DOI Heft:
Division II. Germany
DOI Artikel:Deubner, Ludwig: German architecture an decoration
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.37423#0162
GERMAN ARCHITECTURE AND DECORATION
represented. Moreover, exhibition interiors, in which the aim is to
give expression to the principles and tendencies of a new style, are
rarely adapted to the practical requirements of daily life. The great
bulk of what is being produced in Germany to-day does not consist
of exhibition interiors, but of houses and domestic apartments
adapted to serve as comfortable and pleasurable abodes for their
occupants. With the multiplication of commissions in which new
problems are constantly being presented for solution subject to
definite conditions, the doubtful and artificial tend to disappear,
while the practical aspects of every kind of production receive more
consideration. The restraint imposed on the designer’s fantasy,
and the interaction of intention and necessity, conduce to repose and
perspicuity, and to a sound technical mastery which is able to adapt
the ideal requirements to the practical needs of daily life.
The productions of which illustrations are given on the ensuing
pages, are the outcome of definite tasks and commissions arising in
the course of everyday experience, and show that in the most diverse
fields a wholesome power is at work adding to and enriching the
artistic legacy transmitted by bygone generations. But they also
show how the radicalism of the first years, which looked for salva-
tion only in the absolutely new, and hoped to reach a new style only
through the rejection of all excrescences and unessential details, is
more and more giving place to a rational toleration. They prove,
indeed, how palpable is the tendency to bring the present into
relation with ancient traditions, and on this solid foundation to base
fresh developments.
This is not the place to discuss further that dualism which per-
vades the whole of our artistic production, and which, side by side
with the constructive impulse working logically and instinctively
according to the laws of material and technique, discloses a revival of
fanciful ornamentation inspired by the decorative ideals of past epochs.
At the Brussels Exhibition there may have been a few interiors illus-
trating this latest phase in the evolution of German applied art, but
at present such phenomena crop up only here and there and have not
yet succeeded in materially affecting the general aspect. But seeing
that there have all along been many adversaries of the simple style
of furniture on the ground of its alleged insipidity, and that even in
professional circles it has been much challenged, one must not, in
presence of the eagerness to imitate which these interiors display,
underestimate the danger that in striving for a greater richness ot
form the sound principles underlying modern production may again
be sacrificed, and sooner or later yield to that confused ornamentation
which has never been wholly eradicated.
148
represented. Moreover, exhibition interiors, in which the aim is to
give expression to the principles and tendencies of a new style, are
rarely adapted to the practical requirements of daily life. The great
bulk of what is being produced in Germany to-day does not consist
of exhibition interiors, but of houses and domestic apartments
adapted to serve as comfortable and pleasurable abodes for their
occupants. With the multiplication of commissions in which new
problems are constantly being presented for solution subject to
definite conditions, the doubtful and artificial tend to disappear,
while the practical aspects of every kind of production receive more
consideration. The restraint imposed on the designer’s fantasy,
and the interaction of intention and necessity, conduce to repose and
perspicuity, and to a sound technical mastery which is able to adapt
the ideal requirements to the practical needs of daily life.
The productions of which illustrations are given on the ensuing
pages, are the outcome of definite tasks and commissions arising in
the course of everyday experience, and show that in the most diverse
fields a wholesome power is at work adding to and enriching the
artistic legacy transmitted by bygone generations. But they also
show how the radicalism of the first years, which looked for salva-
tion only in the absolutely new, and hoped to reach a new style only
through the rejection of all excrescences and unessential details, is
more and more giving place to a rational toleration. They prove,
indeed, how palpable is the tendency to bring the present into
relation with ancient traditions, and on this solid foundation to base
fresh developments.
This is not the place to discuss further that dualism which per-
vades the whole of our artistic production, and which, side by side
with the constructive impulse working logically and instinctively
according to the laws of material and technique, discloses a revival of
fanciful ornamentation inspired by the decorative ideals of past epochs.
At the Brussels Exhibition there may have been a few interiors illus-
trating this latest phase in the evolution of German applied art, but
at present such phenomena crop up only here and there and have not
yet succeeded in materially affecting the general aspect. But seeing
that there have all along been many adversaries of the simple style
of furniture on the ground of its alleged insipidity, and that even in
professional circles it has been much challenged, one must not, in
presence of the eagerness to imitate which these interiors display,
underestimate the danger that in striving for a greater richness ot
form the sound principles underlying modern production may again
be sacrificed, and sooner or later yield to that confused ornamentation
which has never been wholly eradicated.
148