DOI Heft:
Great Britain
DOI Artikel:Bankart, George P.: The following article on "colour decoration in relief" has been contributed by Mr. George P. Bankart
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42698#0082
COLOUR DECORATION IN RELIEF
because of the very alteration in life and environment that has taken
place, an enormous alteration between then and now.
It may be that the “ artistic temperament ” is apt to go astray some-
times from oversight, or even from forgetfulness of the elementary
functions and principles of the art it is actually engaged in ; for it is
no common chance that brings one in contact with modern coloured
relief work, really decoratively treated, and free from the pictorial set-
ting usually pervading present century iconography. Pictorial or fine
art, and decorative art or iconography are approached from different
avenues, although it is true “ there is but one art.” Fine art appeals to
the emotions ; decorative art, in its true function, appeals to our sense
of restfulness in the things we use, in the things surrounding us, or in
other ways where we desire relief from the emotions of every-day life,
and look for a lighter atmosphere of things and scenes we recollect and
love to think upon.
What then does “ iconography ” and “decorative” mean to us who try
to do these things ? The meaning is so important. The former word is
derived from the Greek “ eikon,” an image, a representation, diagram,
a portrayal or portrait. The latter word is from the Latin “ decus,”
“ decor,” comeliness, or befitting.
A diagram, or portrayal, befitting, filling up with comeliness and har-
mony a surface or space to be covered with good form, or colour, or
both, for our restful enjoyment,—not to excite our emotions,—that is
“ fine art ” (pictorial art). To do this decoration on a wall or ceiling in
line only is one treatment; to do it in modelled relief is another ; to com-
bine colour with relief is yet another, and with this we are here con-
cerned.
It is unnecessary for immediate purposes for us to dwell more than a
little on the very early times, when this art was done to perfection,
save for two references to show from whence the ancients drew their
inspiration ; for the Greeks practised and handed down through the
ages the finest form of iconography that ever came from the heart and
hand of man, as instanced by the Parthenon frieze and from accounts
of the festivals and pageants.
What finer inspiration could be given than the description of “The Pro-
cession of the Goddess ” in the story of the Golden Ass of Apuleius,
which we quote from the new translation herewith ?—“And, now,behold
the prelude of the grand procession came gradually into action. The
persons who composed it were all finely caparisoned in various ways,
each according to his own taste and inclination. This man, being girded
with a belt, represented a soldier; another was equipped as a hunter,
with a short scarf, a hunting knife, and javelin. Another, wearing
gilded sandals, a silken garment, and precious female ornaments, and
with false hair on his head, personated a woman by his appearance and
68
because of the very alteration in life and environment that has taken
place, an enormous alteration between then and now.
It may be that the “ artistic temperament ” is apt to go astray some-
times from oversight, or even from forgetfulness of the elementary
functions and principles of the art it is actually engaged in ; for it is
no common chance that brings one in contact with modern coloured
relief work, really decoratively treated, and free from the pictorial set-
ting usually pervading present century iconography. Pictorial or fine
art, and decorative art or iconography are approached from different
avenues, although it is true “ there is but one art.” Fine art appeals to
the emotions ; decorative art, in its true function, appeals to our sense
of restfulness in the things we use, in the things surrounding us, or in
other ways where we desire relief from the emotions of every-day life,
and look for a lighter atmosphere of things and scenes we recollect and
love to think upon.
What then does “ iconography ” and “decorative” mean to us who try
to do these things ? The meaning is so important. The former word is
derived from the Greek “ eikon,” an image, a representation, diagram,
a portrayal or portrait. The latter word is from the Latin “ decus,”
“ decor,” comeliness, or befitting.
A diagram, or portrayal, befitting, filling up with comeliness and har-
mony a surface or space to be covered with good form, or colour, or
both, for our restful enjoyment,—not to excite our emotions,—that is
“ fine art ” (pictorial art). To do this decoration on a wall or ceiling in
line only is one treatment; to do it in modelled relief is another ; to com-
bine colour with relief is yet another, and with this we are here con-
cerned.
It is unnecessary for immediate purposes for us to dwell more than a
little on the very early times, when this art was done to perfection,
save for two references to show from whence the ancients drew their
inspiration ; for the Greeks practised and handed down through the
ages the finest form of iconography that ever came from the heart and
hand of man, as instanced by the Parthenon frieze and from accounts
of the festivals and pageants.
What finer inspiration could be given than the description of “The Pro-
cession of the Goddess ” in the story of the Golden Ass of Apuleius,
which we quote from the new translation herewith ?—“And, now,behold
the prelude of the grand procession came gradually into action. The
persons who composed it were all finely caparisoned in various ways,
each according to his own taste and inclination. This man, being girded
with a belt, represented a soldier; another was equipped as a hunter,
with a short scarf, a hunting knife, and javelin. Another, wearing
gilded sandals, a silken garment, and precious female ornaments, and
with false hair on his head, personated a woman by his appearance and
68