288 DAYSSan Francisco · 1915
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Sculpture · The Walled City

Nations of the East and Nations of the West

Two colossal plaster processions atop the triumphal arches of the Court of the Universe: the peoples of Asia on elephant and camel, and the westward pioneers with their prairie schooner.

The Nations of the East atop the Arch of the Rising Sun
The Nations of the East atop the Arch of the Rising SunCardinell-Vincent Company, 1915, public domain

The groups on top of the Arches of the Rising and Setting Sun struck the imagination more than any other sculpture at the fair (Todd). They were suggested by Karl Bitter and worked out by Calder, Roth and Lentelli, and the Guide calls them the 'distinguished groups' brought 'face to face' across the Court of the Universe. Set so high they were 'a bit skied,' but they showed above the palace roofs and caught the eye of visitors long before they entered the grounds. The critic Eugen Neuhaus thought them 'probably the largest groups of the kind ever made.'

The Nations of the East moved in a slow, weighty procession: the Spirit of the East on an elephant, with a falconer, warrior, Arab sheik, Egyptian, Mongolian, Muslim and Buddhist lama on horseback, on camels and on foot. Todd read into it a 'gloomy grandeur' of servitude supporting 'a transient pomp.' The Nations of the West answered with a prairie schooner drawn by oxen, pioneers and horsemen, an Alaskan and a displaced American Indian, the Mother of To-morrow riding the wagon tongue, and the Spirit of Enterprise 'impossibly poised on top of the wagon sheet.'

Both groups were enlarged from small models with pointing machines in the exposition's sculpture shops east of the Machinery Palace, where assistants climbed ladders about the knees of plaster camels. Finished early, the Nations of the East stood in the Machinery Palace during the Ball of All Nations in May 1914, looking down 'with a vast and patronizing Asiatic patience' on the dancers.

The Indian Prince, the Mongolian Warrior, the Arab Sheik on his camel, and their attendants and supporters ... bowed to their fate but held to their positions until nearly on the ground.

Todd, The Story of the Exposition, vol. 5 (1921), ch. XXXVII, on the demolition of May 1916

At a glance

  • The Official Guide credits the groups to A. Stirling Calder, with Leo Lentelli and Frederick G. R. Roth as collaborators.
  • The sculptural theme for the arch groups was developed at the Architectural Commission's August 1912 meeting (Todd vol. 1, ch. LXXII).
  • About May 20, 1916, the Arch of the Rising Sun was dynamited. The Nations of the East, anchored and stayed with iron rods, 'bowed to their fate but held to their positions until nearly on the ground' (Todd vol. 5).
The Mother of To-morrow, from the Nations of the West
The Mother of To-morrow, from the Nations of the West1915, public domain

Afterward

Destroyed with their arches by dynamite in spring 1916; the East group fell about May 20 (Todd vol. 5).

Sources