THE VIGOR OF BARTLETT

LAFAYETTE, BY BARTLETT

In the square before the Louvre, Paris

Paul Wayland Bartlett was born in 1865 of artistic ancestry, his father being Truman Bartlett, teacher and critic. The boy grew up in Paris, entering the Beaux-Arts at the age of fifteen, and working also at the Jardin des Plantes under the helpful guidance of Frémiet, the great animalist. His art has always offered an interesting blend of the two influences, animal forms appearing in nearly all his compositions.

Bartlett’s first important exhibit was the “Bohemian Bear Trainer”; the second, the Indian “Ghost Dancer,” shown at the Chicago Exposition. Soon followed those striking works for the Congressional Library, his “Columbus” and “Michelangelo.” The former shows the discoverer in a new light,—no longer the gentle dreamer, the eloquent pleader, the enthusiast, nor yet the silent victim in chains, but a hero of might and confidence, hurling proud defiance at his calumniators. The “Michelangelo” is, if possible, an even more vivid though less vehement presentation of its theme. The short, gnomelike figure with stumpy legs; the big, powerful hands; the stern face, rough hewn, with its frown and tight lips,—all these combine to make this at first sight a not very winning presentation of the great master; but it has the quality that will outlive all others. It was left to an American sculptor to grasp his character profoundly, and to create an adequate representation of the mighty Florentine.

Bartlett’s young “Lafayette” stands in one of the most coveted sites in all Paris, in the square before the Louvre. It is well worthy of the honor, and is a monument to the artist’s capacity for “taking pains,” representing as it does many years of study and experiment.

Bartlett collaborated with Ward upon the pedimental group of the New York Stock Exchange, and a logical result of the good work done there was the commission to design the long awaited pediment for the House of Representatives in Washington, a gigantic undertaking of great significance, which is now in progress.

To select these six names out of a hundred seems invidious. One wants to talk of Herbert Adams and his beautiful busts, of Karl Bitter and all the fine things he has done, of MacNeil and Grafly and Aitken and the Piccirillis and the Borglums and all the rest, of the Boston men, of the women sculptors, even of the little western group; but space fails. They are all working enthusiastically for the love of their art and for the fair fame of America.

BLACK HAWK, BY LORADO TAFT

A concrete work of gigantic proportions, overlooking Rock River, Illinois.

SUPPLEMENTARY READING—“History of American Sculpture,” Lorado Taft; “American Masters of Sculpture,” Charles H. Caffin.

MAGAZINE ARTICLES—“George Grey Barnard, Sculptor,” G. B. Thaw World’s Work, December, 1902; “Daniel Chester French, Sculptor,” Lorado Taft Brush and Pencil, Vol. 5; “Bartlett” (“Some American Artists in Paris,”) Francis Keyser, Studio, Vol. 13; “Frederick MacMonnies, Sculptor,” H. H. Grier, Brush and Pencil, Vol. 10; “Augustus Saint Gaudens,” Kenyon Cox, Century, Vol. 13; “The Work of J. Q. A. Ward,” Russell Sturgis, Scribner’s, Vol. 32.

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Editorial

“Seek knowledge wherever it can be found throughout the world.” So spoke Mutsuhito, late Emperor of Japan. It was a favorite maxim of his, and one frequently repeated by his subjects. It might well be a legend of The Mentor, for the wise thought beneath that injunction of the emperor’s is just what inspired The Mentor plan.

The method pursued in The Mentor finds, too, a striking parallel in Japanese life. In seeking knowledge and in the enjoyment of beautiful things, the Japanese set their minds on “one thing at a time.” Their habit of thought and their method of study are such as might be expressed in The Mentor principle, “Learn one thing every day.”

The thoroughness of the Japanese is well known. Their intelligence, enterprise, and up-to-dateness have been illustrated many times in the arts of peace and in the science of war. In this one particular principle of concentration in study, and single mindedness in the enjoyment of beautiful things, the Japanese may well be taken as a model for the rest of mankind.

My friend Takashima showed me lately a beautiful vase. It stood on a pedestal in a room that seemed to me empty. Simple matting covered the floor; simply decorated screens covered the walls; a few pieces of furniture, equally simple, were all that the room contained—beside that vase. “Is it not beautiful?” he said, and then he gave me its history, telling me who, among the early masters of Chinese pottery, had designed and shaped this exquisite work of art. I remarked on the reverence that he showed for a single work of art in devoting a room to it alone. “Enjoy one thing of beauty at a time,” he said. “I could not enjoy this vase in a room filled with miscellaneous things. As well go to a shop. The mind would be in chaos—knowing nothing well and appreciating nothing to the full.”

Such had always been Takashima’s habit. He said it was a habit of his people. “Why,” he asked, “should you have more than one thing of beauty in your room at a time? Enjoy it to the full. Then place something else there, but, before removing it, get out of it all that there is in it of beauty and of knowledge. You cannot do this in the confusion of a room filled with many varied things.” The incident was so strikingly in accord with The Mentor idea that it seemed as if Takashima might the next moment have added the phrase, “Learn one thing every day.”

And so the principle underlying the plan of The Mentor Association is one approved and exercised by a nation of intelligent people. How many other people follow this direct and simple path to knowledge we cannot say, but that it is not only the direct and simple way, but the one satisfying and effective way of acquiring knowledge, is plain. On that principle The Mentor Association is founded, and by following that principle, the members of the Association can add day by day to their store of knowledge, and can fully and intelligently enjoy the beautiful things in art.

HENRY WARD BEECHER—JOHN QUINCY ADAMS WARD

REPRODUCED FROM “AMERICAN SCULPTURE” BY LORADO TAFT