Page:The Carnegie institute and library of Pittsburgh (1916).djvu/30



In undertaking the decorations for the entrance hall of the Carnegie Institute Mr Alexander considered as absolutely essential a subject appropriate to the city of Pittsburgh.

He finally selected as a subject for the entire series "The Crowning of Labor."

The decorations consist of a frieze of fifteen panels surrounding the first floor, a series of large panels at the top of the main staircase and surrounding the gallery of the second floor, twelve panels grouped about the third floor staircase and a completing set of twenty-one panels on the third or top floor which have not yet been placed.

In the panels of the frieze of the first floor the idea has been to show the energy and force of labor. These panels are filled with toiling figures seen in and out of smoke and steam from the furnaces, the immense harnessed energy of which is directed by labor into various useful channels.

From these panels the smoke and steam rise up into the larger panels at the head of the main staircase, where emerges a mailed figure typifying Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh has been depicted as a knight in steel armor in order to suggest the strength and power of the city. Labor having reached its highest expression, the city is being crowned and heralded by hosts of winged figures blending with the smoke and steam, which have partially dispersed. These figures bear tributes to the city, such as Peace, Prosperity, Luxuries and Education. To the left of the mailed figure the ugliness and impurities roll away in