United States or Tanzania ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Early the next morning we had hoped to advance: water, however, was wanting, and a small caravan was slowly gathering; these details delayed us till 4 P.M. Our line lay westward, over rising ground, towards a conspicuous conical hill called Konti.
This monument symbolizes the energy, the unconquerable spirit that is forever pressing forward to overcome new obstacles, which has led to the building of the Canal. The idea of such a monument was conceived by A. Stirling Calder, the architectural design is from the hand of W. Symmes Richardson, the reliefs at the base are by Isidore Konti, and the crowning statue is by Hermon A. MacNeil.
The first meeting of the sculptors took place in January, 1913, in Bitter's studio, with a remarkable array of personages in attendance, including D. C. French, Herbert Adams, Robert Aitken, James E. Fraser, H. A. MacNeil, A. A. Weinman, Mahonri Young, Isidore Konti, Mrs. Burroughs and several others.
The column itself is decorated with the spiral ascending motive of the Ship of Life, while at the base Isadore Konti expresses the striving for achievement in four well modeled panels of huge scale, representing human life in its progressive stages, showing men and women in attitudes of hope and despair, of strength and weakness, in the never ending task of trying to realize human destiny.
Column of Progress, celebrating the Progress of Man. Preliminary sketch by Calder. W. Symmes Richardson, architect. Reliefs at base, by Isidore Konti, of New York. Surmounting statue, by Hermon A. MacNeil, of New York. To the west, the scientific phase, a tribute to Langley, who first solved the problem of flying. To the north, aerial achievement. To the east, aerial organization.
Around the base is the frieze by Isidor Konti, on three sides striving human figures, on the fourth celestial trumpeters announcing victory. The whole signifies man's progress through effort. Yet the visitor must not look for a story in all the sculpture here or elsewhere. Some of this art is merely decorative, fulfilling purposes of harmony or completeness in the general mass.
MacNeil had a chance here to express the new spirit of today, the spirit that honors the common man and that makes an ideal of social co-operation on terms of equality." At the base we studied the figures celebrating labor. "Konti is a man of broad social understanding and sympathy," said my companion. "But picturesque as those figures are, they're not much more.
Isadore Konti, from whose hand came also the inspiring, panels at the base of the Column of Progress, described in a preceding page, is the sculptor of this pretty "Hamadryad." The Dryads and Hamadryads lived, according to old legend, within the trunks of trees and perished with their homes. So it was an impious act to destroy a tree without cause.
His trail is now lost and on the edge of the continent he finds himself almost annihilated. Panel from the Column of Progress By Isidore Konti, Sculptor The four panels on the Column of Progress show the different mental conditions of men on their onward march thru life. In the center of the panel stands the man of inspiration the eagle, bird of inspiration, perched on his shoulder.
They are by Isadore Konti, in richly wrought high relief. The play of color values, the planes of light and shade, are handled with mastery. These four panels indicate that the thought, the dream, the aspiration, the dutiful devotion underlying all the labors of the common day are the source of their progress. One panel shows the higher toils of the mind, as in the arts and statesmanship.
Word Of The Day