DOI Heft:
No. 49 (April, 1897)
DOI Artikel:Garstin, Norman: The work of T. Millie Dow
DOI Artikel:Scott, Mackay H. Baillie: On the choice of simple furniture
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18388#0158
The Choice of Simple Furniture
g of amber and gold, some twilight of
BY M. H. BAILLIE SCOTT.
some evening uj amuci anu o^-u, aumo ^ —. ^T j pj g C H O I C F OF
shimmering blues and violets ^ \SIMPLE FURNITURE.
Of flowers, and indeed all dainty things, Mr. ■ \ j
Dow is a lover. Cut flowers do not, as a rule, fill ^ W
us with any sentiment beyond the feeling that they Those who have read that ex
are pretty, and so the painting of them in a manner quisite " Gossip on Romance," by
that calls upon us for sympathy is rarely accom- Robert Louis Stevenson, may remember how he
plished; but Mr. Dow, out of the abundance of his shows that the aim of the writer of fiction should
great love for them, does really translate into very be to fit to a particular place its appropriate story
charming pictures these frail ephemeral creatures of to make the right thing happen in the right place,
beauty. The making of stained glass in contra- and so satisfy the imagination of the reader ; and
distinction to painted windows is also an art in he goes on to describe in quaint and beautiful
which Mr. Dow takes a great interest. He language how this has been done by the great
holds that the leadings should convey whatever writers of romance.
simple drawing the design may require, and by To the architect a somewhat similar task presents
this means would be avoided any opacity and itself. He must first use the divining power of
obscuration of the translucent colours, which he his imagination to discover the particular kind of
rightly maintains is the true beauty of such a house which his site demands, and try to express
window, which can never be a picture, and should in bricks and mortar the spirit of the countryside ;
not so aspire. he must then, having built the right kind of house
Norman Garstin. to harmonise with a particular site, finally com-
v plete his task by furnishing
this right kind of house with
the right kind of furniture.
For it is not enough that
furniture should possess in-
trinsic beauty, unless it also
possesses this further quality
of exquisite appropriateness
to its position and to its use.
It should appear almost to
be a piece of the room in
which it is placed and in
absolute harmony with its
surroundings.
It is in this respect that
the various kinds of fixed
furnishings become of
especial value in the effect
of a room, filling the gap
between the house and its
furniture, and thus giving an
appearance of unity and har-
mony. The fixed seats to
the ingle-nook, the mantel-
pieces and bedroom fitments,
all appear as part of the
structure itself and so form a
connecting link between the
movable furniture and the
house.
The essential point then in
:. i. the choice of furniture may be
' IN THE FIELDS, MOROCCO " FROM A PAINTING BY T. MILLIE DOW Said tO be not SO much the
152
g of amber and gold, some twilight of
BY M. H. BAILLIE SCOTT.
some evening uj amuci anu o^-u, aumo ^ —. ^T j pj g C H O I C F OF
shimmering blues and violets ^ \SIMPLE FURNITURE.
Of flowers, and indeed all dainty things, Mr. ■ \ j
Dow is a lover. Cut flowers do not, as a rule, fill ^ W
us with any sentiment beyond the feeling that they Those who have read that ex
are pretty, and so the painting of them in a manner quisite " Gossip on Romance," by
that calls upon us for sympathy is rarely accom- Robert Louis Stevenson, may remember how he
plished; but Mr. Dow, out of the abundance of his shows that the aim of the writer of fiction should
great love for them, does really translate into very be to fit to a particular place its appropriate story
charming pictures these frail ephemeral creatures of to make the right thing happen in the right place,
beauty. The making of stained glass in contra- and so satisfy the imagination of the reader ; and
distinction to painted windows is also an art in he goes on to describe in quaint and beautiful
which Mr. Dow takes a great interest. He language how this has been done by the great
holds that the leadings should convey whatever writers of romance.
simple drawing the design may require, and by To the architect a somewhat similar task presents
this means would be avoided any opacity and itself. He must first use the divining power of
obscuration of the translucent colours, which he his imagination to discover the particular kind of
rightly maintains is the true beauty of such a house which his site demands, and try to express
window, which can never be a picture, and should in bricks and mortar the spirit of the countryside ;
not so aspire. he must then, having built the right kind of house
Norman Garstin. to harmonise with a particular site, finally com-
v plete his task by furnishing
this right kind of house with
the right kind of furniture.
For it is not enough that
furniture should possess in-
trinsic beauty, unless it also
possesses this further quality
of exquisite appropriateness
to its position and to its use.
It should appear almost to
be a piece of the room in
which it is placed and in
absolute harmony with its
surroundings.
It is in this respect that
the various kinds of fixed
furnishings become of
especial value in the effect
of a room, filling the gap
between the house and its
furniture, and thus giving an
appearance of unity and har-
mony. The fixed seats to
the ingle-nook, the mantel-
pieces and bedroom fitments,
all appear as part of the
structure itself and so form a
connecting link between the
movable furniture and the
house.
The essential point then in
:. i. the choice of furniture may be
' IN THE FIELDS, MOROCCO " FROM A PAINTING BY T. MILLIE DOW Said tO be not SO much the
152