Studio: international art (78.1919)

FRENCH DECORATIVE ART

METAL CURTAINS FOR RADIA-
TORS. BY EDOUARD SCHENCK

decorateur. To-day their numbers are past
counting ; and let us rejoice that it is so.
For if it be true that the function creates
the organ and that one becomes a black-
smith by dint of hammering, it is indis-
putable that the greater the confidence
shown by the amateur in confiding problems
of this sort to the decorator the greater will
be the skill shown by the ensemblier in
finding satisfactory and still more satisfac-
tory solutions of these problems. The
evolutions of custom, the changes of for-
tune, the new conditions of social life—all
these things will be of great aid in that
direction. a 0 0 a 0

Does this mean that we shall witness
the crystallization of a modern style with
characteristics as clearly defined as were
those which marked the differences between
the styles of the past i I do not think so.
The individualism of to-day is but ill-
adapted to collective discipline. The in-
stability of modern life, the craving for
change which is peculiar to our period—
and there are many other reasons as well—
seem to bar the creation of a style clearly
and precisely defined, like those, for
example, of Louis XIV, Louis XV, Louis
XVI, and of the First Empire. Just like
the public for whom they work, our modern
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decorators are athirst for freshness and
originality. Is this good, or is it bad i
Both the one and the other at the same time.
u There has been much talk of recent
years/' says M. Louis Hourticq very aptly,
“ of the danger of imitation. For my part,
I have been particularly struck by the
danger of originality at all costs. We want
a style which should be of our own time ;
and such was the zeal displayed in bringing
the longed-for child to birth that, with so
many new-born infants about, our age is
justified in showing a little hesitation before
deciding which of them is its very own.
In their desire to make something new,
have not our decorators come rather under
the influence and adopted the style of the
* fashions/ whose sole reason for existence
is their novelty i This attitude is natural
enough in the domain of hats and gowns ;
one can even understand the dressmaker
and her customer having the same desire,
if not the same motive, in changing the
shapes and the colours of the fashions
season by season. But furniture comes into
existence for a less ephemeral destiny ; and
seeing a too rapid transformation of styles,
the public very naturally feels a certain
uneasiness." Nothing could be more true.
But 1 doubt the possibility of ridding the