by the French government; and "The Two Disciples at the Tomb" was bought
by the Chicago Art Institute. "The Bagpipe Lesson" and "The Banjo
Lesson" are in the library at Hampton Institute. Other prominent titles
are: "Christ and Nicodemus," "Jews Waiting at the Wall of Solomon,"
"Stephen Before the Council," "Moses and the Burning Bush," "The Mothers
of the Bible" (a series of five paintings of Mary, Hagar, Sarah, Rachel,
and the mother of Moses, that marked the commencement of paintings
containing all or nearly all female figures), "Christ at the Home of
Mary and Martha," "The Return of the Holy Women," and "The Five
Virgins." Of "Christ and His Disciples on the Road to Bethany," one of
the most remarkable of all the pictures for subdued coloring, the
painter says, "I have taken the tradition that Christ never spent a day
in Jerusalem, but at the close of day went to Bethany, returning to the
city of strife in the morning." Of "A Flight into Egypt" he says: "Never
shall I forget the magnificence of two Persian Jews that I once saw at
Rachel's Tomb; what a magnificent 'Abraham' either one of them would
have made! Nor do I forget a ride one stormy Christmas night to
Bethlehem. Dark clouds swept the moonlit skies and it took little
imagination to close one's eyes to the flight of time and see in those
hurrying travelers the crowds that hurried Bethlehemward on that
memorable night of the Nativity, or to transpose the scene and see in
each hurrying group 'A Flight into Egypt.'" As to which one of all these
pictures excels the others critics are not in perfect agreement. "The
Resurrection of Lazurus" is in subdued coloring, while "The
Annunciation" is noted for its effects of light and shade. This latter
picture must in any case rank very high in any consideration of the
painter's work. It is a powerful portrayal of the Virgin at the moment
when she learns of her great mission.
Mr. Tanner has the very highest ideals for his art. These could hardly
be better stated than in his own words: "It has very often seemed to me
that many painters of religious subjects (in our time) seem to forget
that their pictures should be as much works of art (regardless of the
subject) as are other paintings with less holy subjects. To suppose that
the fact of the religious painter having a more elevated subject than
his brother artist makes it unnecessary for him to consider his picture
as an artistic production, or that he can be less thoughtful about a
color harmony, for instance, than he who selects any other subject,
simply proves that he is less of an artist than he who gives the subject
his best attention." Certainly, no one could ever accuse Henry Tanner of
insincere workmanship. His whole career is an inspiration and a
challenge to aspiring painters, and his work is a monument of sturdy
endeavor and exalted achievement.
XI
SCULPTORS.--META WARRICK FULLER
In sculpture, as well as in painting, there has been a beginning of
highly artistic achievement. The first person to come into prominence
was Edmonia Lewis, born in New York in 1845. A sight of the statue of
Franklin, in Boston, inspired within this young woman the desire also to
"make a stone man." Garrison introduced her to a sculptor who encouraged
her and gave her a few suggestions, but altogether she received little
instruction in her art. In 1865 she attracted considerable attention by
a bust of Robert Gould Shaw, exhibited in Boston. In this same year she
went to Rome to continue her studies, and two years later took up her
permanent residence there. Among her works are: "The Freedwoman," "The
Death of Cleopatra" (exhibited at the exposition in Philadelphia in
1876), "Asleep," "The Marriage of Hiawatha," and "Madonna with the
Infant Christ." Among her busts in terra cotta are those of John Brown,
Charles Sumner, Lincoln, and Longfellow. Most of the work of Edmonia
Lewis is in Europe. More recently the work of Mrs. May Howard Jackson,
of Washington, has attracted the attention of the discerning. This
sculptor has made several busts, among her subjects being Rev. F. J.
Grimke and Dr. DuBois, and "Mother and Child" is one of her best
studies. Bertina Lee, of Trenton, N. J., is one of the promising young
sculptors. She is from the Trenton Art School and has already won
several valuable prizes.
[Illustration: META WARRICK FULLER]
The sculptor at the present time of assured position is Meta Vaux
Warrick Fuller.
Meta Vaux Warrick was born in Philadelphia, June 9, 1877. She first
compelled serious recognition of her talent by her work in the
Pennsylvania School of Industrial Art, for which she had won a
scholarship, and which she attended for four years. Here one of her
first original pieces in clay was a head of Medusa, which, with its
hanging jaw, beads of gore, and eyes starting from their sockets, marked
her as a sculptor of the horrible. In her graduating year, 1898, she
won a prize for metal work by a crucifix upon which hung the figure of
Christ torn by anguish, also honorable mention for her work in modeling.
In her post-graduate year she won the George K. Crozier first prize for
the best general work in modeling for the year, her particular piece
being the "Procession of Arts and Crafts." In 1899 the young student
went to Paris, where she worked and studied for three years, chiefly at
Colarossi's Academy. Her work brought her in contact with St. Gaudens
and other artists; and finally there came a day when the great Rodin
himself, thrilled by the figure in "Secret Sorrow," a man represented as
eating his heart out, in the attitude of a father beamed upon the young
woman and said, "Mademoiselle, you are a sculptor; you have the sense of
form." "The Wretched," one of the artist's masterpieces, was exhibited
in the Salon in 1903, and along with it went "The Impenitent Thief"; and
at one of Byng's exhibitions in L'Art Nouveau galleries it was remarked
of her that "under her strong and supple hands the clay has leaped into
form: a whole turbulent world seems to have forced itself into the cold
and dead material." On her return to America the artist resumed her
studies at the School of Industrial Art, winning, in 1904, the Battles
first prize for pottery. In 1907 she was called on for a series of
tableaux representing the advance of the Negro, for the Jamestown
Tercentennial Exposition, and later (1913) for a group for the New York
State Emancipation Proclamation Commission. In 1909 Meta Vaux Warrick
became the wife of Dr. Solomon C. Fuller, of Framingham, Mass. A
disastrous fire in 1910 destroyed some of her most valuable pieces while
they were in storage in Philadelphia. Only a few examples of her early
work, that for one reason or another happened to be elsewhere, were
saved. In May, 1914, however, she had sufficiently recovered from this
blow to be able to hold a public exhibition of her work. Mrs. Fuller
resides in Framingham, has a happy family of three boys, and in the
midst 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 heads
from Three Gray Women, Peeping Tom, Falstaff, Oriental Dancer, Portrait
of William Thomas, The Wrestlers, Death in the Wind, Desespoir, The Man
with a Thorn, The Man who Laughed, the Two-Step, Sketch for a Monument,
Wild Fire, and the following studies in Afro-American types: An Old
Woman, The Schoolboy, The Comedian (George W. Walker), The Student, The
Artist, and Mulatto Child, as well as a few unfinished pieces. Such a
misfortune has only rarely befallen a rising artist. Some of the
sculptor's most remarkable work was included in the list just given.
Fortunately surviving were the following: The Wretched (cast in bronze
and remaining in Europe), Man Carrying Dead Body, Medusa, Procession of
Arts 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 of
Woman's Head, "A Drink, Please" (a statuette of Tommy Fuller), Mother
and Baby, A Young Equestrian (Tommy Fuller), "So Big" (Solomon Fuller,
Jr.), Menelik II of Abyssinia, A Girl's Head, Portrait of a Child, The
Pianist (portrait of Mrs. Maud Cuney Hare), Portrait of S.
Coleridge-Taylor, Relief Study of a Woman's Head, Medallion Portrait of
a Child (Tommy Fuller), Medallion Portrait of Dr. A. E. P. Rockwell,
Statuette of a Woman, Second model of group made for the New York State
Emancipation Proclamation Commission (with two fragments from the final
model 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), John
the 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 second
prize in a competition under the auspices of the Massachusetts Branch of
the 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 "Life
in Quest of Peace." The sculptor has also produced numerous statuettes,
novelties, etc., for commercial purposes, and just now she is at work on
a motherhood series.
From time to time one observes in this enumeration happy subjects. Such,
for instance, are "The Dancing Girl," "The Wrestlers," and "A Young
Equestrian." These are frequently winsome, but, as will be shown in a
moment, they are not the artist's characteristic productions. Nor was
the Jamestown series of tableaux. This was a succession of fourteen
groups (originally intended for seventeen) containing in all one hundred
and fifty figures. The purpose was by the construction of appropriate
models, dramatic groupings, and the use of proper scenic accessories, to
trace in chronological order the general progress of the Negro race. The
whole, of course, had its peculiar interest for the occasion; but the
artist 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, while
the whole production took considerable energy, she has naturally never
regarded it as her representative work.
Certain productions, however, by reason of their unmistakable show of
genius, call for special consideration. These are invariably tragic or
serious in tone.
Prime in order, and many would say in power, is "The Wretched." Seven
figures representing as many forms of human anguish greet the eye. A
mother yearns for the loved ones she has lost. An old man, wasted by
hunger and disease, waits for death. Another, bowed by shame, hides his
face from the sun. A sick child is suffering from some terrible
hereditary trouble; a youth realizes with despair that the task before
him is too great for his strength; and a woman is afflicted with some
mental disease. Crowning all is the philosopher, who, suffering through
sympathy with the others, realizes his powerlessness to relieve them and
gradually 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 unhappy
accidents. It also defied convention. Heroic in size, the thief hung on
the cross, all the while distorted by anguish. Hardened, unsympathetic,
blasphemous, he was still superb in his presumption, and he was one of
the artist's most powerful conceptions.
"Man Carrying Dead Body" portrays a scene from a battlefield. In it the
sculptor has shown the length to which duty will spur one on. A man
bears across his shoulder the body of a comrade that has evidently lain
on the battlefield for days, and though the thing is horrible, he lashes
it to his back and totters under the great weight until he can find a
place for decent burial. To every one there comes such a duty; each one
has his own burden to bear in silence.
Two earlier pieces, "Secret Sorrow," and "Oedipus," had the same
marked characteristics. The first represented a man, worn and gaunt, as
actually bending his head and eating out his own heart. The figure was
the personification of lost ambition, shattered ideals, and despair. For
"Oedipus" the sculptor chose the hero of the old Greek legend at the
moment when, realizing that he has killed his father and married his
mother, he tears his eyes out. The artist's later conception, "Three
Gray Women," from the legend of Perseus, was in similar vein. It
undertook to portray the Graeae, the three sisters who had but one eye and
one 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, the
prophet rises above all sordid earthly things and soars into the divine.
All faith and hope and love are in his face, all poetry and inspiration
in his eyes. It is a conception that, once seen, can never be forgotten.
The second model of the group for the New York State Emancipation
Proclamation Commission (two feet high, the finished group as exhibited
being eight feet high) represents a recently emancipated Negro youth and
maiden standing beneath a gnarled, decapitated tree that has the
semblance of a human hand stretched over them. Humanity is pushing them
out into the world, while at the same time the hand of Fate, with
obstacles and drawbacks, is restraining them in the exercise of their
new freedom. In the attitudes of the two figures is strikingly
portrayed the uncertainty of those embarking on a new life, and in their
countenances one reads all the eagerness and the courage and the hope
that is theirs. The whole is one of the artist's most ambitious efforts.
"Immigrant in America" was inspired by two lines from Robert Haven
Schauffler'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 seen
welcoming the immigrant mother of many children to the land of plenty.
The work is capable of wide application. Along with it might be
mentioned a suffrage medallion and a smaller piece, "The Silent Appeal."
This last is a very strong piece of work. It represents the mother
capable of producing and caring for three children as making a silent
request for the suffrage (or peace, or justice, or any other noble
cause). 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 death
helpless human beings, while in one hand he bears a spear on which he
has impaled the head of one of his victims. As he goes on in what seems
his irresistible career Peace meets him on the way and commands him to
cease his ravages. The work as exhibited was in gray-green wax and
treated its subject with remarkable spirit. It must take rank as one of
the four or five of the strongest productions of the artist.
Meta Warrick Fuller's work may be said to fall into two divisions, the
romantic and the social. The first is represented by such things as "The
Wretched" 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 like
the 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 to
the everyday problems of needy humanity. There are many, however, who
hope that she will not utterly forsake the field in which she first
became famous. Her early work is not delicate or pretty; it is gruesome
and terrible; but it is also intense and vital, and from it speaks the
very tragedy of the Negro race.
XII
MUSIC
The foremost name on the roll of Negro composers is that of a man whose
home was in England, but who in so many ways identified himself with the
Negroes of the United States that he deserves to be considered here. He
visited America, found the inspiration for much of his best work in
African themes, and his name at once comes to mind in any consideration
of the history of the Negro in music.
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor[9] (1875-1912) was born in London, the son of a
physician who was a native of Sierra Leone, and an English mother. He
began the study of the violin when he was no more than six years old,
and as he grew older he emphasized more and more the violin and the
piano. At the age of ten he entered the choir of St. George's, at
Croydon, and a little later became alto singer at St. Mary Magdalene's,
Croydon. In 1890 he entered the Royal College of Music as a student of
the violin; and he also became a student of Stanford's in composition,
in which department he won a scholarship in 1893. In 1894 he was
graduated with honor. His earliest published work was the anthem, "In
Thee, O Lord" (1892); but he gave frequent performances of chamber music
at student concerts in his earlier years; one of his symphonies was
produced in 1896 under Stanford's direction, and "a quintet for clarinet
and strings in F sharp minor (played at the Royal College in 1895) was
given in Berlin by the Joachim Quartet, and a string quartet in D minor
dates from 1896." Coleridge-Taylor became world-famous by the production
of the first part of his "Hiawatha" trilogy, "Hiawatha's Wedding-Feast,"
at the Royal College, November 11, 1898. He at once took rank as one of
the foremost living English composers. The second part of the trilogy,
"The Death of Minnehaha," was given at the North Staffordshire Festival
in the autumn of 1899; and the third, "Hiawatha's Departure," by the
Royal Choral Society, in Albert Hall, March 22, 1900. The whole work was
a tremendous success such as even the composer himself never quite
duplicated. Requests for new compositions for festival purposes now
became numerous, and in response to the demand were produced "The Blind
Girl of Castel-Cuille" (Leeds, 1901), "Meg Blane" (Sheffield, 1902),
"The Atonement" (Hereford, 1903), and "Kubla Khan" (Handel Society,
1906). Coleridge-Taylor also wrote the incidental music for the four
romantic plays by Stephen Phillips produced at His Majesty's Theatre, as
follows: "Herod," 1900; "Ulysses," 1901; "Nero," 1902; "Faust," 1908; as
well as incidental music for "Othello" (the composition for the
orchestra being later adapted as a suite for pianoforte), and for "A
Tale of Old Japan," the words of which were by Alfred Noyes. In 1904 he
was appointed conductor of the Handel Society. The composer's most
distinctive work is probably that reflecting his interest in the Negro
folk-song. "Characteristic of the melancholy beauty, barbaric color,
charm of musical rhythm and vehement passion of the true Negro music are
his symphonic pianoforte selections based on Negro melodies from Africa
and America: the 'African Suite,' a group of pianoforte pieces, the
'African Romances' (words by Paul L. Dunbar), the 'Songs of Slavery,'
'Three Choral Ballads' and 'African Dances,' and a suite for violin and
pianoforte."[10] The complete list of the works of Coleridge-Taylor
would include also the following: "Southern Love Songs," "Dream-Lovers"
(an operetta), "Gipsy Suite" (for violin and piano), "Solemn Prelude"
(for orchestra, first produced at the Worcester Festival, 1899),
"Nourmahal's Song and Dance" (for piano), "Scenes from an Everyday
Romance," "Ethiopia Saluting the Colors" (concert march for orchestra),
"Five Choral Ballads" to words by Longfellow (produced at the Norwich
Festival, 1905), "Moorish Dance" (for piano), "Six Sorrow Songs,"
several vocal duets, and the anthems, "Now Late on the Sabbath Day," "By
the Waters of Babylon," "The Lord is My Strength," "Lift Up Your Heads,"
"Break Forth into Joy," and "O Ye that Love the Lord." Among the things
published since his death are his "Viking Song," best adapted for a male
chorus, and a group of pianoforte and choral works.
[Footnote 9: This account of Coleridge-Taylor is based largely, but not
wholly, upon the facts as given in Grove's Dictionary of Music (1910
edition, Macmillan). The article on the composer ends with a fairly
complete list of works up to 1910.]
[Footnote 10: _Crisis_, October, 1912.]
In America the history of conscious musical effort on the part of the
Negro goes back even many years before the Civil War. "Some of the most
interesting music produced by the Negro slaves was handed down from the
days when the French and Spanish had possession of Louisiana. From the
free Negroes of Louisiana there sprang up, during slavery days, a number
of musicians and artists who distinguished themselves in foreign
countries to which they removed because of the prejudice which existed
against colored people. Among them was Eugene Warburg, who went to Italy
and distinguished himself as a sculptor. Another was Victor Sejour, who
went to Paris and gained distinction as a poet and composer of tragedy.
The Lambert family, consisting of seven persons, were noted as
musicians. Richard Lambert, the father, was a teacher of music; Lucien
Lambert, a son, after much hard study, became a composer of music.
Edmund Dede, who was born in New Orleans in 1829, learned while a youth
to play a number of instruments. He accumulated enough money to pay his
passage to France. Here he took up a special study of music, and finally
became director of the orchestra of L'Alcazar, in Bordeaux, France."[11]
[Footnote 11: Washington: "The Story of the Negro," II, 276-7.]
The foremost composer of the race to-day is Harry T. Burleigh, who
within the last few years has won a place not only among the most
prominent song-writers of America, but of the world. He has emphasized
compositions in classical vein, his work displaying great technical
excellence. Prominent among his later songs are "Jean," the "Saracen
Songs," "One Year (1914-1915)," the "Five Songs" of Laurence Hope, set
to music, "The Young Warrior" (the words of which were written by James
W. Johnson), and "Passionale" (four songs for a tenor voice, the words
of which were also by Mr. Johnson). Nearly two years ago, at an
assemblage of the Italo-American Relief Committee at the Biltmore Hotel,
New York, Mr. Amato, of the Metropolitan Opera, sang with tremendous
effect, "The Young Warrior," and the Italian version has later been
used all over Italy as a popular song in connection with the war. Of
somewhat stronger quality even than most of these songs are "The Grey
Wolf," to words by Arthur Symons, "The Soldier," a setting of Rupert
Brooke's well known sonnet, and "Ethiopia Saluting the Colors." An
entirely different division of Mr. Burleigh's work, hardly less
important than his songs, is his various adaptations of the Negro
melodies, especially for choral work; and he assisted Dvorak in his "New
World Symphony," based on the Negro folk-songs. For his general
achievement in music he was, in 1917, awarded the Spingarn Medal. His
work as a singer is reserved for later treatment.
[Illustration: HARRY T. BURLEIGH]
Another prominent composer is Will Marion Cook. Mr. Cook's time has been
largely given to the composition of popular music; at the same time,
however, he has produced numerous songs that bear the stamp of genius.
In 1912 a group of his tuneful and characteristic pieces was published
by Schirmer. Generally his work exhibits not only unusual melody, but
also excellent technique. J. Rosamond Johnson is also a composer with
many original ideas. Like Mr. Cook, for years he gave much attention to
popular music. More recently he has been director of the New York Music
Settlement, the first in the country for the general cultivation and
popularizing of Negro music. Among his later songs are: "I Told My Love
to the Roses," and "Morning, Noon, and Night." In pure melody Mr.
Johnson is not surpassed by any other musician of the race to-day. His
long experience with large orchestras, moreover, has given him unusual
knowledge of instrumentation. Carl Diton, organist and pianist, has so
far been interested chiefly in the transcription for the organ of
representative Negro melodies. "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" was published
by Schirmer and followed by "Four Jubilee Songs." R. Nathaniel Dett has
the merit, more than others, of attempting to write in large form. His
carol, "Listen to the Lambs," is especially noteworthy. Representative
of his work for the piano is his "Magnolia Suite." This was published by
the Clayton F. Summy Co., of Chicago. As for the very young men of
promise, special interest attaches to the work of Edmund T. Jenkins, of
Charleston, S. C., who three years ago made his way to the Royal
Academy in London. Able before he left to perform brilliantly on half a
dozen instruments, this young man was soon awarded a scholarship; in
1916-17 he was awarded a silver medal for excellence on the clarinet, a
bronze medal for his work on the piano, and, against brilliant
competition, a second prize for his original work in composition. The
year also witnessed the production of his "Prelude Religieuse" at one of
the grand orchestral concerts of the Academy.