For an alphabetical list of the principal articles and topics of interest to builders and contractors, see the end of the chapter For Architects in this Guide.
CHAPTER XVII
FOR DECORATORS AND DESIGNERS
All the Arts in One
The decorator and designer is a specialist in his purposes rather than in his methods, and his taste and judgment must be based upon a wide range of information. His selection and combination of decorative factors call for a knowledge of architectural design, of painting, sculpture, furniture, textiles, pottery, enamels, embroideries, laces and all the other arts, crafts and products that contribute to the perfecting of “the house beautiful.” The variety of the materials at his command offers him infinite possibilities of successful achievement, and as many temptations to incoherence and exuberance. The highest success in decoration can be attained only when the designer possesses the resources of all these arts and crafts, and failure perhaps comes oftenest through too exclusive a use of one medium of expression because it is the one with which the designer feels he can most competently deal. The ideal should be not only to employ, but to enlarge, the scope of every contributory medium of form or colour, as Wagner found new possibilities in the use of every musical instrument in one orchestra. This practical usefulness of versatility is clearly indicated in one of the articles, characteristic of the Britannica, where one great expert writes about the work of another. William Morris and Walter Crane have been the leaders of the modern revival of artistic interest in the daily accessories of life; and Crane in the Britannica (Vol. 2, p. 701) says of Morris that his influence is to be attributed to his having “personally mastered the working details and handling of each craft he took up in turn, as well as to his power of inspiring his helpers and followers. He was painter, designer, scribe, illuminator, wood-engraver, dyer, weaver and, finally, printer and paper-maker; and, having effectively mastered these crafts he could effectively direct and criticize the work of others.” Obviously, few men can afford to devote forty years, as Morris did, to the close study and actual practice of all these pursuits, and still fewer could hope to develop so many manual dexterities. But any earnest student can become a competent critic in all these varied fields, and can retain an equal appreciation of all the materials and methods employed, if he will enlarge and refresh his knowledge by constant reading of the best authorities. The comprehensiveness of the Britannica makes it, for such purposes, invaluable to the designer and decorator, no matter how many technical books his working library may contain.
The Influence of Architecture
Since harmony of proportion, the essence of architecture, is also the primary law of interior decoration, the reader of the present chapter may well begin his reading with a number of the articles described in the chapter For Architects, of which only those dwelling most upon the use of ornament and colour need be separately mentioned in this connection. The article Architecture (Vol. 2, p. 369) is by R. Phené Spiers, formerly master of the Architectural School of the English Royal Academy, with sections on special periods and schools of architecture by other famous authorities. Oriental architecture, with its elaboration of detail, is peculiarly suggestive to the decorator, who may be surprised to find, in the Britannica, treatises so highly specialized as Indian Architecture (Vol. 14, p. 428), by Dr. James Burgess, editor of the standard book on the subject, the History of Indian Architecture; the architectural part of China, Art (Vol. 6, p. 214), by Lawrence Binyon, whose work in the great British Museum collection has made his reputation as one of the foremost modern critics; and Japan, Art (Vol. 15, p. 181), by Capt. Frank Brinkley, whose many years of study in Japan have given him an exceptional mastery of the subject. Among other articles dealing with the decorative aspects of architecture are Order (Vol. 20, p. 176), Capital (Vol. 5, p. 275), and House (Vol. 13, p. 810), with its exquisite full page plates.
Design and Mural Painting
The article Design (Vol. 8, p. 95), by W. R. Lethaby, principal of the Central School of Arts and Crafts, London, contains a passage which the decorator may well bear in mind when he has to contend against the typical client’s unreasoning demand for the sensationalism which, for the moment, is accepted as an evidence of originality, but is always the cause of subsequent dissatisfaction and complaint. “Modern use has tended to associate design with the word ‘original’ in the sense of new or abnormal. The end of design, however, is properly utility, fitness and delight. If a discovery, it should be a discovery of what seems inevitable, an inspiration arising out of the conditions, and parallel to invention in the sciences.” These fifty words are but a millionth part of the contents of the Britannica; but alone they show that the work can practically serve the designer. Mural Decoration (Vol. 19, p. 16), with its delightful reproduction in colour of a wall painting preserved in the National Museum at Rome, and its other illustrations, is by William Morris and Walter Crane, with a section on classical wall paintings by Prof. J. H. Middleton, Slade professor of fine art at Cambridge University. The “furnishing” point of view is considered under other headings (see below). Here the distinguished contributors give an interesting account of marble and stone reliefs, the oldest method of wall decoration; marble veneer, especially appropriate to 14th and 15th century Italian style; wall-linings of glazed brick or tiles; coverings of hard stucco; the recently revived sgraffito method; stamped leather, much used in rooms of the 16th–18th century period; painted cloth; printed hangings and wall-papers, of great antiquity among the Hindus and Chinese but not common in Europe until the 18th century; wall-painting, with description of the characteristic schemes of mural art in ancient and modern times, and methods of execution.
In further connection with this subject the reader should turn to Egypt, Art and Archaeology (Vol. 9, p. 65), by the noted Egyptologist, W. M. Flinders Petrie; Greek Art (Vol. 12, p. 470), by Percy Gardner; Roman Art (Vol. 23, p. 474), by H. Stuart Jones; Painting (Vol. 20, p. 459), by Prof. G. B. Brown, of Edinburgh University, and other authorities; Sculpture (Vol. 24, p. 488), by Professor Middleton and other authorities; Mosaic (Vol. 18, p. 883), by Professor Middleton and H. Stuart Jones, with a practical section on Modern Mosaic (p. 888), by Sir William Blake Richmond, noted for his accomplishments in decorative art. All of these articles are richly illustrated. See further, the chapters on Fine Arts, Painting and Sculpture.
The Wall and the Floor