The Continents (OMOM Essay 4): Out-takes, Bibliography, Discussion Questions

Sorting through my notes on Daniel Chester French's Continents this past week, I found a massive amount of material that I regretted having to leave out of the book - mostly early descriptions and speculation about the meaning of the sculptures. That material is now available on the Forgotten Delights site, along with a dozen or so photos of details of the sculptures that simply wouldn't fit in Outdoor Monuments of Manhattan.

The passages that most involved me all have to do with handling criticism. Here they are.

Daniel Chester French to his wife, explaining how he deals with committees: “But they don’t know what they like,” commented Dan. “Very few people do. They have to be educated up to it. When they’ve studied a little and seen a good deal, and listened and thought, then they may achieve a considered opinion, but certainly not before. … I never talk them down,” said Dan. “I know enough not to try. I simply suggest to them a better solution of their problem, and they usually have the wit to see it.” (from French's bio by his daughter, Margaret French Cresson)

From the New York Times, 1/14/1906; the reporter is responding to a criticism of the United States Customs House that appeared in a Boston paper. "It is frequently difficult to translate Bostonese. From the above one gathers that there is a transcendental something the matter with the new Custom House, although the building is at the same time thoroughly admirable and symmetrical - a consolatory kind of criticism that leaves one in a good humor and at the same time in a state of perplexity, 'restless,' as the building itself is said to be by this profound critic." ["A consolatory kind of criticism": I wish I'd thought of that phrase!]

And finally, a quote from Abraham Lincoln that was read by President Harding at the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial, whose seated Lincoln was the work of Daniel Chester French: "If I were trying to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the best I know how, the very best I can; and I mean to keep on doing it to the end. If the end brings me out all right, that which is said against me will not amount to anything. If the end brings me out all wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference."

Alma Mater: OMOM Essay 49

Searching for stories on Alma Mater in the New York Times, I came across a brief 1970 article noting that someone had thrown a bomb at her. That shocked me, and what shocked me even more was the fact that the bombing raised so little comment - apparently because at the time, there were too many other bombings and riots for it to be news-worthy. I place the Alma Mater bombing in that context in "About the Subject."

Alas, I didn't have space in Outdoor Monuments of Manhattan to include excerpts from the New York Times Magazine symposium "Are We in the Middle of the 'Second American Revolution'?" (5/17/1970). It included an analysis by Ayn Rand that seemed to have been written in a different universe from the responses of the other participants. (See "From a Symposium" in Return of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution.) To appreciate Rand's clarity and incisiveness, read the other contributions to the symposium, which you can purchase for $4.95 from the Times.

"About the Sculpture" describes the symbolism of Alma Mater. The Forgotten Delights calendar for 2006-2007 has another good photo of this 1903 sculpture and a wonderful quote from Owen Young on the importance of integrating what one learns.

Incidentally, the bomb hit the left side of Alma Mater as you look at her, but the sculpture was repaired so well that no damage is visible.

Richard Morris Hunt Memorial: OMOM Essay 38

In “About the Sculpture” I mention a benefit of looking that art that you can enjoy even if you disagree vehemently with what’s represented: the pleasure of seeing a difficult problem resolutely tackled and brilliantly solved. In the Afterword of Outdoor Monuments of Manhattan I discuss at greater length the benefits of studying sculpture.

The building that Hunt (d. 1895) designed for Greeley’s New York Tribune (see Essays 7 and 21) was twice as tall as any other commercial building in New York, but did not qualify as a skyscraper by the standards of most architectural historians. More on the 1873 Tribune Building in “About the Subject.”

In the Sidebar sculptor Karl Bitter, who worked with Hunt and also created the Schurz Memorial (Essay 51), vividly evokes Hunt’s character. I love it when I can have one historical figure in OMOM comment on another.

Continents at U.S. Customs House: OMOM Essay 4

"About the Sculpture" investigates the symbolism of Asia, Africa, Europe and America and how the figures play off against each other. The "aha!" moment for this essay in Outdoor Monuments of Manhattan was when I realized that the figures need not be taken as racist comments about the behavior of people on different continents. They could be understood as representing states of mind and characteristic behavior of different types of people.

I spent quite some time puzzling over what the man next to America is pushing - see the image at upper left. Google is great for text searches, but not very useful for identifying symbols if you don’t know the symbol’s name. A search for "wheel wings symbol" brought me to a tattoo site explaining the meaning of the winged wheel as a biker symbol and another explicating the lyrics of the Grateful Dead’s “The Wheel.” Finally (in print), I found a scholar who referred to the winged wheel as the “wheel of progress,” which makes sense visually - it look as if it’s going somewhere fast.

"About the Subject" explains why the U.S. Customs building in New York was so important that its facade rated four major works by one of America's most important sculptors. Hint: Alexander Hamilton's ultimately responsible.

Below, details from the other Continents: Asia's footstool of human skulls, Europe's companion studying a laurel-wreathed skull, and Africa's companion leaning on a sphinx.