Art and Handcraft in the Woman's Building
of the World's Columbian Exposition

IN THE WOMAN’S BUILDING. triumphs over its handmaidens, com- merce and manufacture. The beau- ties of the Athens of Pericles, the Rome of Augustus, are indeed re- called by what we see, but a new art is foretold, whose ruins will one day be honored as we honor the classic fragments of Greece and Rome to- day. Comparison is nowhere more odious than where all is excellent; in my own thought our building stands on its own merits, and yet it bears comparison with all the rest, and loses nothing by it. There may be others which have qualities which it lacks. It borrows beauty from its august neighbors and from its mir- rored reflection in the lagoon, but it lends as much as it receives, and the winged temple is joyfully restful to eyes wearied with much gazing. A work of art is precious in so far as it expresses the personality of its cre- ator. Architecture is one of the arts most subservient to use, and a build- ing should not only express the genius of the architect but the pur- pose to which it is dedicated. How well the architects of the great Gothic churches understood this law. No other form of religious architecture expresses so exalted a spirituality as theirs. The aspiring lines, the up- springing arches of the great Gothic cathedrals lead the eyes upward to the sky; the mind to reflection and aspiration. Our building is essentially feminine in character; it has the qualities of reserve, delicacy, and re- finement. Its strength is veiled in grace; its beauty is gently impress- ive; it does not take away the breath DECORATION OF SOUTH TYMPANUM — “MODERN WOMAN.” Mary Cassatt. United States.