4 = SS ee x Or unseription on the Mackenzie Monument in Toronto’s Queen’s Park honors the role € lea nment,” Gove; der of the 1837 Rebellion in Upper Canada in Mackenzie died August 28, 1861. “the struggle for Responsible The monument was erected in 1940. Artist records impressions oj et 28, 1861, William ie Mackenzie, leader 7 rebellion in Upper ale i led. To commemor- anniversary of @ : eae ath ] bald a visit to the rected to him in : ueen’s Park. Not it Betas at it, but to study ScUlpto, this monument the Ma, fas pier Seymor All- Ure] Ucceeded th tellin’ Sculptural ane Lyon a pestany of William Ught zle — what h ed. | a what he achiev. us What h he is also telling aS to be done to re- nd those achieve- You é : Macken” find all this in the Not « 5 i Monument. It is Xeelle OlNtical tract; it is an bow i Ee mble to illustrate dea = Ist can bring forth ‘ Sie . - Political ones, in ang fe form. ls, ~ Rot ext hin arched °n, but symbols Inherent in the very © subject matter & sy, of ogee in Solving ione ‘ : difficult problems Subject a — the unity : Ags and theme. The OR the monument Taneous sym- on : is situated men Buiaing of the Parlia- ba in ueen’ to hide : €d by a row a ae A Hiei; Uildings : retin, ee peolizing the hig ara ie Ble is walking %, WBht 8 at a book in OMe - ha and holding Ahead of him, on the same base, a plow lies half buried in the ground. In front of the base and far to one side of the figure 1s a bust of William Lyon Mac- kenzie, situated on a high ped- estal. Originally there was a pool in the foreground of the mon- ument so that the whole would be reflected in it, but children waded there and it was feared some might drown. It was changed to a rocky flower bed. (A pity!T This monument like all of Allward’s sculptures and mon- uments (Vimy Memorial in France, Graham Bell Memor!- al in Brantford, Baldwin,- La- fontaine statue in Ottawa) has a majestic sweep to it which 1s brought “out not only in the way he unites in artistic com- position the various elements, but jn the humanistic dignity of his figures. A profound feeling for humanity is a basic characteristic of all his sculp- tures, and what’s more he is able to express it nobly. xo stag: 2 No = The bust of Mackenzie him- self is not just a portrait. You see a man facing a fierce wind blowing his hair wildly about. His tie is being blown over his left shoulder, and his right lapel is being bent by the wind. But there is defiance to that wind in Mackenzie's fea- tures. . Here we have, I think for the first time in Canada, not only a portrait of a revolutio- nary fighter, but, by depicting him in such a symbolic way you can see or rather feel the enemy he is facing. ; Artistically, the wind is de- ward's Mackenzie monument signed to come from the left, so that the direction in which the hair, lapel and especially the tie is blown, leads your eye to the figure on the base. To me, the base with the figure and the plow tells us in a most beautifully con- ceived artistic manner All- ward’s profound thinking about 1837 and its meaning for us today. The figure which represents the Canadian people in a most human and dignified manner, is walking forward reading a book — which must represent I think the law, or education, all that we have achieved as a result of responsible gov- ernment. But in his left fist, holding very tightly (it must not be dropped at any cost, the tautness of the muscles seems to say) are the still young shoots, the harvest of the 1837 plowing. But what else do we see? A furrow trailing from the figure to an old plow, rusty looking in the ground. It seems Allward is telling us that plow must not lie there wasted—it must be picked up again and continued where Mackenzie and _ his 1837 left ae that wind! That same wind that Mackenzie faced is apparently Stadia blowing to- day for the figure is walking against it — the folds of his cloak are being blown against his legs. The struggle con- tinues. ‘ This monument 1s not only a tribute to W. L. Mackenzie and 1837, but also to Walter Seymor Allward who died a aa AVROM started, Jonathan Dc thee and thy stood to make a small fortune.” “Aye, I suppose so ld Jonathan absently. we've no great need of a for eperone this day’s work sons tune. We've enough and spare.” “Did thee know that side the settlement men calling Jonathan ‘God’s young fool’?” asked Elias. But Old: Jonathan did not hear. He had turned to the next settler hat stood in line, waiting his seed wheat. Thus in her book, Joshua Doan, Gladys Frances Lewis tells how the Doan family put aside any thought of bettering themselves at the their neighbors, and pitted their resources with the other struggling immigrants and farmers, against the Far 7 Compact in Upper Canada. bes it 50 In the bad weather of the eighteen-thirties, many farm- ers around London and St. Thomas . were without even, wheat-to_seed their fields. The of Tory appointee planned to sell seed at inflated prices, take mortgages on the rich new lands, and quickly fore- close ‘to add to his own estate. But the Quaker Doans, who had wheat, united with. an- other family,. the McAlpines, Presbyterians, and gave out seed wheat, free, to be return- ed bushel for bushel in the fall when the crop had been gathered. In this way : helped the reform minded people from losing their lands to the Family Compact. “Until all‘ men everywhere have bread and freedom un- der law, and knowledge, the world is safe for none of us,” said Jonathan,Doan. Yet when the people of Upper Canada 1€ ‘ies, poems, } coun- different s a block Gi Souani ws heir read- ie date of the 1956 instead tir thay ar time they are Make Your Dimes Send Donation LAB HELP ELECT A MAJO ue San | ry ’ ae! S50; R-PROGRESSSIVE PARTY 503 Ford Bldg., Vancouver, B.C. SEPTEMBER 7, 1956 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE — PAGE 13 cy