The Sculpture and Mural Decorations of the Exposition | Page 8

base of the Tower of Jewels to suggest the early history of the South and West of this hemisphere as a background to the present achievements at Panama and, indeed, at San Francisco. This spirited and romantic presentation of the fearless conquistador, Hernando Cortez, shows him at the very height of his proud successes. Charles Niehaus, whose work is always direct and convincing, has made us feel the Spanish conqueror's own sense of victory. We know that now Mexico, the Tlascalans and the Emperor Montezuma have been vanquished, that the victor's ruthless ambition is already dreaming of the conquest of New Spain and the navigation of the Pacific. There are infused into the work a brilliancy and dash that fill the imagination with the glamor of that picturesque period of history. The perfect horsemanship, the restrained but vigorous motion, the whole bearing, have a stirring beauty. There is also intended and expressed in the countenance a sense of vision, as if Cortez had here a prophetic moment in which he saw the future of the continent he claimed.

Pizarro In Front of Tower of Jewels

Pizzaro, the companion equestrian to Cortez, is the work of Charles Cary Rumsey. The grim, stern and epic history of the bold, arrogant adventurer who was merciless in success and dauntless in failure is ruggedly suggested by this figure, mounted upon a heavily armored charger and advancing with drawn sword. The fact that Pizzaro was a member of Balboa's party when that explorer discovered the Pacific and that he himself was in charge of a Spanish colony at Darien in 1510, makes his appearance at this Exposition appropriate. But it is, after all, the conqueror of the Incas, the indomitable, who spared neither his men nor his enemy until the rich cities of the Southern Empire had been pillaged of their gold and destroyed, who is here portrayed. After achieving wealth and honors Pizzaro was slain by the followers of a rival conquistador. The position of these two equestrians is well chosen; the colonnade of the Tower makes an impressive background.

The Pioneer Avenue of Palms

History of a later period, nearer to the heart of Westerners, is embodied in Solon Borglum's lusty and venerable Pioneer. This impressive equestrian stands on the Avenue of Palms at the entrance to the court of Flowers. It is interesting to note that, in this rugged and commanding figure, fineness, dignity and nobility are emphasized as well as the more customary endurance and hardihood conventionally associated with the character. On the leather trappings of the old Pioneer's horse, the tepee, the canoe and other symbols of Indian life are marked. The sculptor is himself the son of pioneers and has treated this subject with sincerity and affectionate insight. The Pioneer has been greatly appreciated and has received special notice in a number of addresses delivered by distinguished guests of the Exposition. Its veracity is attested by the fact that resemblance to several famous pioneers has been imagined in it by their admirers.

The End of the Trail Avenue of Palms

Still further back into the historical records of American stamina goes The End of the Trail by James Earle Fraser. No single work of art at the Exposition has attracted more popular applause than this. It has a gripping, manly pathos that makes a direct appeal. The physical vigor of the rider, over-tried but sound, saves it from mere sentiment. An Indian brave, utterly exhausted, his strong endurance worn through by the long, hard ride, storm-spent, bowed in the abandon of helpless exhaustion, upon a horse as weary as he, has come to the end of the trail, beyond which there is no clear path. It is easy to apply the message of this statue to the tragedy of the American Indian's decline upon the continent he once possessed. The sculptor acknowledges as his text these words of Marian Manville Pope: The trail is lost, the path is hid and winds that blow from out the ages sweep me on to that chill borderland where Time's spent sands engulf lost peoples and lost trails.

Historic Types Finial Figures, Tower of Jewels

As repeated alternating figures on the top of corner pedestals on the first stage of the Tower of Jewels, stand The Four Agents of Civilization, the historic influences that have developed our American life. These, the Adventurer, the Soldier, the Priest and the Philosopher, have been presented with vivid simplicity by John Flanagan.
He has given us, first, the Adventurous Explorer, romantic, courageous, he who crossed the uncharted seas and found new worlds; then the formidable conquering Soldier, he who founded settlements and held them with his sword or fought with natives for empire or riches for European monarchs; then the Missionary Priest, inspired with a holy zeal to spread the divine message to strange peoples; and,