6 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
In locating a public work in sculpture, 
especially whenever it takes the form of a 
memorial, there is one element which often 
prevents the best result, in the broadest 
sense of the word. This difficulty is the 
desire, on the part of the promoters, and 
often, I regret to say, on the part of the 
authors, to have the work given a position 
where it will be seen by the largest num- 
ber of people, a desire which sometimes 1 
warps the judgment. This is one of those 
elements in human nature that makes no 
end of trouble for the Art Commission of 
New York. The promoters of nearly every 
monument or statue ask first for one of 
these four sites : City Hall Park, Union 
Park, Madison Square, the Plaza. The 
policy which has been pursued for so many 
years has pretty well discouraged people 
from trying to get their monuments into 
Central Park, but there is a constant de- 
mand for the other places ; everyone seems 
to feel that his monument has some special 
fitness for one of these sites. 
Remembering many instances of this 
sort, I am not sure that we sculptors are 
the best judges when it comes to the plac- 
ing of our own works, any more than the 
doctor is the best physician for his own 
family. To illustrate my point, we have 
in New York a noble monument, made 
some thirty years ago by a great sculptor 
and a great architect. I have reason to 
believe that they had a comparatively free 
hand in placing that monument. That was 
before the days of troublesome art com- 
missions. I know that they considered the 
location long and earnestly, yet I believe 
the work is not generally conceded to be 
ideally or even well placed, unless from 
the standpoint of conspicuousness. The 
letters from the architect to the sculptor 
in regard to this matter are most interest- 
ing. In one of these he writes : “I have 
been to see that site at least fifty times ! 
Sometimes I think it is a bully site, and 
the next time I go there I think it is a 
rotten place for a statue.” I believe . it 
was the conspicuousness of the position 
which, unconsciously perhaps to the au- 
thors, made them take the site the work 
now occupies. 
I feel still more embarrassed, if possi- 
ble, in speaking to architects of the rela- 
tion of sculpture to their buildings. Of 
course, we all know the importance of 
having the sculpture suitable to the style 
of the architecture and the purposes of the 
building; of having it in proper scale, and 
of placing it so that it shall not be seen 
in too violent perspective. 
It seems to be a rather difficult problem 
to determine the right size for a statue or 
group which is to be placed upon or in re- 
lation to a building, without trying a model 
on the complete structure, and, of course, 
this is often, in fact, usually impossible. 
In case of a relief where there is no great 
projection, the architect’s drawing fs very 
helpful in determining the proper size, but 
for a figure in the round, especially when 
placed at some height, I know that often, 
when the work is executed of a size that 
appears right in the drawing, either eleva- 
tion or perspective, the result is a surprise. 
When a model is made of the entire build- 
ing, the scale is usually so small that the 
suggestions for the sculpture are too crude 
to be really of much value. On the other 
hand, the sculptor is inclined to make 
his studies for his part of the work at a 
scale so large that only the immediate sur- 
roundings of the architecture can be 
shown in the model, and, of course, these 
by themselves' are of little value in con- 
sidering general proportion. From my own 
experience, I think that the most practicable 
way of determining the scale is to make a 
model of a considerable portion of the 
building and sculpture at, say, a %-inch 
scale. Then, with the eye in the same 
relative position in which it will view the 
completed work, care being taken to cut 
out of vision everything except the model, 
I believe a fairly true idea of the effect 
may be obtained. 
In planning for sculpture in the interior 
of buildings, the question of lighting is 
often left unconsidered. Everyone knows 
that a painting must have a good light to 
be properly seen, but few seem to perceive 
that it is even more important, if possible, 
that sculpture should be properly lighted. 
Without its light and shade, sculpture has 
nothing left but its silhouette, and in case 
of a relief, or of a figure against a back- 
ground of the same color, even the sil- 
houette is lost. 
Usually the light most favorable for 
sculpture is from above, but we are thank- 
ful if we can get it from any one direc- 
tion, so long as it does not hit us bang 
in the face from low down, as is the case 
when sculpture is placed opposite an 
entrance, with a confused light coming 
through the doorway. 
The sculptor often feels that the archi- 
tect is too indifferent to the quality of the 
sculpture with which the building is to be 
decorated. I am aware, on the other hand, 
that the sculptor is liable to forget that his 
work is only a small part of the whole de- 
sign, and that it is more important that it 
should strike the proper note in the entire 
composition, than that it should be ex- 
quisitely modeled or that it should in any 
way exploit his personality, with intent to 
dominate. 
Personally, I believe that there is a great 
field in decorative sculpture, and in this I 
include both figure and ornament. I think 
that neither the sculptor nor the architect 
is doing his full duty in this matter. I 
think we both feel that much of the so- 
called decorative work is sadly lacking in 
artistic merit. Plow could it be otherwise 
under the conditions in which it is usually 
made? The architect replies, “Yes, but 
you figure sculptors don’t understand deco- 
rative sculpture, particularly ornament; you 
consider it beneath you.” I admit that 
most of us are not facile in decorative 
work; but, for myself, I believe that there 
may be just as much art in designing an 
exquisite border or panel from a wild grape 
vine as there is in designing the portrait 
of a great man or a beautiful woman. But 
it requires not only skill and feeling, but 
study; it cannot be turned out by the yard. 
I feel that the chief difficulty here is that 
the artist-architect and the artist-sculptor 
have not Deen in close enough touch with 
each other. The Society of Beaux Arts 
Architects and the National Sculpture So- 
ciety have recognized this, and have seen 
the need of having our decorative sculp- 
ture executed by better trained men. They 
have joined hands and formed an atelier 
where students and men employed in mod- 
eling shops may study, not simply under 
the instruction of the decorative modeler, 
but under the criticism of the architect and 
the sculptor. It is an interesting experi- 
ment and should do good. I was much 
interested in what Mr. Cram said this 
morning as to the need of better Artist 
Artisans. 
Before we can ever compete with Europe 
in the skilled trades I believe that gener- 
ously supported industrial art schools are 
an absolute essential. 
They should have the hearty sympathy 
and support of the Artist, the Manufac- 
turer, the Community, and of the State 
It is the duty of each one of us to try to 
make our educators, our manufacturers 
and our legislators realize the economic 
value of such institutions. 
The importance of bringing architect, 
painter and sculptor into a closer sympathy 
with each other, and giving them a clearer 
conception of each other’s work, was rec- 
ognized by McKim when he conceived the 
plan of the American Academy in Rome. 
The value which this institution will 
eventually be to this country is at present 
not fully appreciated. The influence which 
it is destined to have on the art of America 
I believe to be of the greatest importance. 
Of course, the Academy will never be 
great in point of numbers of students 
there at any one time ; this is neither in- 
tended nor desired. But they are picked 
men — men who have learned their trade, 
so to speak, but still are not beyond the 
receptive age. They not only see each 
other’s work, but they live under the same 
roof ; they eat together, they discuss to- 
gether, they visit masterpieces of antiquity 
together. This is but incidental, but it is 
no less valuable than is their working out 
together problems which involve the three 
arts. In the great work of bringing to- 
gether into harmonious relationship the 
work of architect, painter and sculptor, I 
know of no institution, no influence des- 
tined to do as much for us as will the 
American Academy at Rome. 
