International studio (16.1902)

A Country Cottage

orange the colour of which was intended to faire
•valoir the violet blacks, blues, and browns of
which the canvas was composed.”
Whether we study the landscapes or portraits
Mr. Giron has produced, we feel that we are deal-
ing with the works of an artist intensely sensitive
alike to the ever-varied beauty of form and colour,
one who is also absolutely sincere, and whose
passionate desire is to make others see and feel
with him all that is characteristically beautiful in
his native land. He is one of a group of Swiss
artists who, we venture to think, are laying the
foundation of an essentially modern and national
Swiss art.

A

COUNTRY COTTAGE. BY
M. H. BAILLIE SCOTT.

In seeking for a basis for the plan of
a small house it may be well to follow the evolution


“ MONTAGNARDF.S SUISSES
(Photogi'aph by F. Boissonnas. See article on C. Giron)

of the complex modern house; and in tracing this
back to its source it will be found that it originally
comprised but one apartment—the hall or house
place, as it was called—and if its development from
this primary form is followed it will be found that
it consisted chiefly in the formation of special cells
for special purposes. In this gradual evolution
under economic conditions, the hall—its occupa-
tion gone—gradually dwindled down to the lobby
with the staircase in it, which is still dignified
with the ancient title of hall in the smallest
modem villa. In recent house-planning, the hall
has again attained a somewhat spurious pro
minence. In modern times the revolt against the
sordid ugliness of the Victorian house led those
who aimed at recreating beauty in domestic sur-
roundings to turn with an enthusiasm which was
almost passionate to the study of the older houses
where the hall played such an important part. And
so, amidst other features and details of the past, the
hall became again a some-
what notable feature in the
plan, and was considered
almost an essential adjunct
to the “artistic house.”
In the large house, where
economic conditions of
planning may give way to
the fancy of the individual,
this revival of the hall may
perhaps be justified, and a
sitting-room may well be
sacrificed for the sake of a
fine focus to the plan; but
in the smaller houses, where
every inch of space must
be made the most of, such
a hall was a somewhat ex-,
pensive luxury, though,
inasmuch as it is the mark
of the modern mind to be
incapable of conceiving
beauty except apart from
usefulness, the hall in this
connection helped to give
what is considered “artistic
character ” to a house-
It was at least sufficiently
useless for that! Mean-
while, the more practical
person chose rather to
retain his staircase lobby,
and instead of the hall
to fashion for himself a

by c. GIRON

86