpture.

The

cary-

atides for Cornelius Vanderbilt s mansion,

and the angel sent his

more

of the ideal

Morgan tomb, reprework they have the ;

exquisite grace, super-refinement,

and sug-

gestive quality that are characteristic of

A HISTORY OF AMERICAN ART.

46

Dewings and Abbott Thayer's

figure

work.

His

"

Puritan," at Springfield, Mass.,

the best costume figure that has been

still

cast in bronze

But

on

this side of the Atlantic.

it is, I

venture to say, in his

"Sons

of Prescott Hill Buller," of

of the