GERMAN ARCHITECTURE AND DECORATION

be used to best advantage—hence the recess behind the staircase
serving as a pleasant nook where the sportsman might enjoy a quiet
chat ; and the same economy of space is again shown in the
adjoining living-room, with its fixed cabinets, writing-table, etc.
Herr Rudolf Alexander Schroder is one of the members of the
artistic staff of the Vereinigte Werkstatten fur Kunst im Handwerk,
who repudiate the purely utilitarian or materialistic principle in
applied art. He is a poet, and has made a name for himself by his
admirable translations of Greek and Italian poems. Starting as a
painter he then turned to architecture, and has maintained an
attitude of his own. His dining-room (p. 158) is a good example
of his luxurious mode, and the same sumptuousness marks his
garden scheme (p. 157).
Prof. Bruno Paul, to whom the modern movement owes so
much, has always aimed at distinguished elegance without losing
sight of the practical point of view. He is an artist of great
resource and unimpeachable taste, and one who, even when inspired
by older work, maintains his independence. Latterly he has
favoured greater richness of form, in which plastic ornament again
makes its appearance, as seen in our illustrations (p. 152).
The “Deutsche Werkstatten fiir Handwerkskunst ” of Hellerau,
on the other hand, is a concern that consistently follows the path it
marked out for itself, and which has brought to German art industry
the triumphs achieved at Turin, Dresden, Brussels, Munich and
Paris. The artists who here co-operate refuse to accommodate them-
selves to any requirements on the part of clients which they regard as
incompatible with their principles, and conspicuous among them is
Prof. Richard Riemerschmid, whose lady’s boudoir (p. 153) is very
typical of his work. The furniture of this room not only indicates
unerring taste but is also of consummate workmanship. Sound
craftsmanship allied to noble simplicity also characterises the room
by Karl Bertsch (p. 134), and a real little masterpiece is the sideboard
by this artist (p. 161). The two rooms by Prof. Adelbert Niemeyer
(pp. 150, 151), both belonging to a sanatorium near Dresden, reveal
that mature sense of form and understanding of the needs of social
life which one is accustomed to find in the productions of this artist.
While both of the two firms above named avail themselves
of the services of a large number of artists, the entire production of
the Bernard Stadler workshops is designed by a single artist—Max
Heidrich (pp. 142-144, 160). The fear that a certain uniformity
and monotony would hence result has been signally refuted by the
work he has accomplished, including many hundreds of interiors
destined for many diverse purposes. He began as a craftsman, and
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