Leaving the Court of Abundance eastward through the Court of Mines, visitors were drawn on by "the lure of Daniel Chester French's group, the Genius of Creation" (Todd). It stood before the grand portico of the Machinery Palace, "looking down the main axis of the Exposition buildings," as the far eastern accent of the long vista that ran through the courts to the Palace of Fine Arts.
Barry's handbook describes the composition: a spirit above, "creating life from shapeless mass of earth below," with a man at the left, "courageous and enterprising," a woman at the right, "timid, hesitating," and a serpent, symbol of wisdom, coiled about the mass. French was among the artists at Karl Bitter's first New York meeting on the exposition sculpture in January 1913.
