International studio (81.1925)

mceRHACionAL

of the conscientious integrity of period decoration
when we place beside it the pleasant amenities of
the composite interior.

Aside from the fact that the period interior
has proved to be incapable of fulfilling the needs
of the complex life of today, the very difficulty of
successful execution may have had something to
do with our change of attitude. It is one of those
things which must be extremely well done or else
had better not be attempted. How many of us,
living in apartments, would be able to induce a
skeptical landlord to co-operate with us with
sufficient zeal to make the interior historically
correct? The apartment of today is in good taste
in a broad, safe sort of way, but it is quite outside
the province of the owner to make it an authentic
receptacle for say, a collection of Louis XVI furni-
ture. Architecturally, in nine cases out of ten, it
remains quite properly a nonentity. Similarly, in
nine cases out of ten, where furnishings and deco-
rative objects of one period are used, the interior
invariably misses its goal if the attempt be to
make it a period interior.

This feeling of futility, however, does not tell
quite all the story of our altered conception of
what, constitutes a satisfactory interior. We have
spoken as if the furniture -forms of today were
lifted bodily out of the past and set down, un-
changed, in the multi-period room. There are
many people who bemoan the fact that they are
not. To them any deviation from the antique
model is cause for lamentation, and, occasionally,
vituperation, a circumstance for which the slo-
venly reproductions of some cheap manufacturers
may be held accountable. Granted for the mo-
ment that the change were no more far reaching
than the substitution of historic facsimiles of
various countries and periods for those of one, it
would still be welcome as bringing in its train an
increased adaptability to present day require-
ments. As yet, a great deal of really commendable
decoration does no more at the present time than
make unrestricted use of authentic reproductions.
But the circumstances which the aforementioned
fosterers of our nascent creative genius regard as
promising is that we are to a less and less degree
slavishly copying accepted antique models, that
more and more the tendency is to go to the past
for inspiration, follow it where it may logically be
followed, but not to lose sight of the crying need
for furniture evolved to meet the peculiar condi-
tions of contemporary life. The accompanying
photographs have been chosen as illustrative of
the engaging results which have followed the
break-up of the period idea in decoration, and the
consequent change which has taken place in the

individual pieces of furniture. Were it not that
we hesitate to attach an ugly name to very lovely
objects, we might call them the "adapted repro-
ductions" of today.

The interior of the master's bedroom in a New
York apartment to be seen in the photographs
presents several unusual features. The rooms, so
vast in scale as to seem almost operatic, have the
lofty ceilings and correspondingly high windows
in vogue about forty years ago. At the moment
it was not feasible to make any changes in the
decoration of the walls, the effect of which was a
soft old ivory. In a general way, the requirement
was for a sleeping room which, like the paintings
of Raphael, should be a blending of sweetness and
strength. In other words, it must be feminine, yet
tempered with sufficient sturdiness to make the
head of the household feel not entirely superfluous.
In the present instance, he chanced to be a gentle-
man with decided ideas about beds, and a firm
believer in the possibility of combining graceful
proportions and solid construction. Rather than
have him and his illusions consigned to an un-
stable bed "too rich to use, for earth too dear"
the designer went straight to Marie Antoinette
for the solution of the problem. The original, a
lovely thing in grey and white paint with head
and foot boards and side rails upholstered in silk,
is in the Petit Trianon at Versailles. In our
derivative models, the ground color is a soft
Venetian green with floral decoration in rose,
green and parchment, and carvings picked out in
antique gold. The bed covering, in damask of a
shade fascinatingly called cosmos, is embroidered
with threads of silver. It has a pleated valance of
rose Iumiere taffeta of a silver sheen which com-
bines most effectively with the metallic design in
the damask. Perhaps we should have said before
now that the room has a Chinese carpet, secured
in the Orient by the owners, in a faded coral tone,
bordered with a tiny line of black. The tub chair
before the fireplace and the cushion of the dressing
table stool are in a moire and satin striped fabric
of sage green and plum color.

The enormous window, likewise to be seen in
the photograph, threatened at the outset to be
one of the white elephants which frequently
stumble intrusively into a decorative scheme.
The careful avoidance of straight lines in the
drapes, and a valance shirred at top and bottom
have aided materially in lowering the height of
the window. The drapes are of plain cosmos
colored taffeta with a pleated frill, looped back
with large rosettes of the fabric. An Austrian
shade of ecru-toned casement cloth is especially
well adapted to control the light.

Jour twenty-jour

SEPTEMBER I I) 2 j