Sculpture. Flanking the great arch are columns carrying the nude figure of a man, with hands crossed, gazing fixedly in thought. In the official list this is called "Philosophy" or "Thought," and from it the immense portal is called "The Half-dome of Philosophy." But the same figure occupies the corresponding position before the Food Products Palace, and is there called "Physical Vigor." The truth is that the artist designed the statue to suggest that finest of all unions of strength, the physically powerful man thinking. Thus the figure is appropriate to both a food products building and an education building. The figure is strong, but is not so convincing or appealing as the same artist's "Man with a Pick," in the Varied Industries portal. Within the half-dome is a repeated figure with a scroll inscribed "Libris," by Albert Weinert.
The six niches in the west wall have two repeated statues by Charles R. Harley, known as "The Triumph of the Field" and "Abundance." They are simply repeated from the Food Products Palace to the north, where they properly belong, and will be treated in the next chapter in connection with that building.
On the north facade of the Palace of Education are duplicates of the three south portals, with the same sculptured panels.
Palaces Facing the Marina, and the Column of Progress
The walled-city idea, which throws most of the fine architecture into interior courts, is even more severely carried out in the north facades than in the south. The palaces on the Marina, indeed, present a wall unbroken except by the central doorways and the slight corner projections. The small domes at the corners give a Moorish touch, reminiscent of Southern Spain, and the portals are direct adaptations from Spanish masterpieces.
Palace of Mines
The north facade of the Palace of Mines is free from all ornament except the richly decorative central portal. This is worthy of prolonged study, being one of the finest bits of architectural ornament at the Exposition. It is designed very closely after Spanish models, and is of that transitional period of Spanish architecture that came between the Gothic and the Renaissance, when Gothic had been enriched through the influence of Moorish art, and was just beginning to feel the impulse of the Italian Renaissance. Note how rich is every part of the detail; then note how all detail is subordinated to the mass effect of the whole.
The statues in the niches of the portal are by Allen Newman. The central mantled figure is called the "Conquistador," or conqueror. The artist has here portrayed in spirited fashion a fine type of Spanish nobility. The figure in the side niches, with an old-style pistol in his belt and a rope in his hand, is "The Pirate."
The east facade of the Palace of Mines duplicates that of the Varied Industries Palace, and the west facade forms one side of the north Court of Abundance.
Palace of Transportation