DOI issue:
Nr. 214 (January 1911)
DOI article:Baldry, Alfred Lys: Recent decorative work and sculpture by Mr. W. Reynolds-Stephens
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20971#0285
Recent Work by Mr. Reynolds-Stephens
©RAWING ROOM AT 9, MONTAGU PLACE, LONDON RECONSTRUCTED AND DECORATED BY W. REYNOLDS-STEPHENS
art, but by the effort of one man who has an
intimate experience of all the necessary forms of
practice. Only in this way, he contends, can there
be unity of idea and consistency of expression.
Therefore, he takes up the logical position that
he must add to his knowledge of painting and
sculpture a grasp not only of the theory of archi-
tecture, but of its practical and constructive side as
well; and it is the pursuit of this wider knowledge
that has led him into investigation of mechanical
details which most artists persistently ignore. He
has devoted himself to work which is essentially
architectural, which is not, like most modem
decoration, simply the completing of another man’s
design, but rather the building up of a decorative
scheme from the very beginning; and he has
claimed the right, and proved his ability, to decide
for himself what shall be the structural basis upon
which the ornamental accessories he desires are to
be founded. It is the underlying construction that
must determine the character of his surface
decoration, so he holds that this construction must
264
be as much of his preparing as the visible
ornamentation in which his personal sentiment in
art is definitely asserted.
How he acts up to this conviction can be plainly
seen in the examples of constructive decoration
for which he has been responsible. Some of these
examples—the church at Great Warley, Essex, and
the room in the house of Mr. Vivian, in Queen’s
Gate —have been already dealt with in The
Studio, but there have been others since which
quite as significantly illustrate his methods. For
instance, his own house, in the reconstruction and
decoration of which he acted as his own architect,
sums up very adequately the salient characteristics
of his production, and has in full measure that
unusual note which makes evident the individuality
of his outlook. Another house—No. 9, Montagu
Place—is equally memorable, because it shows how,
by the exercise of disciplined and well-trained
ingenuity and by the- application of judicious taste,
he can convert an ordinary London interior into
something aesthetically satisfying without any
©RAWING ROOM AT 9, MONTAGU PLACE, LONDON RECONSTRUCTED AND DECORATED BY W. REYNOLDS-STEPHENS
art, but by the effort of one man who has an
intimate experience of all the necessary forms of
practice. Only in this way, he contends, can there
be unity of idea and consistency of expression.
Therefore, he takes up the logical position that
he must add to his knowledge of painting and
sculpture a grasp not only of the theory of archi-
tecture, but of its practical and constructive side as
well; and it is the pursuit of this wider knowledge
that has led him into investigation of mechanical
details which most artists persistently ignore. He
has devoted himself to work which is essentially
architectural, which is not, like most modem
decoration, simply the completing of another man’s
design, but rather the building up of a decorative
scheme from the very beginning; and he has
claimed the right, and proved his ability, to decide
for himself what shall be the structural basis upon
which the ornamental accessories he desires are to
be founded. It is the underlying construction that
must determine the character of his surface
decoration, so he holds that this construction must
264
be as much of his preparing as the visible
ornamentation in which his personal sentiment in
art is definitely asserted.
How he acts up to this conviction can be plainly
seen in the examples of constructive decoration
for which he has been responsible. Some of these
examples—the church at Great Warley, Essex, and
the room in the house of Mr. Vivian, in Queen’s
Gate —have been already dealt with in The
Studio, but there have been others since which
quite as significantly illustrate his methods. For
instance, his own house, in the reconstruction and
decoration of which he acted as his own architect,
sums up very adequately the salient characteristics
of his production, and has in full measure that
unusual note which makes evident the individuality
of his outlook. Another house—No. 9, Montagu
Place—is equally memorable, because it shows how,
by the exercise of disciplined and well-trained
ingenuity and by the- application of judicious taste,
he can convert an ordinary London interior into
something aesthetically satisfying without any