conquering of it. A salamander completes the main design, while at the
back the phoenix, bird fabled to rise from fire, helps support the
figure.

These four figures are of the sort of art that is likely to turn the
unthinking person away, though a study of them will bring out new
beauties with riper acquaintance. Because people fail to get far enough
away from them to obtain the proper perspective, the statues seem too
huge, too strong, too terrible, ever to be attractive. They are, it is
true, out of scale, and thus mar the effect of the court to a certain
extent. But there is in them something of the noble and compelling
strength of the statues of Michael Angelo-to whom the sculptor clearly
owes his inspiration. Stand between the columns at the corner of the
Transportation Palace, and you will see that the figure of Fire not only
is imaginatively conceived but is a fine line composition as well. Study
of the other three from corresponding viewpoints will well repay in
increased understanding and pleasure.

Figures at east and west of sunken gardens. Flanking the east and west
stairways are two groups by Paul Manship. The one representing two girls
dancing or running is called sometimes "Festivity," sometimes "Motion."
Here the artist has welded the figures into an ornamental design in a
way unparalleled in the work of other American sculptors. Note the
finely varied outline, the sense of rhythmic motion, and the rich
feeling that every part is decorative. The opposite group is called
"Music" or "Music and Poetry." It lacks the flowing grace and something
of the richness of feeling of the other, though it is more dignified.
There is the same conventionalization in treatment, again charming.
These groups are not for people who look for realism in art above all
else; but for those who care for the classic, who see in formalization a