DOI issue:
No. 59 (February, 1898)
DOI article:White, Gleeson: Some Glasgow designers and their work, [4]
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18391#0034
Some Glasgow Designers
by harry thomson
on the other hand if the window be near the eye
" quality of material should be the prominent fea-
ture." It is, in fact, as if to the ordinary vibration
of a pleasing melody on harp, violin, or flute
(quality of light), we add the more piquant tones
of virginal, clavichord and viola (quality of glass);
the time and rhythm may be the same, but to the
musical invention revealed in the first, we have
added the sentimental association of ancientry by the
pensive quaintness of a timbre rarely heard to-day.
The simile is Mr. Paterson's own, and suggests
clearly enough the qualities he tries to infuse into
his work. Elsewhere he has dwelt on a point
which deserves reiteration.
" We have, as the result of experience," he says,
" developed an autopathic perception of the
correct associations of form and quality. We
recognise, for example, the ' firmness' of a needle,
the ' flexibility ' of a watch-spring, the ' solidity ' of
iron, and the ' hardness' of stone, and have no
difficulty in associating these qualities with certain
lines more or less fine, fluid, or rigid ; we speak of
the ' purity ' of water, the ' transparency' of glass,
the ' brilliance ' of a diamond, the £ lightness and
iridescence' of a soap bubble, and we find in-
variably that all these qualities are associated with class door panel
particular forms, and, further, it has become part of
our experience that similar forms are the most
appropriate that can be adopted to express these must be left unexplored. The quotation given
qualities." will show Mr. Paterson's bent, and give evidence
Here, however, the metaphysics of the subject that his apparent " happy thoughts " are like many
others, the
result of
much pre-
vious hard
thinking. But
it is time to
leave general
isation and
turn to facts,
and in an
i 11 u s trated'
article the
pictures are
the real point.
"Cut the
cackle and
come to the
'osses " is the
historic utter-
ance of a great
circus pro-
prietor, and
WINDOW
bv os< \k paterson a sentence
by harry thomson
on the other hand if the window be near the eye
" quality of material should be the prominent fea-
ture." It is, in fact, as if to the ordinary vibration
of a pleasing melody on harp, violin, or flute
(quality of light), we add the more piquant tones
of virginal, clavichord and viola (quality of glass);
the time and rhythm may be the same, but to the
musical invention revealed in the first, we have
added the sentimental association of ancientry by the
pensive quaintness of a timbre rarely heard to-day.
The simile is Mr. Paterson's own, and suggests
clearly enough the qualities he tries to infuse into
his work. Elsewhere he has dwelt on a point
which deserves reiteration.
" We have, as the result of experience," he says,
" developed an autopathic perception of the
correct associations of form and quality. We
recognise, for example, the ' firmness' of a needle,
the ' flexibility ' of a watch-spring, the ' solidity ' of
iron, and the ' hardness' of stone, and have no
difficulty in associating these qualities with certain
lines more or less fine, fluid, or rigid ; we speak of
the ' purity ' of water, the ' transparency' of glass,
the ' brilliance ' of a diamond, the £ lightness and
iridescence' of a soap bubble, and we find in-
variably that all these qualities are associated with class door panel
particular forms, and, further, it has become part of
our experience that similar forms are the most
appropriate that can be adopted to express these must be left unexplored. The quotation given
qualities." will show Mr. Paterson's bent, and give evidence
Here, however, the metaphysics of the subject that his apparent " happy thoughts " are like many
others, the
result of
much pre-
vious hard
thinking. But
it is time to
leave general
isation and
turn to facts,
and in an
i 11 u s trated'
article the
pictures are
the real point.
"Cut the
cackle and
come to the
'osses " is the
historic utter-
ance of a great
circus pro-
prietor, and
WINDOW
bv os< \k paterson a sentence