The Exhibition of Fine Arts
William A. Coffin, Director of Fine Arts
Published in the "Pan-American Art Handbook"
The plans for Exhibition of Fine Arts at Pan-American Exposition, announced in the first circulars sent out from the Division of Fine Arts in November, 1900, have been closely followed. The exhibition has been made up almost altogether by direct invitation. The artists of United States, both those at home and those living abroad, have been asked to submit lists of their works executed since 1876 which they especially wish to have represent in the exhibition, and selections have been made from these lists. The response from all quarters in time became so general and so enthusiastic that it has been possible to realize in the exhibition the plans which, when first announced, seemed very difficult of accomplishment. Some of the works in the exhibition have keen secured from artists themselves, while others have been obtained from amateurs and from public institutions.
The director of Fine Arts, as soon as it was determined in October last that the scope of exhibition should include only works of American artists, felt that, while his work should begin at home and the first thing to be done was to secure the cooperation of the eminent artists who lived in the United States was quite as important so secure a full representation of best work of our artists dwelling in Europe. After the circulars to artists and collectors had been issued and a large number of our best men had promised ir support, he went abroad in January to obtain contributions from artists Paris and other parts of the continent and in Great Britain. The result of this necessarily hurried trip has been to secure work from most of prominent American painters and sculptors in Europe, whose names have long been familiar in the art world, and also an interesting collection of works by younger men who have finished up their studies in European art centres but have not yet returned to take up permanent residence in the United States. From the first of March up to the time when the actual installation of the exhibition in the Art Building began, the work of the Director and his assistants has been entirely devoted to completing the representation of the artists at home.
The United States exhibitors number over 650 and the total of works shown in the four groups is about 1,600. There are nearly 1,000 pictures, oil or water color, pastel and miniatures. In sculpture there are over 225 works. The etchings, engravings, black and white drawings, etc. are about 325 in number. Over 100 photographs of buildings erected by leading architects and other exhibits compose the architectural section. A gallery in the Fine Arts Building contains the Canadian exhibition of fine arts, which has been made up by a committee of the Royal Canadian Academy, with Mr. Robert Harris, President of the Academy, as chairman. In addition to these there are in the sculpture court half a dozen pieces of sculpture by Canadian artists. In the International Section are works by artists of South American birth and from such North American provinces as Newfoundland.
The group system in the hanging of pictures is a feature of this exhibition, and it is owing in part to following this system of placing a number of works by the same artist in a group on the walls that the co-operation of a number of eminent artists has been secured who are unwilling to lend to exhibitions where only one or two examples of their work may be shown, or where, if they have a larger number, these works may be widely scattered. The exhibition of sculpture should prove to be a revelation to those who have not closely followed the wonderful progress made in recent years by American sculptors. It includes a number of important works which have been acclaimed in the annual exhibition in New York and other cities, many pieces which have been medalled at the Paris Universal Expositions and in the annual Salons, as well as a number of works which have not before been in the United States or Europe. Among the pictures are over 100 canvases which have been awarded prizes at the Society of American Artists, the National Academy of Design, the American Water Color Society and other annual exhibitions in New York, at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Art Club of Philadelphia, the Art Institute of Chicago, and other important exhibitions in the United States, and in various foreign exhibitions. There are pictures also by such who have passed away but whose work lends glory to the contemporary American school.
The fact that, owing to unavoidable causes the construction of the Art Building at the Pan-American Exposition was not begun until the last week in December, 1900, and that time was required for the completion of the building in order to make it suitable for the reception of the valuable works it contains, made it impossible to begin the installation of the exhibition until the latter part of May. As it requires a full month to properly place the exhibits, the doors of the Art Building could not be opened as early as could have been desired. The administration of the Division of Fine Arts feels confident that when the exhibition is ready for visitors the beauty and comprehensiveness of the exhibition as a whole and the high quality of the individual exhibits will be generally considered a full compensation for all delays due to the time and careful handling required for the installation of a collection so valuable and so admirable in artistic interest.
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