DOI Heft:
Nr. 194 (May 1909)
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20966#0364
The Lay
HE LAY FIGURE: ON DECORA-
TIVE PROBLEMS.
“ Who is to blame for the want of invention
in modern domestic decoration?” asked the Man
with the Red Tie. “ Is it the fault of the designers
or of the public ? There is something seriously
wrong, but I do not quite know who ought to be
put in the pillory for it.”
“ Oh, surely it is the fault of the public,” said
the Designer ; “ the decorator does not get a chance
nowadays of showing what he can do. He has to
follow a fashion and go where that fashion leads
him. No one would have anything to say to him
if he tried to be original.”
“ I am inclined to look upon the decorator as
being to a great extent the sport of circumstances,”
broke in the Art Critic. “ I admit he is rather a
misused person, but it is to the social conditions
which prevail at the present time rather than to the
wilful unkindness of the public that his misfortunes
are due.”
“ What have social conditions got to do with
styles of decoration?” asked the Man with the Red
Tie. “ I cannot see the connection.”
“ Perhaps not,” replied the Critic ; “ but there is
one all the same. Just think how people live now
and what kind of houses they mostly live in ; what
opportunities are there for the decorator ? It is all
very well to say that he is lacking in invention and
that he merely follows a fashion, but I question
whether you would suggest anything else that he
could possibly do.”
“Then you admit that the blame lies upon the
public,” cried the Designer, “and that the art of
decoration languishes because people will not give
it any encouragement.”
“ Not quite that,” returned the Critic. “I would
rather put it in this way; that with things as they
are people cannot give the decorator proper
encouragement unless he is prepared to make
radical alterations in his methods and to adapt
himself to the conditions which circumstances
impose upon him.”
“ What alteration can he make?” protested the
Designer. “ What opening has he for new develop-
ments when he is so hedged round by circum-
stances?”
“ For one thing, he might realize that the modern
house is not a place in which to attempt revivals of
styles that were in vogue two or three centuries
ago,” said the Critic. “There is an obvious absurdity
in trying to bring the past into agreement with an
entirely incongruous present. Every period has its
338
Figure
own appropriate decorative style which is, as I con-
tend, the outcome of social conditions, and what
is right in one period must plainly be wrong in
another when these conditions have completely
changed.”
“ I willingly grant you that,” cried the Man with
the Red Tie, “for you are practically admitting
what I said just now—that there is a want of
invention in modern decoration. Nothing proves
this better than the constant digging up of dead
styles which is the habit of most designers of the
present day.”
“ But what is the cure for it ?” asked the Designer.
“That is what I want to know. I argue that
people want these dead styles.”
“ I do not think they want them,” replied the
Critic, “ but they have to put up with them because
they cannot get anything else. Stock patterns of
most of these old styles are kept at the shops to
which the man who is fitting up a house goes to
buy decorations, and from what is offered him he
chooses the style that offends him least. But it
does not follow that he would not take something
fresher, something more in keeping with the time
in which he lives—if he could get it.”
“ But what would be more in keeping with our
own times ?” asked the Designer.
“ Ah, that is the problem you and your fellows
have to solve,” laughed the Critic. “ It is not for
me to say how you should set about it. But I
would ask you to remember those social conditions
upon which I lay so much stress. The modern
man does not often live in a house of his own; he
takes a lease of a place that belongs to some-
one else and when his term is up there he leases
another house. Sometimes he is fortunate enough
to find rooms decorated in a satisfying fashion ;
more often he has to put up with an unholy
compromise between the builder’s own taste and
what the builder thinks is the public taste; and
if he is allowed any voice in the selection of
the decorations, his choice is usually circum-
scribed within narrow limits. Now, why should
not the designer take into account the case of
men like this ? What they want is some sort of
portable decoration which could be adapted to
any kind of house, and which would offer scope
for the display of individual ideas. Surely there
are possibilities of rational development along
these lines.”
“We are to carry about with us prettily decorated
shells to live in, like snails. Well, why not?” com-
mented the Man with the Red Tie.
The Lay Figure.
HE LAY FIGURE: ON DECORA-
TIVE PROBLEMS.
“ Who is to blame for the want of invention
in modern domestic decoration?” asked the Man
with the Red Tie. “ Is it the fault of the designers
or of the public ? There is something seriously
wrong, but I do not quite know who ought to be
put in the pillory for it.”
“ Oh, surely it is the fault of the public,” said
the Designer ; “ the decorator does not get a chance
nowadays of showing what he can do. He has to
follow a fashion and go where that fashion leads
him. No one would have anything to say to him
if he tried to be original.”
“ I am inclined to look upon the decorator as
being to a great extent the sport of circumstances,”
broke in the Art Critic. “ I admit he is rather a
misused person, but it is to the social conditions
which prevail at the present time rather than to the
wilful unkindness of the public that his misfortunes
are due.”
“ What have social conditions got to do with
styles of decoration?” asked the Man with the Red
Tie. “ I cannot see the connection.”
“ Perhaps not,” replied the Critic ; “ but there is
one all the same. Just think how people live now
and what kind of houses they mostly live in ; what
opportunities are there for the decorator ? It is all
very well to say that he is lacking in invention and
that he merely follows a fashion, but I question
whether you would suggest anything else that he
could possibly do.”
“Then you admit that the blame lies upon the
public,” cried the Designer, “and that the art of
decoration languishes because people will not give
it any encouragement.”
“ Not quite that,” returned the Critic. “I would
rather put it in this way; that with things as they
are people cannot give the decorator proper
encouragement unless he is prepared to make
radical alterations in his methods and to adapt
himself to the conditions which circumstances
impose upon him.”
“ What alteration can he make?” protested the
Designer. “ What opening has he for new develop-
ments when he is so hedged round by circum-
stances?”
“ For one thing, he might realize that the modern
house is not a place in which to attempt revivals of
styles that were in vogue two or three centuries
ago,” said the Critic. “There is an obvious absurdity
in trying to bring the past into agreement with an
entirely incongruous present. Every period has its
338
Figure
own appropriate decorative style which is, as I con-
tend, the outcome of social conditions, and what
is right in one period must plainly be wrong in
another when these conditions have completely
changed.”
“ I willingly grant you that,” cried the Man with
the Red Tie, “for you are practically admitting
what I said just now—that there is a want of
invention in modern decoration. Nothing proves
this better than the constant digging up of dead
styles which is the habit of most designers of the
present day.”
“ But what is the cure for it ?” asked the Designer.
“That is what I want to know. I argue that
people want these dead styles.”
“ I do not think they want them,” replied the
Critic, “ but they have to put up with them because
they cannot get anything else. Stock patterns of
most of these old styles are kept at the shops to
which the man who is fitting up a house goes to
buy decorations, and from what is offered him he
chooses the style that offends him least. But it
does not follow that he would not take something
fresher, something more in keeping with the time
in which he lives—if he could get it.”
“ But what would be more in keeping with our
own times ?” asked the Designer.
“ Ah, that is the problem you and your fellows
have to solve,” laughed the Critic. “ It is not for
me to say how you should set about it. But I
would ask you to remember those social conditions
upon which I lay so much stress. The modern
man does not often live in a house of his own; he
takes a lease of a place that belongs to some-
one else and when his term is up there he leases
another house. Sometimes he is fortunate enough
to find rooms decorated in a satisfying fashion ;
more often he has to put up with an unholy
compromise between the builder’s own taste and
what the builder thinks is the public taste; and
if he is allowed any voice in the selection of
the decorations, his choice is usually circum-
scribed within narrow limits. Now, why should
not the designer take into account the case of
men like this ? What they want is some sort of
portable decoration which could be adapted to
any kind of house, and which would offer scope
for the display of individual ideas. Surely there
are possibilities of rational development along
these lines.”
“We are to carry about with us prettily decorated
shells to live in, like snails. Well, why not?” com-
mented the Man with the Red Tie.
The Lay Figure.