A Daughter of the Sea
North Aisle, Court of Ages

In this "Daughter of the Sea," Sherry E. Fry has given us a nymph who typifies the life within the watery sphere where it is deep and broad. She has the robustness, volume and vigor of the great high seas. She is deep-bosomed and broad of thigh and stands as though storms and monsters had no terrors, as one accustomed to breast and conquer the waves. Water creatures supplement her, but she seems made on too goddess-like a scale to disport herself with them. It is interesting to contrast this nymph of the fathomless trough of the sea with the arch and playful Water Sprites of the froth and ripple, on the columns within the Court of Ages. This statue is placed in the Forecourt of Ages, facing the Marina, the court that is designed to graduate the richness of the larger court toward the more severe facades on the Marina. Sherry E. Fry's work, in a less rugged vein, appears upon Festival Hall.

The Fairy
Finial Figure, Italian Towers

The gay and gracefully ethereal towers on corner pavilions at the entrance to the Court of Palms and the Court of Flowers, sometimes called The Kelham Towers for their architect, are pointed by a long and pleasing slope of wings. Carl Gruppe's slender Fairy stands upon them, poised, as though just alighted. This finial figure has a pretty wistfulness that suggests the whimsical firefly fairies of Peter Pan more than the conventional gauzy creatures of ordinary fairy tale, and is more like a female counterpart of Shakespeare's "delicate Ariel" who sucks "where the bee sucks" than any other creature of fancy. The curving antennae increase this impression. She carries in her hand a whirling star. The silhouette of the figure is attractive and the halo of sky behind the head framed within the circle of the wings, lends a distinct charm. It is pleasant to have this symbol of imagination over the Exhibit palaces, especially in the Courts of Palms and Flowers, more suited to the fairy feeling than, perhaps, any other spot upon the grounds.

Flower Girl
Niche, Court of Flowers

The perfect balance of this "Flower Girl" by A. Stirling Calder, saved from any hint of rigidity by the graceful curves of its extended lines, makes it an admirable wall decoration. Harmony with the wall-niche in which it appears is part of its allurement. The sculptor has modestly sought to merge the figure's loveliness into that of the Court and has succeeded in increasing both. "The Flower Girl" appears in outer niches of the attic cloister of the court bearing her name, the Court of Flowers. A light garlanded mantle falls like a petal from her shoulders, the floating edge following the line of the nymph's divided hair, so that the maiden seems more like a flower itself than a flowerbearer. However, she has the sculptural solidity necessary for her location and resembles not some frail, wind-blown blossom, but the robust and buxom California blooms that flourish in the court below her.

Beauty and the Beast
Fountain Detail, Court of Flowers

The Fountain of Beauty and the Beast in the Court of Flowers accentuates the feeling of gentle fancy and the spirit of the fairytale that are the mood of this and its companion court. It is by Edgar Walter, a distinguished San Franciscan; he has given us a delightful, playful and tender rendition of the old tale that has held the imagination of the world since it first appeared in Straparola's "Piacevoli Notti" in 1550. Since it was popularized by Madame le Prince de Beaumont in 1757, the story has been translated into every language. The fountain shows, with great restraint and refinement of handling, one of Beauty's ministrations to the sick monster shortly before his transformation. It is subject to the symbolism that may be read into the story itself; but the note of fairy magic is the essential theme of the fountain. Quaint fairy pipers, the unseen musicians of the Monster's Palace, stand about the pedestal. The lower basin bears a frieze of charmed or enchanted beasts, very lightly handled and not insistent. Their idea is continued in the court by the gryphon decorations and Albert Laessle's wreath-bearing Friendly Lions, at the entrances to the palaces.

Caryatid
Court of Palms

The Court of Palms is restful, meditative, a place where the feeling of magical allure takes a deeper, more subjective character. It might well be called the Court of Pools, for two, quiet pools, one circular, one oblong except for its concave side to hold the other, fill the floor of its sunken garden and reflect its pensive as well as its physical charms. The Caryatids repeated throughout this court are the joint work of John Bateman and A. Stirling Calder. They inject into the court its fairy spirit without disturbing its repose. They are Puckish, bat-winged, goblin-horned fairy creatures of an eerie beauty, elfin, roguish and quaint. Their quality is enhanced by the beautiful color that has been applied to them, to the garlanded panels between them, to the cartouches over the archways and, indeed, to all the decorations on the walls and columns of this court. This richness and depth of color leads the eye to the three splendid mural lunettes in the arches. These are Childe Hassam's "Fruit and Flowers" and Charles Holloway's "Pursuit of Pleasure," at the entrances to the palaces, and Arthur Mathews' "Victory of Culture Over Force" in the portal that leads to the Court of the Four Seasons and frames a vista of the bay.