International studio (20.1903)

OME DECORATIVE DESIGNS BV
CLEMENT J. BARNHORN.
It is unusual to find an American scuiptor turning
aside into the intimate by-paths of domestic design.
The fact is sometimes attributed to the dispropor-
tionate importance which is attached to the statue,
as being of itseif a superior product of the art, irre-
spective of the motive and skill invoived in it. This
very probabiy is one of the causes, though it wiii
scarcely influence any sculptor who realty has the
decorative instinct. It is much more, I suspect,
the very generai lack of this instinct which is the
true cause, joined to the fact that the time of those
who do possess it is necessarily much absorbed by
commissions of another character. For there is, in
fact, very iittie demand upon the part of the public
for original design and personal craftsmanship in
objects of domestic use. If they are weii-to-do,
they are satisfied with what the architect prescribes
for them ; and if they are compeiied to purchase
in the open market, they must put up with the
nostrums of the trade. So whiie those who might
wiii not, and they cannot who wouid, the better-
ment of the arts of minor design is indefinitely
postponed.
And in saying that few of our scuiptors reveai
the true decorative instinct I do not forget the quan-
tity of work of decorative intention that has been
done in recent years for the Pan-American Exposi-
tion and for the one in preparation at St. Louis.
But I wonder if these occasions are really doing
much to improve the quality of decorative sculpture
in this country; whether, indeed, they are not con-
ducing to ioose thought, loose composition, and
indifferent craftsmanship, as weii as to a sort of
flaunting fancifuiness of design. Certainly they
tend to promote the notion that decoration is to
be understood as the seiection of some abstract
phraseology, — " The Birth of Light," " Awakening
of Ozone," or the like, — and then the placing in
juxtaposition of so many nude or draped figures,
with an object or two ingeniously introduced — a
dynamo, or inhaier, or what not — to point the
allusion. It may be all very weii for exposition


MADONNA AUX LYS BY CLEMENT J. BARNHORN

sculpture, though not conducive to a spread of
taste, or of much credit or benefit to the art.
One of the most important of Barnhorn's domes-
tic designs is the piano, illustrated here. Its case is
constructed of American woods; and, as it shouid
be, the suggestion of the material is thoroughly
sustained in the design. Moreover, the latter is in-
fluenced in its character by the designer's knowledge
of the processes of wood-carving and by his personal
feeling in the use of his tools. The strong, sinewy
tree-forms, winding with the vigor of life and yet
conventionaiized and controlled to their function in
cxli