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West Virginia, Thursday, January 27, 1916..The World's Greatest Sculpture.ini’sir.vs'■yant:hA “Memorial to a Movement’’ is Gutzon Borglum’s own name for the biggest sculptural undertaking in the history of the world. It requires a granite mountain, across the face of which Mr. Borglum will carve a great frieze 2,000 feet long and 50 feet wide. The work will con-tsletsidleleic)rdsume most of the sculptor’s thought and energies during the next eight years. Stone Mountain, near Atlanta, Ga., is to be transformed by him into the “Great Confederate Memorial,” at an expenseof $2,000,000—a memorial to the South of ’64, built by the South of today.The great characters of those days are to be reconstructed out of the side of thisi-di-hnrmountain. They will be carved in high and full relief in action, mounted and on foot. Following the mountain’s contour,they will be moving across the face of it naturally toward the east in the arrangement of two wings of an army.Because they will be in scale with the mountain, which is 700 feet high, the figures will be colossal, reaching, includingthe horses, 35 to 50 feet in height, or about five times the size of the Lion of Lucerne.I shall draw in my entire work upon the window itself, and then, by a little imagination, force it back on to the mountain.“By shifting my position, it will be readily seen that I can shift the wholescheme of my design to any part of themountain. By moving toward the window 1 can increase it in scale, or, movingaway trom it, reduce it. By this process 1 can establish the least possible amount of labor, make exact the size of all work and the location of it.“In its effect the thing itself will standalone in memorial and monumental work in the world. It will be done in sections and presented to the world as a kind of instalment, beginning with the principal figures, Lee, Jackson, Johnson, as a group, and later another group. The chief leaders of the South will appear onthe shoulder of the mountain, about 300to 400 feet above the forest below at theligintonuarW.estisonmyingforwestern end, and will, in general appearance, represent a group of splendidly mounted horsemen of from 50 to 75 mounts, all officers.genwillt;Friesion.bilaarewartheiarehornearl)ftThe first sculpture to be carved in a mountainside, by the way, was this sameLion of Lucerne, and it is interesting now to remember that the man who did it, Thorwaldsen, was, like Mr. Borglum, a Dane.Mr. Borglum’s groupings will represent the official heads of the South, including officers, also cavalry, artillery and infantry. The foremost men in the different branches of the service from eachiItifState will be represented. Mrs. C. Helen Plane, president of the Monument Association, and honoiary president of theDaughters of the Confederacy, and William H. Terrill, a lawyer of Atlanta, havereceived the credit for the idea of erecting a memorial to the Southern cause. The“Moving easterly to their right, coming over the mountain, will appear the main portion of the army—cavalry, artillery, and infantry—and will form what I call the second and third part of the design. These lines will not be parallel,but will form complementary lines andmake a very effective composition, including the whole of the precipitous face of granite mountain.“None of the work will be placed upon the mountain. All sculptural work of anykind whatsoever relating to this monument will be cut in the living granite found in place. As 1 find it, my composition will adjust itself to meet the natural condition of the stone.mgers ( man andseaswhilwaytectiprotbrinjits sters, iRY.persof bithatmountain was owned by Samuel Venable, of Atlanta, and he and his heirs have given it for this purpose.“What interests me in this monument,”said Mr. Borglum a few days ago, “isthat it is not a statue of Lee, or Jackson, much as I admire those men. The reasonI am so keen about it-and I am keen about it—is not that it is the biggest thing that ever has been attempted in the world.(It is what the Egyptians tried to do, and the Grecians wanted to do; neither had the time nor the place.) It representsthe first effort in this country to build a memorial to a cause, without singling out an individual. That is what the Greeksalways did, and they were so conscious of doing it that it was against the law to make a statue to an individual. Theywere always building to the ideal. That is why this thing interests me ; it is the tirst effort in America to build a monument to a nation, to a movement of ahundred thousand or ten hundred thousand persons.“It is a monument to two or three million women who worked just as hard and sutfered much more than their brothers or husbands. That is the thing that interests me. It is a memorial to a movement. My great hope is that before the thing is half done, this country shall have decided to stop sticking up statues to a Doctor Cooper or a Bill Smith. The perpetuating of a batile, of a deteat, of a movement—that is what is needed.”Last spring Mr. Borglum was asked by the Monument Association if he would compete for the honor of doing the memorial. He replied that he would not compete, asserting that there was nogreat monument extant, no masterpiece, at least, which was the product of competition. In the early summer he was asked to go down to Atlanta and lookover the mountain, which is 16 miles fromthe city. The Reception Committee took him out in a limousine, showed him themountain, and inquired, “What are yougoing to do with it?”“The mountain,” said Mr. Borglum to his visitor, “is a great unit. It is solid granite. An attempt had been made to blow it up, but it was irresistible. It is below the frost line, and consequently free from any great expansion or contraction. It has not sluffed off any of its stone. Two or three inches below the surface you strike pure granite.“I walked over and around it, examined its face, and finally came to the conclusion“1 will also cut into the face of themountain at its very base, and directly under the central group of Lee and Jackson—but hidden in the forest and invisible from the spectators from the neighboring hills—a huge colonnade of 13 columns, one for each of the Confederate States. These columns will be cut standing in the face of the base of the mountain, the granite excavated around and back of them.“Back of these columns, I will create a room reaching 60 feet into the mountain and funning the entire length of the colonnade. This room, or great hall, is created for the purpose of including in the Great Confederate Memorial the women,the mothers and sisters, who remained athome and kept the family together.“The hall will have a face 50 feet high,protected by a forest of oak and pineabout 70 feet high, and will have pathsand a great stone stairway leading to its entrance. It will be nearly 200 feet in length, and will be called Venable Hall in honor of the family who own the property and whose great generosity in givingthis mountain to the Southern causeIt will bemaysonaCcobselivimone (uary thins the nfrom are tl whitimakes the memorial possible, dedicated to the use of the Daughters of the Confederacy, and will become one of their meeting places, as it will also become the safe deposit place for the precious documents bearing upon the great struggle.“The great hall, with its colonial facade, will symbolize the Southern home, andsuch sculptural work as it will have in itsgreat bronze doors will be given entirelyto the story—the many stones—of the women of the South.“In front of Venable Hall great woods,including several hundred acres, will beparked with walks and drives, a small lake and other embellishments harmoniz-row ion wSpanof an chips Wooa Do Pileagentlborinis the writti Horn Cottc destrherecome the dbird 1everydoes keen, the faing with the general memorial.The time necessary will be three, five and eight years, dividing the work into three parts. The central group, containing the main characters, can be finished,Mr. Borglum says, and unveiled withinthree years; the rest of the work, ofcourse, would be underway and in preparation.“There is not a monument in this coun-” said Mr. Bor-try as big as a snuffbox, glum, “on any of the great subjects. The only monument we have in this country is the Statue of Liberty, which was given to us by the French, and we even had to raise a subscription in Brooklyn to getthe foundation for it.“The Lincoln memorial now in process of erection in Washington is to cost $2,000,000 tor the building and the singleneces-even It rwintelarge be n« peckfof the closeFeedi eggs:remaithe fc ter loi pecke Nuth« rarely Nuth;north the SI ter, tt tains“Stone Mountain, in its colossal proportions, makes the Pyramids small and insignificant by comparison. They are built or cut stone and long since have fallen into decay. The large figures of Egypt are little more than symbols and awaken little interest in modern man, beyond the splendid intention and mystery they suggest regarding the civilization and culture of their day. However, there can be little doubt they would have shaped it into one of the first wonders of theworld.“The question of locating upon the mountain the various figures in the best possible position in relation to the composition as a whole, and in relation to the mountain, considering the lightingand the height and the general structureof the hill, has given me more concernthan the work itself.sary to prepare the ground, and yet the net result in this memorial will be an»»that there was only one leasible wav of, another half million willbetreating it, and that was in leaving all 1......architectural or geometrical designs out of it and cutting a great frieze representing a moving mass of troops across the face of it in full or in high relief in such amanner—and this is most important—as to give the impression that they were in full relief and moving over the surface of the mountain and not moving across itsside.empty Greek shell with a single bronze figure seated within.Roughly speaking, the work upon Stone Mountain will, in its lineal footage, be inthe neighborhood of 2,000 feet. Thecarving will reach a height and cover aspace on the mountain exceeding 100 feet. In all of that distance, models will be made for all of the work and the mostcostly and perfect machinery necessaryfor scaffolding and safeguarding against accident, together with the mairtenanceof the scaffolding covering a period ofseveral years.To this must be added the cost of building the hall at the base of the mountain, the preparation of the park below, running the entire length ot the mountain, the establishment ot a boundary linewhich will probably be made by short bronze posts embedded in the granite-all of which will cost, Mr. Borglum says, not more than $2,000,0(X).compthe elmousiCarolcongeTitmcthe •Goldc comp, amoni Alo water them The L Herrti hard it winteAbearounCaroli and hW renten ota vcrj often, seen 1towns all tha their« their rnals aand ol on an^HAVE YOU WEAK LUNGS?may g are ra year a the nufeedinotherthem.“The beginning ofthis work has impressed me as the most colossal part ofit, and I think I have solved it by a verysimple process. I shall build a studio,about 100 feet long, squarely on the axis of the face of the mountain, and from, three-quarters of a mile to one mile from its face. In the side of this studio I shallhave a window of such length as will cover that portion of the mountain which I can see standing comfortably against the opposite inner wall.“This window should then reveal to me the full held of the mountain intend-i Do colds settle on your chest or in'ycrar bronchial tubes? Do coughs hang on, orare you subject to throat troubles ?Such troubles should have immediate treatment with the strengthening powers of Scott’s Emulsion to guard against consumption which so easily follows.Scott’s Emulsion contains pure cod liver oil which peculiarly strengthens the respiratory tract and improves the quality of the blood; the glycerine in it soothes and heals the tender membranes of the throat.Scott’s is prescribed by the best specialists. Yon can get it at any drug store.Scott Bowne. Bloomfield. N }. •,spond■ shireed for carving. I shall then lay the window out to scale, cross-lining it, and as the mountain appears upon the window,It isjnot paying tor the necessaries oflife that keeps most of us poor; it is paying for the luxuries.♦♦Children CryFOR FLETCHER'SCASTORI AcloudslightfuWhen,slight*to sinsJunewinks the hi;Praini coldes the riwand inas theCowbi found.Totsurprii as Snlt; Owls lt;be drfi
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Shepherdstown Register
Shepherdstown, West Virginia, US
Thu, Jan 27, 1916
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Kanawha C.
West Virginia, USA 21 Feb 2021
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