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| EAST PORTAL OF THE ADMINISTRATION BUILDING - Almost
every visitor to the Fair saw the spectacle presented in this
engraving, though other scenes might be neglected. Here the music
was rarely silent; here the fountains unfurled their waters, long
pennons of crystal, and airy clouds of mist. Here, whether there
were but 50,000 people, as in May, or 300,000, as in October, the
many sat and admired, or met and planned, in the heart of the
festival, at the centre of the World's attention. The prominent and
handsome figure of Columbus, which stood in the portal, was the work
of Miss Mary T. Lawrence, and represented the landing of Columbus,
and the planting of the Spanish flag in the colonies of the New
World. The groups at each side of the portal typify Water. On the
right is Water, Uncontrolled. Here great Neptune, trident in hand,
tramples ruthlessly on his victims, who sink lamenting to their fate.
On the other side is Water, Controlled. Man, aided by his invention
of the sea-boat, rides the waves, and rescues his sister fom the
grasp of death. The reader will here take more notice of these
groups than did the ordinary visitor, for the purpose and meaning of
the sculpture could only be grasped from a distance; and, to the
people sitting below, the heroic figures presented only a confused
appearance of gigantic forms. Karl Bitter was the sculptor. The
historical inscription over the arch may be read in the picture. |
