DOI Heft:
No. 58 (January, 1898)
DOI Artikel:White, Gleeson: Mr. Gerald Moira's paintings and bas-relief decoration
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18390#0277
Mr. Moirds Paintings and Bas-Reliefs
ky g. moira
be forgotten that these latter are ten
times more difficult to manage plea
santly. One can easily prove this by
studying a shop window filled with
draperies of secondary and tertiary
shades, "art-colours" as they were
styled lately, and comparing it with
another of a fashionable modiste who
has to arrange pure emerald green,
scarlet, violet, and even magenta, side
by side. The first window is never
unpleasant, and often (as those who
remember certain well-known shops in
Regent Street and Bond Street will
allow) distinctly harmonious. Yet
even the difficult task of grouping
satins and silks of primary hue is
sometimes surmounted, though very
seldom, and then mostly with an
enormous amount of black, or dark
grey, to modify their brilliancy. Mr.
Moira both in his bas-reliefs and paint- design fur stained glass
ingrs revels in colour and eschews
black and neutral shades, but he is
never noisy, and rarely offers less than a very the work of the master-painter, Time ; that as the
satisfying harmony, albeit that is pitched in a rich golden hue of many an old master is due to
far higher key than we have been accustomed to discoloured varnish, so the bloom of old tapestry,
lately. We are apt to forget that the antique or the subdued glow of the carvings, emblazoned
colouring which has influenced our taste is usually and ornate, such as those in Amiens Cathedral, is
owing no little to similar causes. Now,
if you start with imitating the effect of
colour that has faded and become
encrusted with dust, it is obvious that
in smoky London such decoration will
soon be lost in grimy obscurity. Hence
the vigour and courage of the newer
school is not merely commendable, but
may restore vitality to a sense which
has been in danger of perishing; for
life in a city supplies monochrome as
its chief food for the eye, in its streets,
its printed pages, and its domestic
portraits. The photographer and the
illustrator, no less than the tailor, have-
helped to banish colour from the
ordinary day's routine. Hence we
should welcome any consistent effort
to bring it back to our houses, books,
or costumes.
The bas-reliefs at the Trocadero
have been illustrated often before,
therefore it has seemed more interest-
ing to reproduce here the cartoons
design for stained glass by g. moira for the decorations, in place of photo-
231
ky g. moira
be forgotten that these latter are ten
times more difficult to manage plea
santly. One can easily prove this by
studying a shop window filled with
draperies of secondary and tertiary
shades, "art-colours" as they were
styled lately, and comparing it with
another of a fashionable modiste who
has to arrange pure emerald green,
scarlet, violet, and even magenta, side
by side. The first window is never
unpleasant, and often (as those who
remember certain well-known shops in
Regent Street and Bond Street will
allow) distinctly harmonious. Yet
even the difficult task of grouping
satins and silks of primary hue is
sometimes surmounted, though very
seldom, and then mostly with an
enormous amount of black, or dark
grey, to modify their brilliancy. Mr.
Moira both in his bas-reliefs and paint- design fur stained glass
ingrs revels in colour and eschews
black and neutral shades, but he is
never noisy, and rarely offers less than a very the work of the master-painter, Time ; that as the
satisfying harmony, albeit that is pitched in a rich golden hue of many an old master is due to
far higher key than we have been accustomed to discoloured varnish, so the bloom of old tapestry,
lately. We are apt to forget that the antique or the subdued glow of the carvings, emblazoned
colouring which has influenced our taste is usually and ornate, such as those in Amiens Cathedral, is
owing no little to similar causes. Now,
if you start with imitating the effect of
colour that has faded and become
encrusted with dust, it is obvious that
in smoky London such decoration will
soon be lost in grimy obscurity. Hence
the vigour and courage of the newer
school is not merely commendable, but
may restore vitality to a sense which
has been in danger of perishing; for
life in a city supplies monochrome as
its chief food for the eye, in its streets,
its printed pages, and its domestic
portraits. The photographer and the
illustrator, no less than the tailor, have-
helped to banish colour from the
ordinary day's routine. Hence we
should welcome any consistent effort
to bring it back to our houses, books,
or costumes.
The bas-reliefs at the Trocadero
have been illustrated often before,
therefore it has seemed more interest-
ing to reproduce here the cartoons
design for stained glass by g. moira for the decorations, in place of photo-
231