International studio (53.1914)

The Possibilities of Colour in the Open


FIGURE OF ST. ROSE OF LIMA, FROM A SHRINE IN
THE GARDEN OF MRS. BEN ALI HAGGIN AT ONTEORA,
N. Y. COLOUR SCHEME IN PURPLE, GREEN AND
SILVER ON A BACKGROUND OF GOLD, BY WILLIAM
LAUREL HARRIS

has made an exhaustive study of the pigment side
of colour. He therefore emphasizes the import-
ance of selecting the actual pigments, and the
testing of their quality.
A notable example of architecture, where the
monotony of a single colour is relieved by the
mottled stone used in the construction of the edi-
fice, is illustrated by the new St. Thomas’s Church
on Fifth Avenue.
On the shores of historic Lake George, the
facade of the studio of William Laurel Harris,
is ornamented with a painting of Owr Lady of the
Lake, with the votive figures of children. Here
at “St. William’s Well” on the lake is one
of the first examples of an out-of-door decoration
in America. The colour scheme takes up the
green notes of the pine trees in that region, and the
blue of the water, accentuated by touches here and
there of gold and silver.
Up in the hills of Onteora, N. Y., is a shrine in a
rose garden, the summer home of Mrs. Ben Ali
Haggin, who is a prominent member of the Mac-
Dowell Club, devoted to the kindred arts of music,
painting and literature. Here stands the coloured
figure of Saint Rose of Lima, infoliatedornamenta-
tion of roses and branching vines, painted by
Laurel Harris. This ornamentation makes a pat-

tern of green, purple and rose on a background of
gold, among the hills of Onteora. The shrine is
placed in a niche of the stone wall, the entire gar-
den being composed to afford a vista of the picture
of Saint Rose of Lima. To the right and left are
climbing roses and forget-me-nots, and roses form
a carpet after the manner of the foregrounds of the
pictures of Fra Angelico. Saint Rose is portrayed
in the garb of a Dominican nun, in the attitude
of blessing the garden.
This shrine is a distinctive example of a deco-
ration out-of-doors in America. Already the Rose
of Lima has spent two summers and one winter at


A COLOURED BAS-RELIEF BY AN UNKNOWN ARTIST,
TAKEN FROM A SHRINE NEAR GENOA, ITALY, ABOUT
THE TIME OF DELLA ROBBIA

Onteora, and she has succeeded in weathering the
test in a garden of roses.
We here in America can find inspiration and
many suggestions from the colour notes nature
gives us in the birds and flowers. The Indians,
East Indians and the Italians show brilliancy in
their colours and their colours increase in bril-
liancy as one approaches the torrid zone. In our
zone we find a wide gamut of birds and flowers,
and a careful study of the proportions of these
colours will assist in the search for the proper
equation between sky and buildings.

XVIII