While not exactly belonging to the number of official decorations, Edward Trumbull's wall paintings in the unique Pennsylvania building are of great interest. Thoroughly dignified in their composition, they are most descriptive in their subject-matter. The "Pennsylvania Industries" are on the west side and "Penn's Treaty with the Indians" on the other. It is evident that Trumbull is a disciple of Brangwyn, though a personal note is not lacking in his work.
The tea-room of the California building harbors some mural decorations by Miss Florence Lundborg which the male part of the population can enjoy only by special invitation. I regret that they are not placed somewhere where the casual Exposition stroller can see them, because they are deserving of more attention than they are apt to receive. Miss Lundborg's artistic contributions have for many years been along the lines of decorations and in this big, well-composed figural scheme she discloses again a very fine, sympathetic understanding of the problems of a wall decoration. The color scheme is very refreshing and gives life to a large hall which has been endowed with unusual distinction by Miss Lundborg's art. A number of decorative floral medallions complete a scheme which is characterized throughout by dignity and sympathy.
The Illumination
Conclusion
While a daytime investigation of the Exposition no doubt has its rewards, the full meaning of the Exposition reveals itself at night. Never before has an Exposition been illuminated in the unique fashion of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition.
Former exposition lighting consisted of a lavish display of lighting fixtures, and of unavoidable millions of glaring bulbs, the number of which nobody was permitted to forget. The offensive glare of the direct light had to be eliminated to preserve that feeling of tonality, of restfulness, so impressive in daytime. In other words, the sources of all lights at night have been concealed, or so concentrated that they could be far removed, so as not directly to offend the eye. The effect is very much like the flood of light of a full-moon summer night.
In speaking of the rich mellowness of the lighting effect, one feels again compelled to speak of the travertine stucco as the artistic foundation of not only the architecture, sculpture, painting, and landscape garden effects, but also of the illuminating effects designed by Mr. W. D'A. Ryan, and executed by Mr. Guy L. Bayley. Without the mellow walls and rich orange sculptural details, no such picture of tonal beauty could have been produced.
It is difficult to single out, among the many suggestive pictures, the most alluring one, but I may safely say that the first half hour after the close of day, as enjoyed around the lagoon, with the Fine Arts Building in the background, reflected in the waters, will linger forever in the minds of all who are privileged to see it.
Such blues I have seen only in pictures by Maxfield Parrish. Combined with the rich gold of the colonnade, they are almost supernatural. The whole effect, as reflected in the placid surface of the lagoon, occasionally broken here and there by a slowly moving waterfowl, or the protruding mouth of a carp, is inspiring, and must awaken an aesthetic response in the soul of the most ordinary mortal. Very quickly, however, does this colorful picture change, and the very intense blue of the early evening sky rapidly changes into a colorless black.
The Palace of Fine Arts, above all others, offers many wonderful bits of enchantment at night. It seems to have been thought out not only for its daytime effect but for the night as well.
Of the inner courts, those with larger and smaller bodies of water are most effective at night. The Court of the Four Seasons, with its placid, shrub-encircled pool, is doubly interesting at night. The four wall-fountains add much to the outdoor feeling that this court possesses, by reason of the suggestive murmur of the waters, descending in gentle splashes from bowl to bowl.