The Studio yearbook of decorative art (1911)

GERMAN ARCHITECTURE AND DE-
CORATION. By L. Deubner.
IN current discussions on questions of art the expression
“ aesthetic culture ” is very commonly employed, and only a
few people perhaps recognise that the phrase embraces a great
deal more than the amelioration of our daily environment by
the cultivation of the beautiful, as it is usually interpreted or defined.
In this narrower sense, however, it has become the guiding motive of
present-day endeavours in the sphere of applied art, and has pointed
to a definite goal, where at first nothing but uncertain groping and
searching prevailed, actuated by no other motive than a repugnance
to the slavish imitation of ancient forms.
At the same time, without sacrificing any part of the admit-
tedly sound principles underlying these endeavours, it is impossible
not to feel some regret at the turbulent haste with which, some
fifteen years ago, the old order was demolished to give place to a
new order, in which oftentimes the only praiseworthy features
have been a certain boldness of idea, or a strong manifesta-
tion of creative power, and whose real intrinsic value has been
essentially of a negative character. Only too soon has the con-
viction forced itself upon people, that in architecture also, and
throughout the entire range of what we designate as “ Raumkunst,”
or the art of arranging interiors, the new aspirations are closely
bound up with universally recognised conventions which cannot be
ignored with impunity even by artists of strongly marked individu-
ality. The vaunting of individuality has resulted too often in a
display of personal caprice and in problematical solutions, as the
numerous exhibitions of arts and crafts held during the past decade
have shown.
The German section of the Universal Exhibition held at
Brussels last year elicited a good deal of praise even in foreign
countries, and in particular the systematic organisation displayed
therein excited admiration. It was the first official demonstration
of the Deutscher Werkbund, with whose aims and undertakings
we dealt at length in the last issue of this Year Book, and as such
it was no doubt calculated to convince even outsiders that, with
German arts and crafts, progress was the order of the day. It would
at the same time be a mistake to regard this German exhibition in
Brussels, however comprehensive and uniform it may have been, as
a true reflection of Germany’s achievements in the arts and crafts
at the present day. On the one hand quite a number of our most
important architects and designers were absent, and others, from
whom better work might have been expected, were very poorly
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