Studio: international art (9.1897)

An Artist's House

A primrose by a river's brim, furniture, which he dares not condemn, rise before

A yellow primrose was to him, him as he works to mar the mental picture of the

And it was nothing more. completed house, and it will not be his lot on

So sang the poet of one Peter Bell, a most this occasion to experience the mortification of
prosaic individual. seeing his work frustrated and misunderstood, and

his pearls trampled underfoot. It will not,
perhaps, be too much to assume that the
artist of to-day is sufficiently catholic to
recognise the aim and scope of decorative
work, and to stray outside the confines of
the gilded frame. In the decoration of the
house, which is the subject of this article,
he will find an ample field for such excur-
sions from the pictorial. With
a little blue paint, mixed with
oil of aniseed, or lavender, he
may add the decorative feel-
ing of an artist to the technique
of a child of ten, and produce
tiles for his fireplaces as quaint
and charming as the Dutch.
He may decorate his walls and
fabrics with stencils cunningly
designed, he may carve the
panels of his doors or hammer
the copper for his grates. And

ground-floor plan m. h. baillie scott, architect

The family of Bell is far
from being extinct, and to
them, as to the original Peter,
a primrose is a primrose, and
a house is a house.

And nothing more, alas!
They cannot understand all
this talk about wall-papers
and furniture, nor do they
see how such material things
may become the medium of
artistic expression.

But to the artist who is
not of the tribe of Peter the
importance of a harmonious
environment is at once ac-
knowledged. He meets his
brother artist, the architect,
on his own ground, under-
stands his aim and aspira- first-floor plan m. h. baillie scott, architect
tions, and so helps him to

achieve a successful result in his quest for the so may gradually be acquired that unique individual
beautiful and the true. quality which is quite beyond the reach of those

It is, therefore, with few misgivings and under whose decoration consists of a selection, however
the most favourable auspices, that the architect happy, of stock commercial patterns. At first
begins his task of planning and building a house sight it may seem somewhat futile, and perhaps a
for an artist. No gloomy visions of atrocious little arrogant, to design special patterns when
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