Industrial Fire, Court of Ages



The two Fire panels represent this element in its two phases of
serviceability. The first shows its simplest use, that of giving warmth
to man; the second, its more developed employment as an agent of
manufacture. In the "Primitive Fire," a gray, woodsy plume of smoke
rises to the autumn sky. A group of workers have made a fire at the edge
of a grove; they surround it, some encouraging the growing blaze by
blowing upon it, others leaning forward toward its warmth. The thin
pillar of waving smoke is executed with such fidelity that it explains
why this artist's admirers dwell upon his handling of fugitive surface
tones, as smoke or clouds, as much as upon his more obvious excellences.
In "Industrial Fire," here reproduced, the smoke rises not in fine line,
but in heavy mass from a kiln. It is a rich cloud, colorful with
iridescent metallic lustres. Workers feed the blaze, their warm flesh
glowing in the mixed light. Whole vessels and broken bits of pottery are
heaped and scattered upon the ground.



Water
Fountain Motive, Court of Ages



As the Earth panels are luxuriant, teeming with a sense of plentitude,
and the Fire panels are moving with the grace of rising smoke, those
that represent the phases of Water are moist and lush. In the one here