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Triumph of the Field
Niches West Facade of Palaces

Triumph of the Field

In the western facade of the Palaces of Food Products and Education are examples of the new tendency in sculpture. These are "The Triumph of the Field" and "Abundance" by Charles R. Harley, the modernist. He has made them intricate and teeming with imagery, giving the beholder much food for study and personal interpretation. These works have been useful in arousing much artistic discussion. They endeavor to express a mood of richness, fullness and success and have the effect of laden chariots in a triumphant pageant. In "The Triumph of the Field," Man sits upon the skeleton head of a steer, surrounded by a multitude of symbols indicative of festivals of agricultural success in the past. Some are pagan, some Christian. Above his head is the wheel of an antique wagon; he holds crude farm implements of long-past days. In "Abundance," the companion piece, Nature, a female figure, sits in the prow of a ship, surrounded by the abundance of land and sea. Her hands are extended; one, in order to receive greatly; the other, that she may greatly give.

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