International studio (34.1908)

Studio- Talk


and workshops opened in
Borga for the manufacture
of furniture in accordance
with the new ideals of
artistic design and work-
manship, Count Sparre was
at once selected as managing
director. The undertaking
met with great success, and
a complete revolution was
brought about in the artistic
ideals of the buying public.
Pseudo Empire furniture was
no longer imported from
Germany, but was replaced
by furniture built on simple
and graceful lines and
covered with materials in
soft, harmonious tones.
Such work left little time
free for painting, and we
find in the exhibition com-
paratively few pictures
dating from this period,
though one in particular,
called An Old Courtyard,
is a delightful picture,
painted with much feeling.

By 1905, however, the
desire to devote his time

“NOVEMBER TWILIGHT5’

BY COUNT LOUIS SPARRE

painting is quite impossible.
Such long periods of en-
forced inaction grow intoler-
able to an ardent young
painter, full of life and
energy, and Count Sparre
soon moved to Helsingfors,
maki ng only occasional visits
to the far north.
At about this time the
wave of interest in interior
decoration that had been
spreading over Europe and
had blossomed into flower
in England, under the
fostering care of William
Morris and his school, found
its way also to Finland, and
when a company was formed
248


“THE HARBOUR, ST. IVES”

BY COUNT LOUIS SPARRE