第44章
Panels from left to right: "He that honors not himself lacks honor wheresoe'er he goes," from Zuhayr, the Arabian poet; "The balmy air diffuses health and fragrance; so tempered is the genial glow that we know neither heat nor cold; tulips and hyacinths abound; fostered by a delicious clime, the earth blooms like a garden," from Firdausi, the Persian poet; "A wise man teaches, be not angry.From untrodden ways turn aside," from Phra Ruang, the Siamese poet.
Crenellated parapet on arches, note from military architecture.Archers used to shoot from behind.
Cleopatra's Needle repeated on edge of arches.Used by the Egyptians as historical records and public bulletins.Merely decorative.
Green jars, beautifully designed, in niches at base of Arches of Rising and Setting Sun, McKim, Mead & White.Eight in each arch.
Arch of the Rising Sun, surmounted by group representing types of Oriental civilization."Nations of the East," designed by Calder, and executed in collaboration with Lentelli and Roth.From left to right:
Arab sheik on horse, negro slave, Egyptian on camel, Arab falconer, Indian prince, Buddhist priest or lama from Thibet, Mohammedan with crescent, negro slave, and Mongolian on horseback.
Murals in arch by Edward Simmons, of New York.On north wall, from left to right, True Hope and False Hope, Commerce, Inspiration, Truth, Religion, Wealth, Family; in background Asiatic and American cities.On south wall: historical types, nations that have crossed the Atlantic;from left to right, "Call to Fortune," listening to the past, the workman, the artist, the priest, Raleigh the adventurer, Columbus the discoverer, the savage of lost Atlantis, the Graeco-Roman, and the Spirit of Adventure sounding the call to fortune.In background, ancient and modern ships.
Arch of Setting Sun.Statues, frieze, spandrels, parapet, identical with Arch of Rising Sun.Group on top, "The Nations of the West," designed by Calder, executed in collaboration with Lentelli and Roth.American figures grouped around prairie wagon, drawn by two oxen.Above wagon, "Enterprise"; in front, "The Mother of Tomorrow," white boy on one side, colored boy on other; south, a French-Canadian, an Alaskan woman, a Spanish-American, a German; north, an Italian, British-American, squaw, American Indian.
Quotations on Arch of Setting Sun, chosen by Garnett.Panels from left to right, facing court: "In Nature's infinite book of secrecy a little Ican read," from "Antony and Cleopatra," by Shakespeare, the English poet;"Facing west from California's shores, Inquiring, tireless, seeking what is yet unfound, I, a child, very old, over waves, toward the house of maternity, the land of migrations, look afar, Look off the shores of my Western sea, the circle almost circled.from "Leaves of Grass," by Walt Whitman the American poet; "Truth, witness of the past, councillor of the present, guide of the future," from "Don Quixote," by Cervantes, the Spanish novelist.
Murals in Arch of the Setting Sun, by Frank Vincent Du Mond of New York.
"Westward March of Civilization," beginning on north and continuing on south wall.Four groups in north panel, from left to right, Emigrants setting out for the west; two workmen and a woman holding child;symbolic figure of the Call to Fortune; types of those who crossed the continent, the driver, the Preacher, the Pioneer, the Judge, the Schoolmistress, the children; youth bidding farewell to parents; in background, New England home and meeting place.South wall: four groups in panel, from left to right; two Spanish-American soldiers and captain with a Spanish priest, suggesting Mission period; symbolical figure "Spirit of Enlightenment"; types of immigrants, the Scientist, the Architect, the Writer Bret Harte, the Sculptor, the Painter William Keith, the Agriculturist, the Laborer, women and children; California welcoming the easterners, figures of California bear, farmer, miner, fruit pickers; orange tree, grain and fruit, symbols of state.
Classic groups at head of steps in front of arches leading down into gardens by Paul Manship, of New York.North side, "The Dancing Girls";south, "Music and Art."
Star-figure, along upper edge of court, by Calder.Repeated ninety times.Contrast with angel in front of arches.
Lion's head, on cornice below star-figure, repeated around court.
Gilt balls on the domes of all six pavilions.Represent an ornamental motive borrowed from the Byzantines and often used on synagogues.Afeature of St.Mark's.Dr.Jacob Nieto, rabbi of the Temple Israel, of San Francisco, has an interesting theory as to their origin."The ancients always had the greatest regard for the central star of each of the constellations that made tip the zodiacal signs.No doubt in their method of representation they would symbolize the central stars by a globe, as they also did the sun and the moon, looking upon them all as servants of the earth, and having, possibly, no idea that these other constellations might be separate solar systems."Frieze on pavilions at corners of court, "Signs of the Zodiac," Atlas and fourteen daughters, seven Pleiades and seven Hyades twelve bearing plaques, by Herman A.MacNeil, of New York.On four sides of each of the six dome-covered pavilions.The third figure from the end on either side represents Electra.Sculptor, in modelling the form, put it on one side and then reversed it on the other side.The daughters of Atlas: only those representing signs of the Zodiac, have shields.On each shield is one of the signs of the Zodiac.What the sculptor has designed on the right is reversed on the left, securing absolute symmetry.The figures are finely done and merit special attention.
Lamps around sunken garden.Women; the Canephori, priestesses who carried baskets in ancient Greek religious festivals; men, suggestive of Hermes, used by Romans at ends of roads.Instead of baskets, they all carry jars.