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                    THE MENTOR 1914.09.15, No. 67,
                        American Mural Painters




                            LEARN ONE THING
                               EVERY DAY

                          September 15, 1914
                             Vol 2 No. 15

                                  THE
                                MENTOR

                               AMERICAN
                                 MURAL
                               PAINTERS

                             DEPARTMENT OF
                               FINE ARTS

                           Serial Number 67

                         FIFTEEN CENTS A COPY




The Mentor Association

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  _HAMILTON W. MABIE_                                  _Author and Editor_
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[Illustration: THE PLEIADES, by Elihu Vedder. In the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York City.]




American Mural Painters

ELIHU VEDDER

Monograph Number One in The Mentor Reading Course


Elihu Vedder said of his parents, “My mother went to church; but I know
that wherever a fish was to be found my father went fishing,” and of
his mother he said further, “It had always been my mother’s wish that
I should be a great artist, and for her sake I wish it could have been
so.”

Vedder was born in New York City on February 26, 1836, and as a boy
attended the Brinkerhoff School in Brooklyn. In this institution the
greatest virtue was a good memory; the pupil who could best memorize
his lessons stood highest. Consequently Vedder, who always had a bad
memory, stood at the foot of his class. Nevertheless he showed early
evidences of his talent.

He first studied under the genre (jonr) and historical painter Tompkins
H. Mattison, at Sherburne, New York. Then he went to Paris to study
in the atelier of the French painter Picot. He went to Italy in 1857,
where he worked for some years, and then returned to the United States
and remained there until 1865. In that year he was elected to full
membership in the National Academy of Design, New York City. He went
back to Paris and spent one winter there; but in January, 1867, moved
to Rome, where he has ever since resided. He has made many visits to
the United States; but Italy is his favorite dwelling place.

At first Vedder devoted himself to the painting of genre pictures.
These, however, attracted only a little attention until 1884, when he
illustrated the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. This immediately gave him a
high place in the art world. His important decorative work came later.
These subjects are principally imaginative.

A pen picture by H. T. Carpenter, of Vedder in his Italian home,
gives a good idea of the personality of the man: “The picturesque
personality of the painter would impress one, whatever and wherever
the surroundings. As he came down those stone steps” (of his studio in
Rome), “a bunch of large keys in his hand to open the gate, explaining
the while the reason for the absence of the porter and attendant of
all work, with a gentleness born of a natural sympathy for the under
dog, he looked the man one might imagine the creator of such work as is
shown in the series of drawings of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, or the
Congressional Library and the Bowdoin College decorations, or the mural
work in the Huntington house, with its incomparable central figure,
Luna,--his abundant wavy white hair, features of marked strength,
penetrating blue eyes, which alternately twinkled and analyzed, a long,
flowing white mustache, a striking head on massive shoulders, tall in
height; in fine, a picture of rugged picturesqueness that stood out
even in that land of artistic individuality, but never for a moment
taken for anything but a fine type of American. His manner was cordial,
frank, sincere, and unaffected, and one soon found out he was a good
hater of shams.”

    PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
    ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 2, No. 15. SERIAL No. 67
    COPYRIGHT, 1914. BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION. INC.




[Illustration: DETAIL OF THE ANTHONY DREXEL MEMORIAL CHANCEL, by E. H.
Blashfield.

In the Church of the Savior, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.]




American Mural Painters

EDWIN HOWLAND BLASHFIELD

Monograph Number Two in The Mentor Reading Course


Edwin Howland Blashfield has a place in the front rank of American
mural painters through his elevation of thought and his masterly
execution. His imagination is fertile and his treatment of subjects
highly decorative. He has been able to paint both history and legend,
and has placed them side by side in the same compositions.

He was born on December 15, 1848, in New York City. He is a son of
William Henry Blashfield, and a brother of Albert Dodd Blashfield, the
illustrator.

Blashfield studied first at the Boston Latin School. Then, in 1867, he
went to Paris to study under Leon Bonnât. He also received valuable
advice from Gérôme and Chapù. He exhibited for many years at the Paris
Salon, and also at the Royal Academy in London. In 1881 he returned to
the United States and married.

For some years he was a painter of genre pictures; that is, pictures
of common life and its associations. Then he turned to decorative
work, which was marked by rare delicacy and beauty of color. At the
World’s Fair in Chicago in 1893 he painted mural decorations for a
dome in the Manufacturers’ Building. Later he did the great central
dome of the Congressional Library at Washington, the drawing room for
the Huntington residence, the decoration for the courtroom in the
courthouse at Baltimore, the decoration of the entire chancel in the
Church of the Savior at Philadelphia, and many other masterpieces of
mural art.

Blashfield is well known as a lecturer on art, and has written many
articles dealing with the subject. With Mrs. Blashfield he wrote, in
1900, “Italian Cities,” and together, with A. A. Hopkins, they edited
Vasari’s “Lives of the Painters.”

At one time Blashfield was president of the Society of American
Artists. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters,
and many other societies. He makes his home in New York City.

Blashfield has received many honors and medals, including a bronze
medal at the Paris Exposition in 1900, a gold medal at the St. Louis
Exposition in 1904, a Carnegie prize in 1911, and others.

    PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
    ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 2, No. 15. SERIAL No. 67
    COPYRIGHT, 1914. BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION. INC.




[Illustration: Copyright by M. G. Abbey.

From a Copley Print. Copyright by Curtis & Cameron, Inc.

THE APOTHEOSIS OF PENNSYLVANIA, BY E. A. ABBEY.

IN THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE CAPITOL AT HARRISBURG]




American Mural Painters

EDWIN AUSTIN ABBEY

Monograph Number Three in The Mentor Reading Course


Walk into the Public Library at Boston, and you will find yourself in
the midst of some of the most magnificent mural decorations in America.
There we find the great frieze of The Prophets, by John Sargent, and in
the delivery room is the great decoration by Edwin Austin Abbey which
is called “The Quest of the Holy Grail.”

In the early part of his life Edwin Abbey was an illustrator,
celebrated chiefly for his pen drawings. In later life his work became
larger in character, and he turned naturally to mural painting.

Edwin Austin Abbey was born in Philadelphia, April 1, 1852. He studied
first at the schools of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts; but at
the age of nineteen left this and entered the art department of the
publishing house of Harper & Bros., New York City, where he became
successful as an illustrator. Associated with him were such artists
as Howard Pyle, C. S. Reinhart, and Joseph Pennell. In 1878 Harpers’
planned to publish the poems of Robert Herrick, and sent Abbey to
England to gather material for the illustrations. These were published
in 1882, and attracted much attention. Illustrations for Goldsmith’s
“She Stoops to Conquer,” for a volume of old songs, and for the
comedies and a few of the tragedies of Shakespeare, followed. His water
colors and pastels were successful in the same degree.

Abbey by this time had become closely identified with the art life of
England. In 1883 he was elected to the Royal Institute of Painters in
Water Colors. His first oil painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy
in London in 1890, which was called “A May Day Morning.” He became a
full Royal Academician in 1898.

His mural decoration called “The Quest of the Holy Grail,” in the
Boston Public Library, on which he was occupied for several years,
deserves special mention. In 1901 King Edward VII commissioned him to
paint a picture of the coronation. During his life many honors were
showered upon him. Abbey died in 1911.

In “The Apotheosis of Pennsylvania,” below to the left are Sir Walter
Raleigh, who had a grant in Pennsylvania; Henry Hudson, who discovered
and sailed up the Delaware River; Captain Minuit, the explorer and
navigator, and others. To the right are a pioneer and representatives
of various religious sects that settled in Pennsylvania. Below these,
beginning at the left, are ships on the stocks, the city troopers,
General Wayne, Atkinson (the first American judge), the first provost
of the University of Pennsylvania, Bishop White (the first American
bishop), and others, among them Dr. Caspar Wistar, Benjamin Franklin,
William Penn, and Robert Morris. At the left are Governor Curtis and
Thaddeus Stevens cheering the soldiers of 1861 marching to defend the
state, officered by Generals Hancock and Meade. On the right are miners
and workers in steel and iron, machinery, and so forth.

    PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
    ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 2, No. 15. SERIAL No. 67
    COPYRIGHT, 1914. BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION. INC.




[Illustration: Copyright by Edward Simmons.

From a Copley Print. Copyright by Curtis & Cameron, Inc.

RETURN OF THE BATTLE FLAGS, by Edward Simmons. In the Massachusetts
State House. Boston, Massachusetts.]




American Mural Painters

EDWARD EMERSON SIMMONS

Monograph Number Four in The Mentor Reading Course


Edward Emerson Simmons had many disappointments to contend with during
the early part of his life; but he overcame them all, and has made for
himself a place in the foremost rank of American artists.

He comes from good old Massachusetts stock. His mother was a sister of
Ralph Waldo Emerson, the famous American poet and essayist. Simmons was
born at Concord, Massachusetts, on October 27, 1852. He went to Harvard
University, and graduated from there in 1874 with great honor. It is a
fact worthy of remark that the class of 1874 contains many men who have
achieved distinction.

After graduating Simmons went to Paris to study art, where his teachers
were Lefebvre and Boulanger. At the schools he was very popular, and
his easel was the favorite loafing place for the other members of his
class.

In 1881 he exhibited at the Salon a portrait of a gentleman in Highland
costume, which attracted great attention. The following summer he
went to Brittany, where he remained for sometime. He made his home at
Concarneau in Finistère, a fishing port famous for its sardines. There
Simmons experimented with all kinds of painting,--landscape, marine,
and figure,--and took the lead in the art life of the colony, among
whom were painters from France, England, and America.

In 1882 he sent to the Salon a painting called “La Blanchisseuse,” a
picture of a Breton girl carrying the clothes from the brookside, where
she had been washing them, which is a custom in Brittany. The picture
received honorable mention.

In 1891 his class at Harvard decided to give a memorial window, and
Simmons got the commission. Then came the World’s Fair at Chicago in
1893, and Simmons obtained the commission to decorate the dome of
the Liberal Arts Building. He chose for his subject four objects of
American labor,--wood, iron, stone, and fiber. This painting shows
strength, directness, simplicity, and dignity. It was his first mural
decoration, and was a good experience. He saw his opportunity and made
the most of it.

Almost immediately came the commission to decorate the Criminal Court
Buildings of the Courts of Oyer and Terminer in the city of New
York, which he worked out with enthusiasm. The subject represented
is Justice, in the shape of a stately, dignified figure with a globe
in one hand and the scales in the other. He draped this figure in an
American flag; a hard problem, but cleverly worked out. The side panels
to the right represent the Three Fates; those to the left, Liberty,
Equality, and Fraternity.

Then came the commission for decorating the Congressional Library at
Washington. He chose as his subject the nine muses.

Following this he received many commissions for work in private
residences, and for a series of paintings for the Waldorf-Astoria
Hotel, New York City.

Simmons was one of the original members of the Ten American Painters,
and is a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters.

    PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
    ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 2, No. 15. SERIAL No. 67
    COPYRIGHT, 1914. BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION. INC.




[Illustration: FROM A COPLEY PRINT. COPYRIGHT BY CURTIS & CAMERON, INC.

HOSEA--DETAIL OF THE PROPHETS, BY JOHN SARGENT

IN THE PUBLIC LIBRARY. BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS]




    “Hosea,” a detail of the frieze of “The Prophets,” by
    John Singer Sargent, in the Public Library, Boston, is
    the subject of one of the intaglio-gravure pictures
    illustrating “American Mural Painters.”

JOHN SINGER SARGENT

Monograph Number Five in The Mentor Reading Course


John Singer Sargent has been called the most “modern of moderns, one of
the most dazzling men of talent of the present day.”

Sargent is in reality an American only by parentage; for he was born
at Florence, Italy, on January 12, 1858, and since 1884 has lived in
London. Sargent’s father was Dr. Fitzwilliam Sargent, a distinguished
Boston physician. Sargent as a child was very sensitive, and was
greatly influenced by the art treasures of his birthplace. He received
his early education in Italy and Germany, and his impressionable nature
amid such surroundings was shaped by the atmosphere of the famous
Tuscan city, which left its refining mark upon all his work. The
parents of many artists of genius have attempted to dissuade their sons
from becoming painters. On the contrary, however, Sargent’s parents
encouraged him to draw from the canvases of Veronese, Titian, and
Tintoretto.

In 1874, when Sargent was only eighteen, he went to Paris to study,
entering the atelier of Carolus-Duran. A portrait of his teacher
painted toward the close of his studentship won the commendation of the
best judges. He received an honorable mention in the Salon in 1878,
and in 1881 a second-class medal for his “Portrait of a Young Lady,”
which has been made famous by the appreciation of Henry James, the
distinguished American novelist. As an artist with a future he turned
his steps to Spain. In Madrid he studied the canvases of Velasquez
carefully, and this master has influenced his entire art career. He
seemed to come so close to this great painter that he was enabled to
bring into the nineteenth century the power of the most modern of
fifteenth century painters.

Sargent returned to Paris in 1882 and exhibited “El Jaleo,” a picture
representing a Spanish woman dancing, which attracted a great deal of
attention, and is now in the Boston Art Museum. Soon afterward Sargent
drifted to London, and in 1886 his “Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose”
brought him immediate recognition. He rapidly became known in London as
a brilliant portrait painter, and year by year his Academy portraits
were the features of the exhibitions. His success was now assured, and
his sitters included the men and women of greatest distinction in the
literary, artistic, and social life of both Europe and America.

He is best known as a portrait painter; but at the same time he has
done much excellent decorative work, and his decorations for the Boston
Public Library, “The Pageant of Religion,” among which was the frieze
of “The Prophets,” which were completed in 1903, placed him among the
leading mural painters of America.

Sargent was elected a member of the Royal Academy in London in 1894,
and in addition to this he has won many other honors. And unlike
many American artists residing in Europe, he has always retained his
directness and independence.

    PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
    ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 2, No. 15. SERIAL No. 67
    COPYRIGHT, 1914. BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION. INC.




[Illustration: Copyright 1907 by DeW C. Ward.

THE BENEFICENCE OF THE LAW by Kenyon Cox. In the Essex County
Courthouse, Newark, New Jersey.]




American Mural Painters

KENYON COX

Monograph Number Six in The Mentor Reading Course


Not only has Kenyon Cox placed himself in the front rank of American
artists through his paintings, but he has also made a name for himself
as an art critic.

He was born at Warren, Ohio, on October 27, 1856. His father was
General Jacob Dolson Cox. He studied art when quite young, first at
Cincinnati and Philadelphia, and then at the age of twenty-one went to
Paris to study. There for five years he was under Carolus-Duran and
Gérôme.

In 1882 he returned to New York and opened a studio there. Shortly
after this he began teaching in the Art Students’ League, and had much
success in that line. In 1892 he married Louise Howland King, who is
well known as a painter herself.

The earlier work of Cox consisted mostly of the nude. He received
little encouragement for these pictures, however, and turned to mural
decoration, in which he has achieved prominence. His first step
toward mural work was the painting of two decorations for the Library
of Congress at Washington. In two tympanums (the flat, triangular
part of a pediment) each thirty-four feet in length, he has painted
the Arts and the Sciences. Among his better known examples are the
frieze for the courtroom of the Appellate Court, New York City, and
the decorations for the Walker Art Gallery at Bowdoin College, for
the Capitol at St. Paul, Minnesota, and for other public and private
buildings. His decoration, “The Beneficence of the Law,” in the Essex
County Courthouse at Newark, New Jersey, is one of his best-known
paintings.

Of late years Mr. Cox has spent much time on wall decorations. He is a
maker of pictures and a master of line; but is not an interpreter of
life nor an exploiter of ideas.

He is the author of a number of books on art, among which are “Old
Masters and New,” and “Painters and Sculptors,” in addition to some
poems. He was elected to the National Academy in 1903, and has received
many medals and honors.

    PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
    ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 2, No. 15. SERIAL No. 67
    COPYRIGHT, 1914. BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION. INC.




[Illustration: Copyright, by Hotel Imperial

Bowling on the Green, by E. A. Abbey.

In the grill of the Hotel Imperial, New York City]




AMERICAN MURAL PAINTERS

By ARTHUR HOEBER

_Author, Artist, and Critic_

[Illustration]

THE MENTOR · DEPARTMENT OF FINE ARTS · SEPT. 15, 1914

_MENTOR GRAVURES_

    RETURN OF THE BATTLE FLAGS By Edward Simmons
    THE APOTHEOSIS OF PENNSYLVANIA By E. A. Abbey
    THE BENEFICENCE OF THE LAW By Kenyon Cox
    HOSEA--DETAIL OF THE PROPHETS By John Sargent
    DETAIL OF THE ANTHONY DREXEL MEMORIAL CHANCEL By E. H. Blashfield
    THE PLEIADES By Elihu Vedder


[Illustration: DAWN, by T. W. Dewing

Ceiling decoration in the grill of the Hotel Imperial, New York City

    “Oh, tenderly the haughty day
    Fills his blue urn with fire!”

--Ralph Waldo Emerson.]

The story of mural painting in America dates back just a trifle over
half a century; yet so rapidly do we develop things in this country
that today the names of half a hundred men and women who have done
distinguished work in this direction come to mind in any review of
native accomplishment. However, the art of decoration is one of the
oldest in the history of the world, examples of which have been handed
down from almost prehistoric times. Traditions reach us--examples
too--from the great civilizations of Egypt, Assyria, Greece, Rome,
in Europe; while on our own continent there remain records of art in
the way of wall decorations in Mexico and Central America, of beauty,
taste, and invention, that baffle all efforts to classify as to their
age. Says a great art writer, “No society, however rudimentary,
has altogether ignored art.” Within the last few years prehistoric
paintings by men who probably lived on reindeer flesh have been
discovered in caves of the Pyrenees, paintings of no little artistic
merit and surely artistic instinct.

With the name of John La Farge must begin any account of the history of
mural painting in America. The name is an honored one in the annals
of our art development, and he has been dead only a few years, after
a long life of devotion to high artistic ideals. It was in 1861 that
he completed a panel for the church of the Paulist Fathers, in New
York. The theme was “Saint Paul Preaching at Athens.” The architects,
however, rejected the work for reasons that seem never to have been
recorded, and the next year La Farge began a large triptych[1] of “The
Crucifixion”; though he completed only two of the smaller divisions
of the composition. These he kept in his studio for many years, until
they were purchased by the late William C. Whitney. But his work in
the meantime had been remarked, and he received an order for some
decorations for a dining room; while the architect H. H. Richardson,
in 1876, offered him a commission to take charge of the interior
decoration of Trinity Church, Boston. This work was completed in about
four months. La Farge chose as assistants Francis Lathrop, Francis D.
Millet, George W. Maynard, and Augustus Saint-Gaudens the sculptor,
among others. The work was satisfactorily completed, and remains today
one of the great accomplishments in this country. After this La Farge
was asked to decorate Saint Thomas’ Church in New York, which was
followed by his decorations for the Church of the Incarnation in the
same city.

    [1] A picture on three panels side by side.

[Illustration: Copyright, 1904

THE EDICT OF TOLERATION, by E. H. Blashfield

This is the central section of a decoration in the courthouse at
Baltimore, Maryland]

[Illustration: THE LIGHT OF LEARNING

By Kenyon Cox

Lunette in the public library at Winona, Minnesota]


LA FARGE’S MASTERPIECE

In the Church of the Ascension, however, is La Farge’s masterpiece,
without doubt the greatest piece of church decoration in this country.
The theme is “The Ascension of Our Lord,” a composition arranged in two
groups, one of the ascending Christ amid the clouds, the other of the
disciples with Mary the Mother standing on the ground gazing upon the
wonder passing beyond their vision. The composition is one of great
dignity and deep religious feeling; the vision of the painter is most
distinguished; while there are both balance and harmony, and the color
scheme is highly decorative and rich.

The work was immediately followed by many others, including a music
room for the residence of the late Whitelaw Reid, rooms in the
residence of Cornelius Vanderbilt, and many churches; while later
was to come the work for great public buildings, culminating in the
decorations for the Supreme Court room of the new capitol at St.
Paul, Minnesota, a colossal undertaking comprising many large panels.
La Farge did not, however, confine his activities entirely to mural
painting; for during his long career in art he was identified with work
in stained glass, to which he gave great attention. His achievements in
this direction were among the most distinguished that have ever been
attained in the history of the world.

[Illustration: EGYPTIAN DANCE

By William De L. Dodge

In the Majestic Theater at Boston, Massachusetts]


WILLIAM M. HUNT

Before we come to the group of present workers in mural painting
it is necessary that we consider an earlier man, again one of the
pioneers, the artist William M. Hunt of Boston, who in 1878 obtained
the commission to decorate the New York state capitol at Albany. The
result was a fine series of pictures, well composed; but unfortunately
they survive only in reproductions, the originals having been painted
directly on the walls. These, owing to faulty construction, did not
long remain intact, falling out of plumb, and they had to be supported
by beams until they were finally entirely destroyed. Hunt had been a
pupil of Thomas Couture (koo-toor´) in Paris, a man who had strong
influence on his work, and these decorations were very reminiscent of
his master. The pictures were fifteen by forty-five feet in size, and
the themes were “The Flight of Night” and “The Discoverer,” of which
only photographs remain to tell the tale.

Today the mural painter produces his work on canvas instead of on the
wall, a process that enables him to do most of the labor in the studio,
and in case of necessity this, after being attached to the walls, can
be taken down again and so preserved.


MURAL ART AT “THE WHITE CITY”

It was on the occasion of the planning of the World’s Columbian
Exposition of 1893 in Chicago that the first real impetus to mural
decoration was given in America. This occasion disclosed to the citizen
the possibilities of the native artist, as well as the esthetic value
of such embellishment in public edifice and in private home. The
administrative body of the fair, determining upon a decorative scheme
to be properly carried out, appointed to take charge of the mural
painting Francis D. Millet, and as assistant, Charles Yardley Turner.
A selection of artists was made to execute the work, who were J. Alden
Weir, Edwin Howland Blashfield, George W. Maynard, Robert Reid, Edward
Simmons, Charles Stanley Reinhart, Carroll Beckwith, Kenyon Cox, Gari
Melchers, William De L. Dodge, and Walter McEwen.

[Illustration: THE CUMÆAN SIBYL, by Elihu Vedder

At Wellesley College]

[Illustration: Copyright, 1898, by E. Vedder. From a Copley Print,
copyright, 1899, by Curtis & Cameron, Inc.

SAMSON, by Elihu Vedder]

Blashfield and Maynard had had some slight experience in decorative
work; but the rest were practically novices, though all had been
serious, capable students in Paris, and were familiar with examples of
the decorative arts of history. Millet was a rare executive, a man who
was subsequently to do an enormous amount of just such work. It will be
remembered that he went down to his death in the ill-fated Titanic. Of
the rest of the group Weir, Reinhart, Beckwith, Melchers, and McEwen
returned to their easel picture work after the Chicago fair, with only
an occasional decoration. Blashfield, Maynard, Simmons, Cox, and Dodge
have, however, continued to be strongly identified with mural work,
and these men must receive closer attention. The decorative scheme at
Chicago was a remarkable achievement, all things considered, and the
grounds were referred to as “The White City,” “The Fair City,” “The
City of Dreams,” and finally, alas! as “The Vanishing City”; but in
reality nothing like it was ever seen before and probably never will be
again.

[Illustration: THE PROPHETS, by John Sargent

In the Boston Library. Center panel, showing Elijah, Moses, and Joshua]


EDWIN HOWLAND BLASHFIELD

Of this group Mr. Blashfield has been more largely identified with
decorations all over the land than the rest. The list of his mural
work is a large one. A pupil of Bonnât’s (bo-nah´) in Paris, a writer
of great charm, and a most serious student of his profession, Mr.
Blashfield brought to his art scholarly endowments of a high order.
After his work of decorating the dome of the Manufacturers’ Building
at Chicago came a series of commissions to embellish various homes
of private individuals,--Collis P. Huntington, the Drexels, the
Vanderbilts, Adolf Lewisohn, and others,--with work for the Library
of Congress, the Appellate Court of New York, the ballroom of the
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, the Prudential Life Insurance Company of Newark,
New Jersey, the state capitols of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Idaho, and
other states, with innumerable courthouses at Baltimore, Newark,
Hudson County (New Jersey), Youngstown (Ohio), the Federal Building at
Cleveland, some schools, and many more. In these he disclosed enormous
invention, great facility, a good pictorial sense of composition, and
generally a scholarly grasp of decorative requirements.


KENYON COX

Kenyon Cox, likewise a pupil of the Paris schools under J. L. Gérôme
(zhay-rome´), has been largely identified with decorative work
throughout the land. A distinguished draftsman and a writer on art
as well, Mr. Cox is represented with decorations in the Walker Art
Gallery, Bowdoin College, in various state capitols and public
libraries, in the Appellate Court of New York and other courthouses
throughout the Union, and was awarded the medal of honor for mural
painting by the Architectural League in 1910. He too is represented in
the mural decorations of the Congressional Library at Washington.

[Illustration: THE LIGHT OF LEARNING

By Robert Reid

Copyright, 1909, by Robert Reid]


JOHN SINGER SARGENT

Mr. Sargent, perhaps the most prominent figure in the modern world of
art, a man whose success has rarely been duplicated, a painter of the
portrait above all, has confined his mural work to the decorations in
the Boston Public Library. These are of such superlative quality as
to cause regret that the man, in the course of a most active artistic
life, could not have found time to do more. Mr. Sargent’s parents were
Americans. They are his sole claim to nationality; for he was born in
Italy, received his art education in France, and has resided for many
years in England. Sargent, in short, is thoroughly cosmopolitan in
himself and in his art. His Boston Library decorations are singularly
original, of profound symbolism, disclosing deep intellectuality and
serious study. His work here, says William A. Coffin, “as a whole is
like a casket of jewels.” It consists of a frieze, a lunette,[2] and an
arched ceiling. In the latter are depicted the gods of polytheism and
idolatry; there are panels of the Prophets in the lunette, and the Jews
are represented by twelve nude figures in subjection to the Egyptians
and Assyrians, typified by figures of Pharaoh and the Assyrian king.
It is a most elaborate symbolism, thoroughly consistent, wonderfully
worked out, and of absorbing interest.

    [2] A form of decoration over door, window or in
    arches--shaped like a half moon.


EDWIN A. ABBEY’S DECORATIONS

Edwin A. Abbey, in another chamber of this Boston Library, the delivery
room, has his now world-famous decoration, the story of the Holy Grail,
perhaps the most popular mural work in this country, certainly the best
known, and the shrine for many years of the tourist. It is a series of
panels narrating the history of the knights of the Arthurian legend,
exquisitely told, for Abbey was a master illustrator, and there is
great charm of arrangement and color, all making a popular appeal.
Mr. Abbey was further commissioned to decorate the state capitol at
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He attacked this work with great interest
and enthusiasm, but his labors were interrupted by his death. The task
was then taken up by Miss Violet Oakley, herself a distinguished mural
painter, who, though handicapped by the circumstances of having to
follow out the scheme of another artist, nevertheless disclosed great
capacity and has made a success of the performance.

[Illustration: FAMOUS WOMEN, by Barry Faulkner

Decoration for the house of Mrs. E. H. Harriman at Arden, New York.
From left to right the women pictured are Cornelia, Beatrice, Judith,
Queen of Sheba, Joan of Arc, Helen of Troy, and Pocahontas]


PUBLIC LIBRARY DECORATIONS

The Boston Library, it may be stated, offered opportunity for
decorative work of an unusual nature, which was taken advantage of
by several of the better known men. Elmer E. Garnsey made remarkable
designs for the Pompeian lobby, and John Elliott a ceiling in the
children’s reference room. The Congressional Library at Washington
offered still greater opportunities, engaging the attention of a long
list of painters. Here again is seen the hand of Mr. Garnsey, who
planned the color scheme; while prominent among the decorations are
the works of Elihu Vedder,--six large panels representing Government
in its various phases, good and corrupt, of much invention in their
allegorical way; for the artist is a highly imaginative man. Mr.
Brownell places Vedder in the front rank of the imaginative painters of
the day, adding, “Their name is not legion.” Other men who contributed
to the Library of Congress include John W. Alexander, who is further
represented at Pittsburgh, in the Carnegie Institute, with most
important wall decorations; Gari Melchers; Robert Reid, whose list
of other work is extensive, including decorations for the capitol at
Boston; Henry O. Walker, also represented in the Appellate Court in New
York.

[Illustration: PENNSYLVANIA EXCAVATIONS, by Fred Dana Marsh]


EDWARD SIMMONS, ROBERT BLUM, AND OTHERS

In addition to these was a painter who has also been one of the most
prominent of the decorative men, Edward Simmons. Years ago he won
the competition for a decoration for the Criminal Court room in New
York, a prize awarded by the Municipal Art Society. A pupil of the
Paris schools, a master draftsman, a singularly capable man, his three
panels of the Fates won him instant place, and when he further made two
decorations for the Massachusetts state capitol there was opened to him
a field which he has since followed with distinction. Decorations for
the ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria, panels for the Appellate Court,
for various state capitols and public buildings, and finally enormous
embellishments for the Panama fair in San Francisco, place the man in
the front rank.

For pure beauty of invention, for charm of drawing and delicacy of
vision, no American decoration has surpassed the two lovely panels
executed by the late Robert Blum for the frieze of the assembly room
of the Mendelssohn Glee Club in New York. They attracted enormous
attention when they were first completed, and have been reproduced in
many forms. Blum was a highly original painter, and these many figures
representing “Music” and “The Dance” have a grace quite their own.

[Illustration: Reproductions of these paintings made by The Detroit
Publishing Co.

Copyright, 1912, by The Curtis Publishing Co.

Copyright, 1914, by The Detroit Publishing Co.

THREE PANELS, by Maxfield Parrish

These three panels are part of a series called “A Florentine Fête,”
which decorates the entire front of the dining room of the Curtis
Publishing Company’s building in Philadelphia]

Thomas W. Dewing, more identified with easel work, has nevertheless
executed several charming decorations, one in the Imperial Hotel, New
York, “Dawn,” ranking high indeed. It has all the man’s personal color
vision, and is exquisitely dainty and graceful.

Several men were concerned in the wall decorations of the Appellate
Court, among them H. Siddons Mowbray and Willard L. Metcalf. The first
named chose for theme “The Transmission of the Law,” which he rendered
in a scholarly as well as artistic manner. Mr. Mowbray has executed a
ceiling for the library of the University Club of New York, a large
work for the Newark courthouse, and many private commissions.

The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel gave early opportunities for the work of
Will H. Low and Frank Fowler, both of whom carried out interesting
schemes of decoration; while work in the church of the Paulist Fathers
in New York offered a similar chance for William Laurel Harris. Fred
Dana Marsh showed the possibilities of large engineering achievements
for decorative material in a large panel in the rooms of the United
Engineering Societies. It is an apotheosis[3] of labor, of the pick,
the shovel, and the iron and steel worker, and Mr. Marsh was singularly
original in the composition.

    [3] An apotheosis celebrates and exalts a subject in ideal
    forms of expression.

[Illustration: THE CITY OF NEW YORK, THE EASTERN GATEWAY OF THE
AMERICAN CONTINENT

By Taber Sears, in the New York City Hall]

John W. Alexander, better known as a portrait painter, also chose
similar themes with which to decorate the Carnegie Institute of Art in
Pittsburgh, a successful piece of work. Robert van V. Sewell, for the
home of George Gould, at Lakewood, did a fine frieze representing “The
Canterbury Tales.” And a later man is Barry Faulkner, whose panel for
the home of Mrs. Harriman, “Famous Women,” is a happy arrangement of
the many celebrated feminists. The work of Albert Herter is specially
noteworthy. Hugo Ballin has executed large decorative work, and Howard
G. Cushing has made strikingly original panels. Other men are Taber
Sears, with altar pieces, Joseph Lauber, Charles M. Shean, Douglas
Volk, and William B. Van Ingen. Walter Shirlaw occupied himself at
times with decorations, and Abbott H. Thayer has likewise executed a
few notable mural paintings.


SUPPLEMENTARY READING

MURAL PAINTING IN AMERICA _By Edwin Howland Blashfield._ Charles
Scribner’s Sons, New York.

AMERICAN MURAL PAINTING _By Pauline King._ Noyes, Platt & Co., Boston.

THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN PAINTING _By Samuel Isham._ The Macmillan
Company, New York.

THE STORY OF AMERICAN PAINTING _By Charles H. Caffin._ Frederick A.
Stokes Company, New York.




THE MENTOR READING CIRCLE


[Illustration: CHARITY, by Abbott Thayer

In the Boston Museum]

A mural painting is a decoration intended for the adornment of a wall
or ceiling. As a rule, it is painted in more or less simple, flat
tones, so as to carry some distance, and under the old methods, known
as fresco painting, it was a process of painting in water colors on
wet plaster, the portion of the wall on which the artist was to paint
being prepared over night, so as to be in proper state to receive the
color. The painter had to work from a scaffold. He was also hampered by
awkward positions and, frequently, bad lighting facilities. This method
was in general use from the early days of Giotto (1266-1337), to those
of Raphael (1483-1520). Some of the Italians use it even now.

           *       *       *       *       *

So mural painting differs materially from a picture painted on an
easel. The easel picture has more detail, is placed in a frame when
finished, and is destined to make a decorative spot on the walls. The
modern mural painter now executes his design directly upon canvas in
his studio, and when it is completed it is applied to the wall space by
a composition of glue and white lead. When this is thoroughly dry it
becomes practically a part of the construction, though it is possible
at any time to remove it, by peeling it off, should it be necessary.
As a rule, the painter of a great mural work makes first a small
sketch. This is subsequently enlarged by himself, or his assistants,
by the process of “squaring up,” and so it is brought to the correct
size. These enlargements are known as “cartoons,” which are traced on
the canvas or the plaster, and when thus drawn in are ready for the
painter’s brush.

Almost the first efforts of primitive man in picture making were
decorations of the walls of his rude house, and later his temples
and public buildings. There are examples from the civilizations of
Egypt, Greece, and Rome wherein the work was carried to the greatest
perfection. We have splendid specimens of brilliant coloring from the
great temples in the land of the Pharaohs, on their tombs and palaces,
that have remained fresh and well nigh perfect all these centuries,
while throughout Italy, in palaces and churches the work of the
Renaissance artists challenges the greatest admiration.

           *       *       *       *       *

Upon the walls of the buried city of Pompeii still are frescoes that
seem painted yesterday, so fresh is the color. The work of Michelangelo
and of Raphael in the Vatican at Rome is perhaps the greatest of any
known decorative efforts. Throughout France and Germany the work
has been greatly fostered by commissions from the state for public
buildings of all sorts, for splendid mansions and palaces of royalty.
In France, particularly, great attention is given to mural work. The
work of the French painter Puvis de Chavannes today is a return, to
a certain extent, to the ideals and methods of expression, to the
simplicity of theme and treatment of the early masters. He remains
by general consent the greatest of all modern decorators, and we are
fortunate in America in having admirable specimens of his work in the
Boston Public Library. Our modern men, in their mural work, use as a
rule oil paints mixed with wax, in order to secure a flat effect and to
do away with any reflection on the surface.




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Serial No.

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_By Albert Bushnell Hart, Professor of Government, Harvard University._

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_By J. K. Mumford, Author and Expert on Oriental Rugs._

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One of the most important and interesting travel articles that The
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is celebrated especially for having achieved the conquest of Mount
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_By Belmore Browne, Explorer, Author and Artist._




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End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mentor: American Mural Painters,
vol. 2, Num 15, Serial No. 67, Septe, by Arthur Hoeber

*** 