ART AND PROGRESS- ... . .... '....

VOLUME VI

NOVEMBER, 1914-0CTOBER, 1915

PUBLISHED BY

THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF ARTSNEW YORK, N. Y. WASHI~GTON, D. C. CHICAGO, ILL.

446 ART AND PROGRESS

most important American tapestries arethose woven for definite positions in privateresidences and public buildings, from whichthey could not be dislodged for exhibitionpurposes. Consequent1;y the failure of theexhibition to consist entirely of master-

pieces, and to seem harmoniously assembledand well hung, must be attributed not tolack of good will or fine accomplishmenton the part of the makers, but to circum­stances beyond their control and inherentin the nature of their industry.

FINE ARTS AT THE SAN DIEGO EXPOSITIONBY MARK S. WATSON

ENTIRELY aside from such commer­cial benefit as may have accrued from

world's fairs of the past, there has beengiven to the fine arts a distinct stimulusthrough their" instrumentality. To theWorld's Columbian Exposition, Chicagoprobably owes in very large part its subse­quent interest, her artistic development asdemonstrated by the Art Institute ofChicago most notably, and in very strongmeasure by the great lake front improve­ments which have been going on almoststeadily since that time. In the field ofarchitecture the Chicago fair struck a notewhich certainly has not been equalled sincethen and it probably never will be equalIedagain in the constructions of expositions.The pity of it is that of the "MajesticWhite Cit;y" scarcely anything now stands.The Seattle fair, while not approachingChicago in magnitude, introduced oneinteresting feature; viz., the permanencyof certain of the buildings. The San DiegoExposition has retained this idea, and manyof the structures wiII stand long after theExposition has become a thing of the past.So far as magnitude is concerned, SanDiego, of course, made no attempt to rivalChicago, neithcr did it make any attemptto rival San Francisco. whose Panama­Pacific International Exposition opened afew weeks after the San Diego Exposition.

But aside from the permanent features,San Diego has contributed to world's fairarchitecture one of the most importantideas which world's fair history has chroni­cled-the development in the United Statesof the Spanish-Colonial school. Becauseof thc dominance of the architecturalsplendor at San Diego, this feature isworthy of considerable study. The men­tion of .• Spanish-Colonial" stirs in the

mind of the layman a recollection ofCalifornia mission architecture, and not afew visitors to the coast have gone to SanDiego expecting to see the missions rebuiltat the Exposition grounds. They haveseen excelIent types of the mission but theyhave seen a great deal more, for the SpanishColonial includes vastly more than themission type of architecture.

The discovery of the New World byChristopher Columbus can be considered,of course, as the start of Spanish develop­ment in the west. It was only a few yearslater when Balboa came to the mainlandand in rapid succession, there came Cortez,Pizzaro, Coronado and other conquista­dores. bringing with them a rabble ofsoldiers and common adventurers. Thehistory of their exploits in Central andSouth America, in the course of whichthey managed to strip the Aztecs andIncas of the enormous wealth that theancient red men had piled up, is fairl~­

familiar with everyone who knows any­thing of early American history. Muchless is known, however. of the artisticdevelopment which folIowed the earlyconquests and went hand in hand with thelater economic development. such as it was.For a long time Spain had been dominatedby the Moors; against the l'floors werepitted small states in the Spanish peninsula,none of them strong enough to offer anyeffective opposition to the Oriental people.At length came the marriage of Ferdinandand Isabella which united two of thestrongest principalities and rallied to theirsupport other small states. This was thebeginning of the end of Moorish occupancyand domination of Spain. In a very shorttime the new Spanish monarchy hadthrown practicalIy all of the Moors out

IS THE BOTASICAL GARDENS SAN DIEGO EXPOSITIO:'ol

ACROSS THE M;I'LA:'oIAIJE SA:\ DIEGO EXI'OSITION

C)o~-rv

I

rllml A LO<iOlA O\'EIlI.OOKISO EL I'IlADO SAN nrt:Oo EXPOSITION

FINE ARTS AT THE SAX DIEGO EXPOSITION 449

of the peninsula, but before throwing themout had taken pains to deprive them ofeverything which the Spanish conquerorscould seize. The Moors carried with thema good deal of movable property, but leftbehind them their palaces and the greaterpart of their wealth. l'p to that timethe Spanish people had subsisted in themost meagre way; the country was wretch­edly poor and the people who inhabitedit were consequently poverty-stricken.There were no great buildings to speak of,other than those which the Moors had builtand controlled absolutely. Thus a peoplewhose opportunities had not madc possiblethe development of taste were suddenlyendowed with more wealth than they hadan;y idea existed. It was somewhat of abenevolent despotism for a time and thewealth stolen from the Moors was reallyfairly well divided among the Spanish con­querors, geographically at least.

Equipped with this vast wealth, thcSpanish people proceeded to spend it insuch a way as to get the greatest possibledisplay, thereby showing that the nouveauxriches are by no means a present-day de­velopment. The only difference was thatinstead of putting the money into paintingsand yachts, automobiles and extravagantdinners, the Spaniards put it into somethingwhere they thought the display would beas great as anywhere else, viz., into resi­dences and semi-public buildings. Beforethis wealth had been assimilated, there wasgoing from the new world a still morecolossal amount in the form of the metalsstolen from the American Indians, andbefore that wealth had been assimilated,there had begun the tremendous flood ofAmerican products which the Spanishsettlers were developing and sending home.So much for economic conditions in thisfield.

Now take into consideration what washappening to the adventurers who hadfollowed the Spanish leaders into CentralAmerica. In order to maintain discipline,the leaders had allowed their soldiers totake just about what they chose from thetreasure caves that they uncovered. Thusordinary soldiers suddenly became equippedwith an enormous amount of convertiblesecurities. Having lived a little time inAmerica, most of them decided to go back

to Spain and spread their wealth be­fore their former acquaintances, and thusthere started the movement back to Spain.Arriving there, the veterans proceededto make a much more lavish displa:~' thanhad been made by their companions thathad remained in Spain. It is generallyunderstood that Cortez was entirel~' il­literate; that is certainl~, tnJe of most ofhis lil'utcnants and practically all of hiscommon soldiers. It is not to be wonderedat that architecture went mad. Therewere no artisans or artists in Spain at thetime, for there had been nothing to en­courage them. Hence the newly "endowedSpaniards sen t to Italy and obtained realartists; they sent to France, even to Ger­many and to Greece and to the Orient.It was a time when architecture was par­ticularly florid anyway, and under theencouragement of the wealth which theSpaniards were willing to lavish on theirbuilding, and under the further impetusof a shocking taste which would not begainsaid in view of the fact that the ownerof that taste also owned the funds, Spanisharchitecture developed into probably themost extravagant forms which architecturehas ever seen. Out of this sprang theSpanish Colonial.

The conquistadores soon discovered thatthey were not picked up by their old ac­quaintances as they expected to be; theyfound that there was a profound distinctionbetween castes on the Spanish peninsulaand the old aristocracy refused to haveanything to do with the newly rich soldiers.It was only natural that the great majorityof these soldiers consequently decided toreturn to America where they were heldin more respect, largely because of theforce of arms. And thus began anotherbig movement across the water. InAmerica for decades there were no artists orarchitects whatever. There were not evenskilled artisans. The soldiers had spentin Spain only sufficient time to note theextraordinary change in the appearanceof their old cities. Previously they hadseldom seen the outside of a single goodbuilding, and as the only good buildingsof that day were churches and cathedrals,it was unlikely that they had ever seenthe inside of any; but impressed as theywere by the violent beauties which they

In:STIVAIlIl IX EI, I'llAI)()

had seen dllTill~ their brief stay. the,"carried a hazy recollection back to Alm~rica

with thclll and in the cities of HCW Spainprocced(~d to build structures as nearly aspossible like those which they had just Il'ft.There were no plans to work frolll and onlythe hazy ideas which the Spaniards wereable to present to such architects as theyfound. :Moreover there were no skilled

450

SA S OIElIO t:xPOsmos

artisans whatever. and all the buildingshad to be erected by Indian lahor. Enoughis known of Indian skill from the ancientcities which have been unearthed in recentdecades to know that the Indians didhave a great deal of artistic ability, butit is cntirel.\' impossible to suppose thatthey could have jumped into the newfield of work and imitated the white hand

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FINE ARTS AT THE SAN DIEGO EXPOSITION 451

with any degree of accuracy. The detailwas slough~d almost without exception. Ingeneral lines Spanish architecture wasimitated with a fair degree of accuracy,but on close examination, a wide differenceis seen. Then, too, there is another elementin the buildings of almost pure Indiandesign which were constructed. It isinteresting to note that because of theconstant passage of ships between the Newand Old World, this Indian architecture waseven carried into Spain. Interesting ex­amples can now be seen there.

In the city of Guanajauto in Mexico,there is the church of San Miguel, whichfrom a distance of half a mile bears a mostextraordinary resemblance to a pure Gothicstructure of the Old World. When one getswithin a few rods of it, he sees that it isvery far from pure Gothic for the detailis purely Indian. This cathedral wasdesigned and built by Ceferinco Gutierrez,an almost illiterate architect who neverhad been outside of Mexico and probablynever had seen a plan of a Gothic building,much less any detailed plans. It is fair topresume that a rough sketch of some Gothicstructure was made for him by some fairlyintelligent white man, and from tltis roughsketch the Indian arcltitect did his work.It is perhaps as good an example as can begiven of the difficulties under which Spanisharchitecture was transplanted to the New\Vorld and made into what is now knownas the Spanish Colonial. As to the schoolitself, enough has already been said toindicate that it includes features of almostevery known school of architecture, fromthe severe Roman to the ornate Cltiruguer­esque. Thus there is a limitless field fromwhich to draw. By the use of untrainedarchitects and artisans, the fine detail ofall these schools of course was lost, butas a substitute for detail there was intro­duced a fresh crispness and vigor which theold classical schools never possessed.

When San Diego began making a generalplan for the Exposition, it was recognizedthat the arclUtecture must be of an extra­ordinary sort because of the fact that SanFrancisco, although it had entered the fieldof 1915 exposition work later than SanDiego, had already gained sufficient fundsto make it quite apparent that the northernexposition would be a colossal affair.

Instead of trying to rival San Franciscoin size, San Diego very sensibly decidedto build an exposition wlUch should be notthe largest ever built, but the most uniqueand the most beautiful. In the opinionof the artists who have visited San Diego,the purpose was fulfilled. The gorgeousbeauty of the grounds impresses one atthe very outset. Instead of travelingthrough the poorer sections of the cityand approaching the Exposition over un­sightly railway tracks as has been the caseat more than one world's fair of the past,one reaches the San Diego Exposition bypassing through one of the finest residen­tial districts of the city, through a splendidopen parkway, a portion of the great 1,400­acre reservation, and across a majestic via­duct, on to the mesa where the ExpositionBeautiful is built. This viaduct is worthyof special attention for it stretches slightlyover a thousand feet, rising 135 feet fromthe surface of the pool in the depth of theCanyon Cabrillo. The viaduct is con­structed with seven of the rounded Spanisharches, closely related to the ancientRoman arch, and gives a taste of old Spainat the very outset, even in its name-thePuente Cabrillo, for all the streets andplazas and gardens of the San DiegoExposition are accorded Spanish names.The whole idea is based on the fact thatfor the discovery of San Diego and for itsmuch later settlement Spain was responsi­ble. The history of what is now thewestern part of the United States startedat what is now San Diego back in 164~,

when Cabrillo came. It was continuedactively in 1769 when there came FrayJunipero Serra. the first of the padres.It was from the old mission of San Diegode Alcala that stretch out to the north thehistoric chain of Franciscan mISSIOns,many of wlUch are still standing and con­stitute the most interesting link betweenthe hazy days of the padres and the com­mercial present.

At the end of the Puente Cabrillo, justpast the administration building, is a greatstone gateway, modeled after the gatewaysof an old Spanish city, and just beyond itthe Plaza de California, on one side ofwhich rises the majestic cathedral structureof the state of California; on the other side,its arms projecting in the form of cloisters,

45~ ART ASD PROGRESS

is the Fine Arts building of the pure Cali­fornia mission t~'Pl" In the crypt is atypical Franciscan mission of thl~ old days,equipped with rl'lics selected from Spanishand Mexican churchl's, Th{' cathedralstructure is particularly worthy of note,

the top is a statue of Serra; at the right afull length statue of Cabrillo, surmountedby a bust of his patron, Carlos V; at theleft is a full length StatUl' of Yiscaino, whocame in HiO'l, surlllllun ted 1)\, a bust ofPhillip III; below arc busts ~f "ancouver,

TilE ",\n<.\)IE\TO \',\L1,E\ 11111,111\';

The great tOll'l'r ('1111 Ill' Sel'lI for miles atsea and miles hu('k iu the fertile l'alll'Yswhich stretch castward to the muun tainsand suuth to :\lexi('o, onl,l' twenty milesaway, About the J.(rcut can'ed mahoganydoor is the elaborate frontispiecl' whichuccurately portrays the most strikingevents in southern California history. At

SA:" III Eli\) t:x I'USITW:"

the first llritish explurer, and Portola, thefirst Spanish governor. Ncar the baseare full length statues of Fray de I'As­cension, the chrunicler of the Viscainoparty, and Jauml', the first white martyrof the Fmncisean mission period in Cali­fornia. Ill' was bulchen~d by the Indiansat thl' old mission of San Diego and is

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FROlI THE SACILUIESTO VAI,U;Y Dell,DISCi

buried today in the midst of the oliveorchard which the priests sct out andwhich still contains mall~' fruitful trees.Down toward the sea is the last of the giantpalm trees which the padres set out at thatearly date. waving almost over the greatcross constructed onl,\' a few years ago outof tile of which the ancient presidio wasbuilt. Thus at thc very start the visitorfinds two dominant types of SpanishColonial archite<'ture.

Away off over one of the eanyons is theNew Mexico huilding which is for the mostpart a replica of the ancient mission on theroek of Acoma in Ncw l\Iexico. a curiousstructure whieh partakes quite as stronglyof the Indian as the Spanish in its make-up.Down the Prado or main street is a typicalmission structure of a later period. Downthe esplanade is a building rather typical ofthe municipal structurt·s found in man~'

l\Iexican cities; thert~ are urban allli ruralpalaces: there are great san<'tuaril's in

SAN DIEGO I;XI'OSITION

whose towers and Carmelite helfries swingthe old mission bells. An infinite varietyis offered h~' this school and the opportuni­ties have been well seized hy the artists.Extensive use is made of the Spanishhalconies draped with rugs and orna­mented during most of the day by daintySpanish senoritas answering to the serenadesof gaily costumed trouhadours who singfrom the lawns beneath the balconies. TheseSpanish singers and dancers playa mostimportant part in sUPI)lying atmospherefor the Spanish city which has been built.

In the Plaza de Panama is a great flockof more than two thousand pigeons. nowso tame that no visitor who looks as thoughhe might have corn concealed ahout himcan miss having several of the birds swoopdown and light on his shoulders. Thisfeature. of course. is strongl,\' reminiscentof St. Marks at Venicc, but stirs equallystrong reeolleetions of certain of the squaresin Andalusia.

453

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454 ART AND PROGRESS

Most of the credit for the Expositionmust be accorded Mr. Frank P. Allen, Jr.,director of works. who had charge not onlyof most of the buildings, but also super­vised the landscape architecture surround­ing the buildings and stretching down intothe canyons. The California building andthe Fine Arts building are the work ofBertram G. Goodhue of New York.

A little discussion of the landscapearchitecture is advisable as calling attentionto something which is not only quite asimportant as the work on the buildings,but also can be considered a part of thewhole building program. As one standson the Puente Cabrillo, he can look up ordown the canyon and in the distance seea rugged ridge of red earth from whichsprings only a sparse growth of sage andcactus and greasewood, generally classifiedunder the term of chaparrel. On closeexamination he finds the surface is bakedhard by the sun and is almost imperviousto the roots of any save those sturdy sur­vivors of the desert country. Less thanfour years ago the entire park was of thissort. When Allen took up the work atSan Diego. his first job was to dynamitepractically every foot of soil on the mesasand in the canyons. The soil was thenplowed and harrowed and fertilized andbefore it had time to bake hard again,there was set in it the most amazing varietyof flora that world's fair history has everseen. From the depths of the canyons,along the side of the viaduct rise Italianand .Monterey cypress; a little further aregreat clumps of eucalyptus and acacia.each of which families has something liketwo hundred members. There are, ofcourse. palms in great varieties and peppertrees, familiar to all who know southernCalifornia at all. The cedar. the eugenia,the araucaria. the magnolia, melaleuca, thepittosporum and the pines in an almostinfinite variety form the background forthe wonderful blanket of color suppliedby blooming trees and shrubs and flowers.interspersed with such great eare that theimpression persists that all of this growthis natural, and only he who knows thetremendous difficulties under which thelandscape artists worked has any idea ofthe enormous amount of work which wasdone. Over arcade clamhers some bloolJl-

ing vine, possibly the rose or the clematisor jasmine, sometimes the bignonia withits brilliant orange, often the giant bou­gainvillea sometimes with its superb purple,sometimes with its curious red color.

Back of the arcades and between thebuildings lie quiet patios or broad spread­ing gardens in which there is an amazingjungle of natural growth in brilliant colors.Off from the gardens through pergolasstretch paths which lead the visitor on toverdant lawns set with clumps of vari­colored trees and shrubs. One wholesection of the mesa is devoted to a peppergrove, entirely without buildings andintended solely as a resting and loafingplace for the easterner who never knewwhat real midsummer comfort was untilhe came to southern California, and dis­covered that there it was always cool.

Even the {:ommereial exhibits are helpedout by California flora. This is mostnotably the case with the farming display,an important feature of which is the citrusorchard where orange and lemon and othercitrus fruit is growing the entire year.Across from this is the model intensivefarm with a dainty little model bungalowin the center and myriad flowers deckingthe paths and trellises which lead one intothe purely farming section of this interest­ing reservation.

The frontispiece of the California build­ing probably is the most interesting fromthe standpoint of sculpture. There aresimilar offerings, on the east wall of theVaried Industries Building, but sculptureat San Diego of course, is of a minor sort.n was felt that the Panama-Pacific Inter­national Exposition would come close tofilling 1915 requirements in this field. Thesame is true in some measure of the displayof paintings, which was limited to theworks of the following eleven pain ters:George Luks, Joseph Henry Sharp, MauricePrendergast, William Glackens, Guy PeneDu Bois, John Sloan, Childe Hassam,Robert Henri, Ernest Lawson, GeorgeBellows and Carl Spr i nc horn, all ofwhom, save the last, contributed severalexamples.

Within the California building is anothercollection of paintings and sculpture, in­tended mainly to give the visitor an ideaof the country from which came the amaz-

FINE ARTS AT THE SAN DIEGO EXPOSITION 455

ing relics of Maya civilization which fill theCalifornia building. This collection to­gether with the donations from the UnitedStates National Museum will remain inSan Diego as a portion of a great permanentmuseum which is the most important heri­tage from the Exposition. The sculpturesare largely the work of Jean Cook-Smithand Sally James Farnham. The paintingsare principally those of Carlos Vierra.There are also of course genuine relics ofthe Maya city of Guatemala and elsewhere.In the Indian Arts building is a graphicseries of panels of southwest Indian life

by Gerald Cassidy. The photographic artalso plays an important part in the dis­plays of Indian photography by Rced andCurtis. In the Women's Headquarters isa considerable collection from the brushof the late Donald Beauregard, loanedby the painter's patron, Mr. Frank Springerof New Mexico.

The San Diego Exposition has con­tributed most importantly to architecture.There is an impression that the effect ofthis renaissance of the rich school of theSpanish Colonial will persist for manyyears to come.

A GIFT FROM FRANCEPRESENTED TO THE A:\IERICAN PEOPLE

A COLLECTION comprising eighty­two pictures by prominent artists

of France has been presented by the peopleof the Freneh Republic to the people of theUnited States as a token of appreciation ofthe action taken by American citizenstoward relieving the distress occasioned bythe European war. This collection hasbeen placed and will remain in the custodyof the National Gallery of Art and is nowon view in the National Museum at Wash­ington. It comprises works in water color,crayon, red chalk, pencil, pen and ink,pastel, charcoal and India ink.

The list of those who have contributedto this collection is long and will be founrlto constitute the honor roll in art in Francetoday. No single school or group is ex­clusively represented; there are works byacademicians, tonalists, imp res si 0 n i s t s,post-impressionists and modernists. Themajority are sketches some of which wereprobably made as studies, but for this veryreason they have extraordinary interestand value. The drawings by the oldmasters of the Italian Renaissance are nowthe most prized possessions of publicmuseums and private collectors. Thesedrawings presented by the French peopleto the people of America are the works ofthe masters in art of France today. Suchdrawings and sketches are of a peculiarlyintimate and personal character and insome respects represent the genius of the

artist even more than his finished works.Among the painters represented are Har­pignies, Leon Bonnat, Carolus-Duran,Francois Flameng, Jean Paul Laurenz,Leon A. Lhermitte, Joseph Bail, Besnard,CoUet, Menard, Lucien Simon, AlfredPhilippe Roll, the aged Presiden t ofthe Societe Nat ion a I e des Beaux Arts;Henri Martin, Le Sidaner, Maufra,Raffaelli.

Not only have painters, however, con­tributed to this collection, but illustrators,cartoonists, engravers and sculptors as well.Among the first may be mentioned JulesCheret. Among the sculptors who havecontributed no less distinguished namesare found than Rodin and Mercie, each ofwhom has sent a figure sketch.

Quite a number of the drawings havetimely significance, representing battlescenes and pictures of warfare. One or twoof the sketches were in all probability madein the trenches. Indeed not a few of theartists represented are at the present timeat the front. Others have given to theranks sons and brothers. It is for thisreason the more remarkable that the eol­lection could have been made.

Probably at no time has a nation receiveda more gallant gift. Undoubtedly it shouldbe and will be prized and cherished. Toall this collection must have interest, butto students of art it will ever be of incalcu­lable value.