Viewing page 45 of 85

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

                 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 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 judgment 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 that 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
 [[image]]
PIKE COUNTY
It Is in This Building in Milfore, P....of [[/image]]

                SCULPTORS ARE WONDERING 
The decision of the Park Board caused much comment in the art circles, and sculptors are wondering if they must confine their work depicting maids in high waisted gowns and the gods of mythology in sugar loaf hats and buckled shows. 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 formally been accepted. 
   As told in the HERALD yesterday, Alfred Corning Clark made two gifts of statuary by George Gray Barnard to the city. One was the group "I feel two Natures Struggling Within Me," which has placed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The second was the fountain with the colossal bronze figure of Pan. 
                     TO 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 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, it would please the trustees if the fountain could be placed on the western side of the Park. Mr. Presby said further:-
   "Superintendent Parsons intimated that the base of the fountain was not exactly suitable for horses, and we then engaged R. H. Robertson to make the plan for the base. I wrote Superintendent Parsons to that effect and received the following reply, under date of January 18, 1897:- 
                      HIS DOUBTS ARISE
   "I have your letter of January 16 containing photographs of the fountain Pan, and will submit the same to the Park Commissioners, when the merit of the same will 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 sholud [[should]] occupy. or that there is a suitable location for it in the department. 
   'I 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, "and I wrote to Superintendent Parsons on January 20, asking if I was to understand that the fountain was not to be taken by the Park Commissioners.
   "I received a letter from Mr. Parsons on January 25," continued Mr. Presby, "saying that his duty ended with the report of a site. Not hearing anything more from the department, I write twice asking if any decision had been reached. I received no reply until late in April. when this letter, addressed to Edward S. Clark, was received from Secretary Leary:- 
   "With regard to your offer to present to the city for placing in Central Park an ornamental fountain. with a statue of Pan as a decorative figure forming part of the design of the fountain. I beg to advise you that the Board of Parks, after a careful consideration of the matter, has decided to concur in the conclusion of the Superintendent of Parks, as contained in his report on the subject, in which he states his inability to find Central Park a position of sufficient dignity and suitability for for such a work of art where it would at the same time harmonize with the characteristic scenery of that park."

[[image]]
STATUE OF PAN, REJECTED BY THE PARK BOARD.
No Suitable Place, That Body Declares, for the Profered Gift of the Estate of Alfred Corning Clark.

NEW YORK EVENING TELEGRAM

Cutting from
Address of Paper
Date

                   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 struggle 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 WEEKLY
Address of Paper IL Y
              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 [[strikethrough]] George [[/strikethrough]] Gray Barnard's colossal figure of Pan, together with the fountain 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 work of art where it would at that 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 rejecting the Pan for some reason other than the one given, and it has even been suggested that they object to it because of its lack of clothing.  That, however, seems an unwarranated insinuation.  The Park Board has charge of other parks besides Central Prk, 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 of the annexed district.

m Ledger
Phila-Pa
June 22/97

                   ART NOTES

  The trustees of the Boston Library, who made the famous decision debarring MacMonnie's Bacchante," have been outdone.  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 "Bacchante" 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.