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Cutting from: New York Herald 
Address of Paper:
Date: JUN 10 1897

PAN IS LOST TO CITY.

Park Board Declares the God of Shepherds Not in Harmony with Central Park Scenery.

BOSTON PRUDES OUTDONE.

Like Bacchante, the Bronze Statue is Said to Clash with Proposed Surroundings. 

ARTISTS ARE ASTONISHED

Text of Correspondence Between Donors and Park Commissioners on the Subject. 

Pan, the Pagan god who has always been represented as piping tuneful lays beneath the umbrageous foliage of the woodland, is decreed to be not in harmony with any of the dells or grottos of Central Park. The Board of Park Commissioners, sitting in judgement upon the god of shepherds, has outdone the trustees of the Boston Library in their famous decision debarring the Bacchante from the classic precincts of the library building. The Bostonians pointed out that their library is intended to teach serious things and that
[[image]]
PIKE COUNTY
It is in This Building, in Milford, [[?]]
Bacchante typifies idleness and frivolity. But on what ground the merry god Pan surmounting a handsome fountain can be found to clash with Central Park scenery is a mystery. 

SCULPTORS ARE WONDERING.
The decision of the Park Board caused much comment in art circles, and sculptors are wondering if they must confine their work to depicting maids in high waisted gowns and the gods of mythology in sugar loaf hats and buckled shoes. The trustees of the estate of Alfred Corning Clark are astonished that the fountain, which was designed to be as handsome as anything of the kind now in the city, should be rejected after it had been formally accepted. 
As told in the HERALD yesterday, Alfred Corning Clark made two gifts of statuary by George Gray Bernard to the city. One was the group "I Feel Two Natures Struggling Within Me," which as been accepted, and soon will be placed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The second was the fountain with the colossal bronze figure of Pan.
TWO COST $25,000
The fountain was offered to the city, to be placed in Central Park, last November by Frank H. Presby, the agent of the Alfred Corning Clark estate. The design and photographs from the model were submitted to the National Sculpture Society, and an approval of the artistic merit was obtained. The work of art probably would cost the donors not less than $25,000.
Mr. Presby told me yesterday that he saw Superintendent Parsons and suggested that, as the Clark estate owned considerable property in the vicinity of the West Seventy-second and Eighty-fifth street entrances of the Park

to the Park Commissioners, when the merit of the same will be duly considered. I desire to say that I do not want to be considered as suggesting any lines, as I am entirely undecided as to the location such a fountain should occupy, or that their is a suitable location of it in the department.
'I will make this explanation, as I feel sure the architect will desire to have some indication of the site the statue is to occupy before definitely designing the pedestal and fountain proper.
"I was surprised at the wording of this letter," said Mr. Presby

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STATUE OF PAN, REJECTED BY THE PARK BOARD.
No suitable Place, That Body Declares, for the Proffered Gift of the Estate of Alfred Corning Clark.

Cutting from: NEW YORK EVENING TELEGRAM
Address of Paper:
Date: JUN 12 1897

THE MAD WORLD.
The mad world rushes along the ages
And forward! forward! is still its cry.
No time to rest, for the battle rages;
Then hurry and worry and strugle and die.
No time to rest by the fountains, flowing
Through shady groves, where the poets sing,
With fresh winds blowing and wild flowers growing,
And Pan to pipe for our pleasuring.
The sun goes down in a blaze of splendor,
And the moonlight trembles along the seas;
The nightingale's song is sweet and tender,
But the world is too busy to care for these.
O foolish world, in your greed for treasure
You are taking the husks and leaving the grain;
You are missing the sweets that make life a pleasure,
And getting the trouble and labor and pain.
-D. H. Morehead

Cutting from: HARPERS WEEKLEY
Address of Paper: [[?]]
JUN 28 1897

Six months ago the trustees of the estate of Alfred Corning Clark offered to the Park Commissioners, for the adornment of Central Park, George Gray Bernard's colossal figure of Pan, together with the fontain which goes with it. The commissioners, after careful consideration, have come to a conclusion, at which Superintendent Parsons seems to have previously arrived, that they cannot find in Central Park "a position of sufficient dignity and suitability for such a a work of art where it would at the same time harmonize with the characteristic scenery of that park." A situation being thus opened for discussion, it is being discussed. The statue has been approved by the National Sculpture Society as a meritorious work of art, and a group by the same sculptor which was lately presented by the Clark estate to the Metropolitan Museum has been accepted. The Park Commissioners seem to be suspected in some quarters of rejective the Pan for some reason of the one given, and it has even been suggested that they object to it because of its lack of clothing. That, however, seems an unwarranted insinuation. The Park Board has charge of other parks beside Central Park, and it may be that the commissioners think that Pan would feel more at home on the Bronx River or in some of the wilder parks f the annexed district.

m Ledger
Paper  Phila-Pa
June 22/97

               ART NOTES

  The trustees of the Boston Library, who made the famous decision debarring MacMonnie's "Bacchante," have been oudone.  The Park Commissioners of Central Park in New York have just refused  the noble bronze statue of Pan, by George Gray Barnard, that was designed to surmount a handsome fountain presented to the city by Mr. Alfred Corning Clark.  The "Bacchanate" was declined on the grounds that, being typical of idleness and frivolity, it was not exactly suitable for an institution of learning.  It has since been offered to the Metropolitan Museum of New York.  There is no doubt but that it will be accepted, and New York will be the gainer by the foolish, but at least defensible decision of the Bostonians.  But it is difficult to see how the Park Commissioners can justify their action and avoid the storm of criticism and ridicule that will inevitably descend upon their heads from artists and the art world generally.  Mr. Barnard should congratulate himself.  He has received a magnificent advertisement, and nothing in the matter reflects in the least upon the artistic merit of his work.

Transcription Notes:
The first article is so catty! The tone of haughty "counter-outrage" is hilarious. Also, who knew "umbrageous" was even a word!?