The Oregon daily journal., June 13, 1920, Page 61, Image 61

City HoJdsiitii,
1 Place as;
Sculpture
Home of . uV' : ' '",":v.vf.;l ',';
4 '
By Earl C. Brownlee
"Good citizens are. the riches of
the city.
Of course no one but Solompn
himself would ever be credited
with the authorship of such a tru
ism as that, in spite of the very
positive fact that It is from the '
mind of Colonel C. E. 8. Wood
of Portland.
By much the same token. Port
land, among: her own people, will
be recognized as . the home and
shrine of art only after every other
Important city in the world has
been credited with Its full artistic
appreciation and population. ;
Looking far afield for the boun
ties of the old' world of art,- we re
turn, perforce, to our own fireside
to find the city almost unconscious
ly cherishing some of the nation's
foremost art- all set in a scene
of natural beauty not duplicated
anywhere.
In Paris one may expect to step
around a dismal corner into full
view of a bronze of rare charm and
worth, but to do the sam, thing
In ' Portl&nd would shock n -
-
However, if the heart be steady,
it may be well for the art lover
to investigate the queer corners of,
his own bailiwick. He will find, asji
one critic has. said, "wasted In this
young Western city a dfvine exam
ple of artistry."
Buried, if you must have the
word, in a crossing at First and
Ankeny streets, stands the Skid
more fountain, familiar to all Port
land, yet known by few. . j
Skidmore fountain is one of the
notable works of Olin Levi Warner,
who ranks among the best in
American sculpture. Appreciations
of the work- have been widely read,
yet at home, artists agree,- it is
little appreciated. A well known
critic said of the fountain at the
time it Was designed:
. "Warner's latest work has
crossed the continent (from the
Eastern studio in which . it was
moulded) without having a proper
showing here. ; -
"The caryatids which keep - the
bowl from slipping from its central
support are noble and exquisite
maidens who reduce , the architec
tural part of the fountain to a
? minimum by their size instead of
eing subordinate to the architec
ture like the Greek caryatids., j
"To come on a' work like this in
a new Western town mustprove a
charming surprise." .1
This artistic' creation; was the
gift to the city of the late Stephen
G. Skidmore and his friends. In
one place upon the fountain la
carved the sentence: "Good citi
zens are the riches of the city."
That, which we have said might be
credited to Solomon, was evolved
by Colonel Wood, who was a mem
ber of the committee that selected
and erected Warner's work.
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Good citizens, appreciative of the
real in art, have", rewarded Port
land by their keen sighted selec
tions in art upon several occasions.
The Skinore fountain is the most
notable of the city's bronzes, how
ever, and is given its rank In the
world of art In Jhe following state
ment from a noted connoisseur: I
' "The men of Portland may well
be proud of their fountain, for
there is nothing so beautiful in
statuary westward from Chicago.
San Franqlsco has" costlier foun
tains, and Mrs. Story's monument
to Key, but. nothing to compare
with this."-. . j
It has been said by another that"
the fountain ranks with the very
best in the naUon. In any event,
U has been quite- sufficient to at-'
tract to Portland scores of artists,
intent upon appraising and admir
ing it.. These include young Victor
Salvatore, a figure in art, who said:
-This is a thing to be Teverehced.
It does not provide that beauty of
water that is Niagara, hut rather
the poetry of water." ; i
He referred to the all too in fee-
quent display of the fountain j in
action, its beautiful veil of water
playing gracefully. .
Artists here declare they will
never submit to the removal of the
fountain from its rather remote
site, for both artist and architect
designed his work to stand just ex
actly where it is and much of the
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t 1 wiMjfawii 11 infill , i 1 1 1 w.ni ..nturwiwnj ,. r . ". " 1 - fj. 5
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effect would be lost were it . mis-.
placed by removal. , - '
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Granting that the Skidmore foun
tain is the city's leading work,. "The
Coming of the White Man" gets the '
artists' - praise as the , next most
worthy. statue. : This work was pre
sented to the city -by the; heirs of
the late David ' P. Thompson and
stands on the highest eminence at
Washington park, where the intent
gaze of its two figures "finds - its'
object in the broad Columbia river
gorge through which came the first
white men to the great West.
"The Coming of the White Man"
is one of the best of thevery prom
inent works of Herman" Atkins Mac
Neil, a leading American sculptor,
and, as the critic said: ' .
"Shows both genius and, power.
The artist was allowed freedom in
carrying out his conception of.what
was appropriate and he succeeded
admirably. ' - t . . -
"Into the figyre of Chief Mult
nomah the artist has put the pride
of all the Indian tribes, as he. has
endowed the young brave with " a
youthful curiosity." .
1 , Artists generally, it is said, rec
ognize in this ; statue, - which has
been ' seen . by almost I all ; Portland
people,- a distinctive and - powerful
production.-. -' ,
In the city-are several other in- .
teresting and beautiful originals, ,
but these two have attracted'great-"
est : attention, while "Sacajawea" j
and the soldiers' monument, a trib
ute to the heroes of. the Second .Ore
gon 'volunteers, have beenVwidely
praised. ; With the .statue of .Thorn-
as' Jefferson,; a replica of tthe fa
mous ' Karl v"Bitter bronze atj: the:.
University of " Virginia, a survey of
the real "and ' outstanding statuary '
in Portland has been completed.! t '
"Sacajawea'was the gift To .the -city
i of the women of Portland
through I the Sacajawea' Statue as
sociation,"" tnat the part V oman took
in theIconqu.est .ofte Oregon, coun
try might'be fittingly marked.' -
. Miss 5 Alice j Cooper of 'flJenyer .
Colo., 'executed the 'Saca3awea"
statue on commission ; from ; the
Portland women and - it was tm.
veiled on July 6, 1905; asa .Lewis
and Clark - centennial' ceremony. - It
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represents an ? outlay of ,. approxl
mately $7000 and, although in cost
it 4- vsitlv l, lm nnrant than nv.
era! : other local works, it -i ranks
greatly to the renown of its sculp-
' . r'SacaJawea". occupies a , promi
nent knoll in Washington park,
where the shapely arm of this trim
Indian i maid an idealized arm of
bronze points westward " to the
sea. ' . -. ' ' ,
' Pointing "westward to the sea,
the original ' Sacajawea guided. the
Lewis and Clark ; expedition on its
historical Journey- into the unknown
- land. - Sacajawea was a Shoshone
- Indian maid. a captive of the
BLackfoot tribe, who ; lived, a "life
that proves to be a sad, romantic
history.' , ..t.--- ,
Most of the folk, who come , out
of the East. to enjoy the thrills of
the; wild and woollyj West, return
home with camera studies, of, Sac-
' a Jawea," if they take no other token."
'".The city ; again distinguished i it--'self
, artists believe,' In, selecting Karl
.; Bitter's statue of Jefferson to mark
the site : of ' Jefferson high i school."
" The original, cast ."for the Unlvef-'
sity of Virginia "and now there, has
" been admitted to" be. a. wonder. work
by sometimes envious "sculptors. ;
-; The local' statue , is an ; exact. re-. -
plica of the original, and, so far as :
is known,'is the "only, replica. ' Seek-
in such a thing to place before'tho
big school, " a Portland ' committee
corresponded with .Bitter's Restate
c --. . -r - . . . . e --
hoping they might be allowed a cast
from the original mold. "
i - Fortune .smiled; for ;the Restate :
gave no thought' to the 'monetary',
consideration, and : the replica: was J
produced for Portland atactual
cost", which totaled "Tabout r$1000,-
only a' fraction -of .its real value,: it
is - said. -; Bitter's . work - represents,
authorities have said,' the real-Jef-
ferson the man 'as he would -have .
wished to be pictured.
- As a tribute to heroes and hero
V ism -the soldiers monument' in. the
Plaza blocks before the. Multnomah
county "courthouse is evenmfore
"notable than 'as aworkof art., al
; though it takes - rank as one of -the
city's five best statues.
Splendidly located, the monument
is -one of, the. most pretentious to
be? found: a'nd represents," as;; it
stands.) a cost 'of abtoutf 1 l 5 0 0. " ; ;
Its: creator was i-Iouglas- Tilden."
the land., Tilden didn't do his very,
-best -on the,Portland;bronze,it5is
- said, .but" lthas nevertheless, some'
- hiehly important .amsxic. leatures.
others of this sculptor's ' works are 1!
betteriknown,' fsuch las. his ; group,"? .'
"The Mechanics."-in Lower aiarKetr
street, San?" Francisco, a thing r of .
powerful 'execution. '-
. ; ' Tilden. desnairlnar at the Job of
keeping body .i and - soul together
through, hls'contributions to'a;lag-
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gins "interest inartrf is. now working
in a,' San-iFrahcisco; machine-. shop ..
as .a-, mecnanic -ana ne
s lesiuies
T-'Ct
that' he llkesithe'grlnd.1
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so. althous-h v Portland nresents .
;'only if I ve important, bronzes in" the
' art. dinIay of the Pacific coa
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qlty tikes insUnt rank' as a leadig
"art center. byr reason of the care its
people used in tne selection oi tneir
t worksi -and f especialiyVv perhaps, by
resjKm'bf jthe;'PMSnce' her: of .this
Skidmore fountain, whose artistic
, value 'fchas been iheralded to . artists
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v , Meanwhile , artistic folk declare,.
r the city's interest In art is not dead.
' xnrougn a. :smau,' oui. very -boioki,,
art museum; and 'otherwise i interest
''ij Isjkept' warm: and ; at eyery -pppor-
tunitv iJoniana s noiaDie coiieciion
Is being enhanced by valuable ad
ditions.' . . -