The Negro in Literature and Art in the United States

by Benjamin Griffith Brawley

  XI

  SCULPTORS.--META WARRICK FULLER

  In sculpture, as well as in painting, there has been a beginning ofhighly artistic achievement. The first person to come into prominencewas Edmonia Lewis, born in New York in 1845. A sight of the statue ofFranklin, in Boston, inspired within this young woman the desire also to"make a stone man." Garrison introduced her to a sculptor who encouragedher and gave her a few suggestions, but altogether she received littleinstruction in her art. In 1865 she attracted considerable attention bya bust of Robert Gould Shaw, exhibited in Boston. In this same year shewent to Rome to continue her studies, and two years later took up herpermanent residence there. Among her works are: "The Freedwoman," "TheDeath of Cleopatra" (exhibited at the exposition in Philadelphia in1876), "Asleep," "The Marriage of Hiawatha," and "Madonna with theInfant Christ." Among her busts in terra cotta are those of John Brown,Charles Sumner, Lincoln, and Longfellow. Most of the work of EdmoniaLewis is in Europe. More recently the work of Mrs. May Howard Jackson,of Washington, has attracted the attention of the discerning. Thissculptor has made several busts, among her subjects being Rev. F. J.Grimke and Dr. DuBois, and "Mother and Child" is one of her beststudies. Bertina Lee, of Trenton, N. J., is one of the promising youngsculptors. She is from the Trenton Art School and has already wonseveral valuable prizes.

  META WARRICK FULLER]

  The sculptor at the present time of assured position is Meta VauxWarrick Fuller.

  Meta Vaux Warrick was born in Philadelphia, June 9, 1877. She firstcompelled serious recognition of her talent by her work in thePennsylvania School of Industrial Art, for which she had won ascholarship, and which she attended for four years. Here one of herfirst original pieces in clay was a head of Medusa, which, with itshanging jaw, beads of gore, and eyes starting from their sockets, markedher as a sculptor of the horrible. In her graduating year, 1898, shewon a prize for metal work by a crucifix upon which hung the figure ofChrist torn by anguish, also honorable mention for her work in modeling.In her post-graduate year she won the George K. Crozier first prize forthe best general work in modeling for the year, her particular piecebeing the "Procession of Arts and Crafts." In 1899 the young studentwent to Paris, where she worked and studied for three years, chiefly atColarossi's Academy. Her work brought her in contact with St. Gaudensand other artists; and finally there came a day when the great Rodinhimself, thrilled by the figure in "Secret Sorrow," a man represented aseating his heart out, in the attitude of a father beamed upon the youngwoman and said, "Mademoiselle, you are a sculptor; you have the sense ofform." "The Wretched," one of the artist's masterpieces, was exhibitedin the Salon in 1903, and along with it went "The Impenitent Thief"; andat one of Byng's exhibitions in L'Art Nouveau galleries it was remarkedof her that "under her strong and supple hands the clay has leaped intoform: a whole turbulent world seems to have forced itself into the coldand dead material." On her return to America the artist resumed herstudies at the School of Industrial Art, winning, in 1904, the Battlesfirst prize for pottery. In 1907 she was called on for a series oftableaux representing the advance of the Negro, for the JamestownTercentennial Exposition, and later (1913) for a group for the New YorkState Emancipation Proclamation Commission. In 1909 Meta Vaux Warrickbecame the wife of Dr. Solomon C. Fuller, of Framingham, Mass. Adisastrous fire in 1910 destroyed some of her most valuable pieces whilethey were in storage in Philadelphia. Only a few examples of her earlywork, that for one reason or another happened to be elsewhere, weresaved. In May, 1914, however, she had sufficiently recovered from thisblow to be able to hold a public exhibition of her work. Mrs. Fullerresides in Framingham, has a happy family of three boys, and in themidst of a busy life still finds some time for the practice of her art.

  The fire of 1910 destroyed the following productions: Secret Sorrow,Silenus, Oedipus, Brittany Peasant, Primitive Man, two of the headsfrom Three Gray Women, Peeping Tom, Falstaff, Oriental Dancer, Portraitof William Thomas, The Wrestlers, Death in the Wind, Desespoir, The Manwith a Thorn, The Man who Laughed, the Two-Step, Sketch for a Monument,Wild Fire, and the following studies in Afro-American types: An OldWoman, The Schoolboy, The Comedian (George W. Walker), The Student, TheArtist, and Mulatto Child, as well as a few unfinished pieces. Such amisfortune has only rarely befallen a rising artist. Some of thesculptor's most remarkable work was included in the list just given.

  Fortunately surviving were the following: The Wretched (cast in bronzeand remaining in Europe), Man Carrying Dead Body, Medusa, Procession ofArts and Crafts, Portrait of the late William Still, John the Baptist(the only piece of her work made in Paris that the sculptor now has),Sylvia (later destroyed by accident), and Study of Expression.

  The exhibition of 1914 included the following: A Classic Dancer,Brittany Peasant (a reproduction of the piece destroyed), Study ofWoman's Head, "A Drink, Please" (a statuette of Tommy Fuller), Motherand Baby, A Young Equestrian (Tommy Fuller), "So Big" (Solomon Fuller,Jr.), Menelik II of Abyssinia, A Girl's Head, Portrait of a Child, ThePianist (portrait of Mrs. Maud Cuney Hare), Portrait of S.Coleridge-Taylor, Relief Study of a Woman's Head, Medallion Portrait ofa Child (Tommy Fuller), Medallion Portrait of Dr. A. E. P. Rockwell,Statuette of a Woman, Second model of group made for the New York StateEmancipation Proclamation Commission (with two fragments from the finalmodel of this), Portrait of Dr. A. E. P. Rockwell, Four Figures (Spring,Summer, Autumn, Winter) for over-mantel panel, Portrait-Bust of a Child(Solomon Fuller, Jr.), Portrait-Bust of a Man (Dr. S. C. Fuller), Johnthe Baptist, Danse Macabre, Menelik II in profile, Portrait of a Woman,The Jester.

  Since 1914 the artist has produced several of her strongest pieces."Peace Halting the Ruthlessness of War" in May, 1917, took a secondprize in a competition under the auspices of the Massachusetts Branch ofthe Woman's Peace Party. Similarly powerful are "Watching for Dawn,""Mother and Child," "Immigrant in America," and "The Silent Appeal."Noteworthy, too, are "The Flower-Holder," "The Fountain-Boy," and "Lifein Quest of Peace." The sculptor has also produced numerous statuettes,novelties, etc., for commercial purposes, and just now she is at work ona motherhood series.

  From time to time one observes in this enumeration happy subjects. Such,for instance, are "The Dancing Girl," "The Wrestlers," and "A YoungEquestrian." These are frequently winsome, but, as will be shown in amoment, they are not the artist's characteristic productions. Nor wasthe Jamestown series of tableaux. This was a succession of fourteengroups (originally intended for seventeen) containing in all one hundredand fifty figures. The purpose was by the construction of appropriatemodels, dramatic groupings, and the use of proper scenic accessories, totrace in chronological order the general progress of the Negro race. Thewhole, of course, had its peculiar interest for the occasion; but theartist had to work against unnumbered handicaps of every sort; her work,in fact, was not so much that of a sculptor as a designer; and, whilethe whole production took considerable energy, she has naturally neverregarded it as her representative work.

  Certain productions, however, by reason of their unmistakable show ofgenius, call for special consideration. These are invariably tragic orserious in tone.

  Prime in order, and many would say in power, is "The Wretched." Sevenfigures representing as many forms of human anguish greet the eye. Amother yearns for the loved ones she has lost. An old man, wasted byhunger and disease, waits for death. Another, bowed by shame, hides hisface from the sun. A sick child is suffering from some terriblehereditary trouble; a youth realizes with despair that the task beforehim is too great for his strength; and a woman is afflicted with somemental disease. Crowning all is the philosopher, who, suffering throughsympathy with the others, realizes his powerlessness to relieve them andgradually sinks into the stoniness of despair.

  "The Impenitent Thief," admitted to the Salon along with "The Wretched,"was demolished in 1904, after being subjected to a series of unhappyaccidents. It also defied convention. Heroic in size, the thief hung onthe cross, all the while distorted by anguish. Hardened, unsympathetic,blasphemo
us, he was still superb in his presumption, and he was one ofthe artist's most powerful conceptions.

  "Man Carrying Dead Body" portrays a scene from a battlefield. In it thesculptor has shown the length to which duty will spur one on. A manbears across his shoulder the body of a comrade that has evidently lainon the battlefield for days, and though the thing is horrible, he lashesit to his back and totters under the great weight until he can find aplace for decent burial. To every one there comes such a duty; each onehas his own burden to bear in silence.

  Two earlier pieces, "Secret Sorrow," and "Oedipus," had the samemarked characteristics. The first represented a man, worn and gaunt, asactually bending his head and eating out his own heart. The figure wasthe personification of lost ambition, shattered ideals, and despair. For"Oedipus" the sculptor chose the hero of the old Greek legend at themoment when, realizing that he has killed his father and married hismother, he tears his eyes out. The artist's later conception, "ThreeGray Women," from the legend of Perseus, was in similar vein. Itundertook to portray the Graeae, the three sisters who had but one eye andone tooth among them.

  Perhaps the most haunting creation of Mrs. Fuller is "John the Baptist."With head slightly upraised and with eyes looking into the eternal, theprophet rises above all sordid earthly things and soars into the divine.All faith and hope and love are in his face, all poetry and inspirationin his eyes. It is a conception that, once seen, can never be forgotten.

  The second model of the group for the New York State EmancipationProclamation Commission (two feet high, the finished group as exhibitedbeing eight feet high) represents a recently emancipated Negro youth andmaiden standing beneath a gnarled, decapitated tree that has thesemblance of a human hand stretched over them. Humanity is pushing themout into the world, while at the same time the hand of Fate, withobstacles and drawbacks, is restraining them in the exercise of theirnew freedom. In the attitudes of the two figures is strikinglyportrayed the uncertainty of those embarking on a new life, and in theircountenances one reads all the eagerness and the courage and the hopethat is theirs. The whole is one of the artist's most ambitious efforts.

  "Immigrant in America" was inspired by two lines from Robert HavenSchauffler's "Scum of the Earth":

  Children in whose frail arms shall rest Prophets and singers and saints of the West.

  An American mother, the parent of one strong healthy child, is seenwelcoming the immigrant mother of many children to the land of plenty.The work is capable of wide application. Along with it might bementioned a suffrage medallion and a smaller piece, "The Silent Appeal."This last is a very strong piece of work. It represents the mothercapable of producing and caring for three children as making a silentrequest for the suffrage (or peace, or justice, or any other noblecause). The work is characterized by a singular note of dignity.

  "Peace Halting the Ruthlessness of War," the recent prize piece,represents War as mounted on a mighty steed and trampling to deathhelpless human beings, while in one hand he bears a spear on which hehas impaled the head of one of his victims. As he goes on in what seemshis irresistible career Peace meets him on the way and commands him tocease his ravages. The work as exhibited was in gray-green wax andtreated its subject with remarkable spirit. It must take rank as one ofthe four or five of the strongest productions of the artist.

  Meta Warrick Fuller's work may be said to fall into two divisions, theromantic and the social. The first is represented by such things as "TheWretched" and "Secret Sorrow," the second by "Immigrant in America" and"The Silent Appeal." The transition may be seen in "Watching for Dawn,"a group that shows seven figures, in various attitudes of prayer,watchfulness, and resignation, as watching for the coming of daylight,or peace. In technique this is like "The Wretched," in spirit it is likethe later work. It is as if the sculptor's own seer, John the Baptist,had, by his vision, summoned her away from the ghastly and horrible tothe everyday problems of needy humanity. There are many, however, whohope that she will not utterly forsake the field in which she firstbecame famous. Her early work is not delicate or pretty; it is gruesomeand terrible; but it is also intense and vital, and from it speaks thevery tragedy of the Negro race.