Demorest's Family Magazine, January 1891

DEMOREST'S FAMILY MAGAZINE. No. CCCXXXI. JANUARY, 1891. Vol. XXVII., No. 3 MODELING FOR SCULPTURE. jOQELING began in misty antiquity, and is the in form, and presenting a sharp, angular exactness! . a v; art-industrial link connecting the prehistoric man sort of long parallelogram, round at the back and with a deep with the sculptor of to-day. The American author impression down its face, which, according to reasonable con of “ Ancient Society,” in the account of his researches among jecture, may have been designed for impressing characters the American In upon the moist dians, gives a tablets of clay and good idea of how cylinders,—a pur modeling was in pose for which it vented. Baskets is. said to be ex woven of wood cellently fitted.” resisted fire when This was intaglio daubed with clay. modeling. Taken from the While every cre fire the clay was ative sculptor pos found to be baked sesses individual hard, and the ves ity in his methods sel could be cooked of working as well in again. Then as in his concep some great genius tions, themainpro- thought of model cesses necessary ing in clay, with forthe evolution of his thumb and apiece of sculpture fingers, a vase to from the clay mod hold food. To eling embodying day, modeling- the idea, through tools are made of the molding, the either metal or plaster cast, to the wood, following completion in in shape the first marble or bronze, modeling tools, are substantially viz., the fingers, the same. The which our Ameri processes cannot can sculptor Jona be better exempli than Scott Hartley fied than by a de considers are still scription of those the best. employed by the Rawlinson, in eminent sculptor his “ Seven Great Hartley, who Mon archies/* courteously af mentions a model- forded every fa ing-tool found cility for noting in the ancient his methods and mounds of Chal taking photo- dea. He says one graphs of his flint instrument work in different was discovered, Copyright, 1889, J. S. Hartley. stages, from “ perfectly regular “ woman the reformer,” SUSAN B. ANTHONY.—PROM THE CLAY MODELING. wM(<h the aCCOm- D E M O R E S T’S ZB\A.MI.L.Y JVIAG^AZIJSTE. 1 3 ^ which the inscrip panying illustra tion is to be mod tions are repro eled intaglio, that duced. is, sunk in. Be In the illustra cause the bas-re tion showing Mr. lief has a useful Hartley at work, purpose, viz., to lie is using a wire hold the portrait tool, modeling in bust and to bear relief, that is, the the inscription, it oak-leaves are firm is decorative sculp against a back ture. ground. The pic “ T h e S y m ture shows only phony,” a central part of a circular maidenly figure bas-relief, forming with cymbals, sur a pedestal, on rounded by cher which Mr. Hart ley is at work, a ubs playing- 011 lump of clay in various instru o n e hand, while ments, and “ T h e the other h a n d Scherzo,” or builds up or takes “ Quick Music,” away clay as the representing th e Muse of Music fly suggestive low re Copyright, J. S. Hartley. lief d e m a 11 d s . CLAY SKETCH OF BAS-RELIEF.— 44 QUICK MUSIC.1 ing fast through Some freshly th e a i r, rap id ly gathered green oak-leaves are within the sculptor s siglit, followed by clierubs playing on drums, mandolin, and though without the range of the picture. They symbolize violin, flute and manly strength, and are an appropriate part of this decora trum pet, are tive pedestal destined to hold the bust of Algernon S. Sulli “ sketches” mod van, to be placed in the Metropolitan Museum of the city of eled in clay in New York. Part of the smooth, curving tablet is shown, on the compara tively fiat form called ‘' bas- r e l i e f . ,, From these H artle}7 modeled the wall sculptures to adorn the music- room in the house of George In 11 ess, Jr., the animal- pai nter, at Mont clair, New Jer sey. These bas- reliefs are not finished — no mold has been taken from them: they show to the artist and connoisseur the idea, t li e com position, i. e., the placing of one figure in relation to another so as to result in a har monious whole, pleasing, exer cising, but not tirin g the eye. While these two bas-reliefs are the original crea tions and remain as they are, com Copyright, ,J. S, Hartley. paratively they CLAY SKETCH OF BAS-RELIEF. — “ THE SYMPHONY MILES MORGAN.-— FROM PI,ASTER-<>F-PAK1$ MODEL are like the FOR BRONZE STATUE. DKlVIOR,KSrr’S FAMILY MAGAZINE. 1 3 5 of our leading New York dailies said : “ The magnitude of the affair and the artistic taste and intelligence with which the preparations had been managed were impressed on the delegates and visitors even 011 arrival at the entrance to this court. Immense tripods guarded its sides, vast garlands showed the way into the corridors of the theater. On all sides were antique symbols of the healing art. A skillful architect had made a temple out of the theater. A statue of Esculapius, heroic in size, modeled in plaster, strong, massive, reposeful, speaking, looked down from above the spot clioseu for the tribune.” To speak of a statue modeled in plaster is parallel to the mistake of a skilled workman, summoned to finish a peach- wagon house among the mountains of New Jersey. lie was dining with his employer, conversing intelligently on the politics of the country, when ice-cream was set before him. A solid spoonful was soon in his mouth, and astonishment 011 his face. “ Very good, very good,” he stammered ; “ but a minute in the oven would improve this pudding.” Warm ice-cream is no more ridiculous than modeling in plaster. The illustration of Miles Morgan, from Hartley’s studio, will help explain the impracticability of modeling heroic statues in plaster. When the statue of this New England pioneer was completed in clay to the sculptor's satisfaction, a mold was taken from the clay. Plaster of Paris, such as dentists use, was mixed with water and poured in its liquid form into the mold. In a few minutes plaster of Paris hardens into a solid mass. This plaster cast was shellacked all over, in order to destroy the suction of the plaster. The illustration shows the plaster-of-Paris cast, the model from which the bronze statue, now in Springfield, Massachusetts, was cast in Power’s Foundry, New York. Miles Morgan GEORGE INNESS, JR.— FROM TLASTEU CAST. authors plan of a book,—tlie chapters and the small synopsis of each chapter, to be afterward elaborated. There is plenty of evidence that the Chaldeans could model in relief. Rawlinson relates that in the primitive graves at Senkereh, a representation was found of ‘ *'a pugilistic encounter after the most approved fashion of modern England,” in low (bas) relief, that is, modeled so as to be only slightly raised above the surface. After modeling, these clay tablets had evidently been baked hard in a kiln, on the same principle that the flower-pot of to-day is baked. The Chaldeans modeled large vases in which they buried their dead. Not only the Chaldeans, but all races, before the invention of the potters’ wheel, modeled their vases and cook- ing-vessels in clay, and sometimes the burial re ceptacle or dinner-dish was molded in clay. Molding is not modeling, any more than printing a poem is composing poetry. To declare the differ ence between modeling and molding is one object of this article. Dictionaries and encyclopedias do not sufficiently recognize that modeling is the crea tion, and molding, the perpetuation of form. Be cause dictionaries do not define this clearly, very clever writers for books and newspapers add to the popular hazy error. For example, in describing Copyright, J. S. Hartley. very graphically the Xth International Medical “ THE NAVAL RESERVE.” — FROM TINTED PLASTER CAST. Congress in Berlin, the staff correspondent of one 136 DEMOREST’S iVT^Gi^ZIN'IS. '■xm&s'w'' ' r this mold a plaster cast is taken. Taking a mold destroys the clay modeling. The plaster cast is the third shape o f the statue. The final form is marble or bronze. “ Clay is life, plaster, death, and marble is the resurrection,*' is an artistic aphorism. Modeling, molding, and plaster casting are allied arts. Mod eling is creative ; molding, reproductive. The mold is to the statue what the matrix is to the metal type. A sculptor like Jonathan Scott Hart ley is master of all. Born in Albany, New York, he received a medal for modeling, at the Royal Academy, London. As many Americans who study in Europe lose all individuality, it is encour aging to see how American subjects predominate in Hartley’s studio. His studies in France and Germany and his visit to Italy have made him the many-sided cosmopolitan that cultured Europeans expect to find in the ideal American citizen. The tiny statue of Charlotte Cushman is mod eled in wax. Hartley has seized her Shake spearean impersonation o f Lady Macbeth and still preserved a portrait, which is typical of the strong New England family from which she sprung ; for the peculiarly massive brow overhanging the eyes is a characteristic shared by other members of this Mayflower pedigree. Tragedy was an ele ment of the family history.

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