|
| "THE FOUR RACES" - The conspicuous groups of
statuary
on each corner of the Agricultural Building
were called
"The Four Races," or the "Horoscopes." While they were the most
prominent objects, excepting the brazen Diana on the central dome,
they did not offer the best example of Martiny's originality, for a
visit to the crescent of the French Building
, where the
views of Paris were fastened to the wall, revealed a fountain near the
Trocadero Palace, on which four figures supported a zodiacal band of
the same design in the same manner. But the figures of the Parisian
fountain were by no means so elegant in form as was the "Horoscopes"
at Chicago, and no building in the world, possibly, ever boasted
corner decorations more satisfying to the eye. The frame-work of a
sphere, on which was outlined the zone of the zodiac, was upheld by
four nude female figures, personifying the four quarters of the globe.
As our engraving shows, the harmony of form in the figure of the
foreground is almost ideal, and the same charm of characterization
appertained to each of the others. A Japanese symbolized Asia, and
the diminutive stature of the subject only served to illustrate the
resources of Martiny's art. |
