New-York tribune., 1873-02-12
ORNAMENT AND BUILDING.

,,..oa =, the National Academy of Design, last
snpe hy Rnssell surgis jr. His subject was lorna
,ept and Building" and his address was illustrated by
drav,ne. and contained comments upon the present
,sck Of originality in architectural design with sug'
resons toward the fostering OF love for ornamental
tIen IN building He said among other things;
GENTLEMEN OF THB ACADEMY AND sTUpENrs
thnh you ought 10 be congratulated upon tnls ~
the room In which assembled 10 oontaneu ' '"o
Of the few ornamental buildings OF when Ne"-iorA vi
America is as yet possessed Of fou yourselves KNOW
how well II suits your purpose but certainly II Is one OF
tho few In the original conception OF which, decoration
formed a mart II 30 happens that / know
quite intimately the architect who bmlt TINS
luldinc IL was his first effort, and at the
time. having nothing else 10 do. he concen-
trated his mind upon for two years and II is the result
of very profound conviction In matters Of architectural
art II is the specimen in America OF the work OF
school and the school that of the Gothic revival One
of the OF the Gothic revival was that oil decora-
tons should be designed by the sculptor himself;
hat sculpture should he designed on the
drawing board, as most do their WORK. pu'
that each piece Of carving should be designed by the
soulptor himself and the superior architect had any
thing 70 say about merely in the way OF general
direction This was far carried out that Mr.. White
throughout the Summer would collect in the woods him
self leaves and flowers and branches and acOrns from
winch form ms designs. With these before them as
their only models and suggestions the scuptors did their
work Concerning the excellence OF the result think
we need not trouble ourselves at present There has
been attempt at limitation you must remember,
hut the intention certainly was sincere one
In this attempted Gothic revival there were three or
four principal points One was 70 Gothic forms
wherever possible another was 10 use the Gothic sys
ten Of OrnamentatOn and the third to produce the
ornament IN the Gothic way-that Is have IT designed
by the workman Now the work that has been done In
England and France and Germany is very interesting,
nd N N "A
student Of art some little It worthy OF preservaton
Tut the effort 10 restore the Gothic style, L
think II is safe 20 say, has absolutely and forever
failed II once seemed the one proper course TO
pursue, and interested in il as MI White him
self The say it has failed is because tnat IN
spite OF years OF uninterrupted success in England
stl has obtained anything like universal acceptance
The quarrel between Classical and Gothic unsettled
~ before The Of the Gothic reyvais one thing
The success Of totally different school is quite another
Tie Gothic is no successful than before. IL is
merely that new Gothic buildings are building
ACCEPTED PRINCIPLES IN ART.
Now the theory the bottom Of this Gothic revival
was perfectly sound and that that all artists
ought 70 be working according to the received
principles II is notorious that that has been the case
~ the fine Whatever il is, whether painting or
weaving carpets whatever fine art is carried on, II is
fact that an these artists have the accepted prnc
pIes according TO which they work. The weavers OF
which their had In many manuscripts OF the
fourteenth OF fifteenth century You will find descriptions
Cf carpets identical ia design with those you now see az
sloans or Stewards. This is more evidently
true in architecture than in anything else. The
ttuGy of Gothic architecture once invented
IN France rapidly spread Europe and You will fnd
the architecture OF those days that they all had pre-
cse'y notions Of what ought 70 be done. The
architect never sought 10 work out new style but
iabored 20 make a Improvement on his neghbor's
when one Of our wealthy friends yacht, you
don't suppose he tries 70 make new model OF Vessef
No he ust deduces this from that dea perhaps makes
the sy, measurements Of his neighbers yacht,
and a model is made like what he imagines the per
feet model made from the measurements Of old ones
would This part of the principle Of the Gothic re-
ylval. and II Is a sound principle.
The Gothic system Of decoration and building is the
nearest 10 present wants. That is obvious. The
Renaissance was the beginning Of the initiative styles
which have been going on, alas until to-day and 1t is
obvious TO that they must have failed men being
what they and the requirements OF the present time
being what they You remember how the books we
used 70 study years ago almost wholly superseded
The artists OF recent style Of art-the Renais
sanoe-we cannot 20 TO them now for any
information that is worth having. All this movement OF
the Gothic revival cOtempOraneOus with Arch8o
logical attainment The whole field Of archaeology is
modern one This Gothic Revival is one OF the many
systems Of initiative architecture which have sprung up
from II The whole field Of decorative design is cuti-
waited only by a system OF studous education and that
IL the difficulty of attaining 10 any excellence
an IL. The vast majority OF buildings are
built IN style or other. One building
is thirteenth century Gothic another is twelfth
century. another is Renaissance, another is De-
cadence and YOU may see the same bniding Illus
thing Of this think If We take the universal
discomfort of men who are engaged IN the study OF
decorative art may be SAID that there s no promising
ook in IT, unless we see it in the light of having had its
share iu the wealth OF the city,
POsT-oFFICE AND CITY HALL.
The point before is, Of course, the application OF
ornament buildings. The absence of ornament is
Of course a great regret 10 all of II we look down
The street and see what buildings being erected for
Government purposes we shall how bare they Of
all ornament See the new Post-Ofice. With what
the Government 60 TO gloryng itself and the
ppent for ari Where works % art and sculpture would
De hitting and woud he preserved ioreyer t9ey are
not finish great Parliament House without covering
il with decorations Why seems TO be accepted that
granite have done all that conld be expected OF civ
of an architects here IL is noble piece Of architecture
Of the school OF Louis XIV II has good carving upon it,
sSat II is noble building indeed But have you looked
Al the sculpture upon il We notice IT, and II
ent IT IL had been covered with carving it would
have been the and this is because we feel the
want OF something; we need something.
Now let look at the study Of ancient art and the
sttempt to initiate IT, II is very delightful to study
and II one asks What is the OF studying ancient
srP say II is precisely the same S,.,Str as the
worth studying the arts Of the past worth
studying But IL is just here We must think
for Ourselves / think have a right to call upon
paners aud sculpors lend their aid IN designing the
ornament 20 be put upon building II the design IS TO be
adapted from time then the architects know what
20 DO Dut if designs wanted, where can he look
but TO the sculptor and the painterf Very
Gew know about the duties of the arch
rfAct who has 80 buildings gong on
noble desgn he must spend his time att No whose
mind Is loaded down by details do II Some depute
then work persons not IN the once others depute
Ia those Office As things are now constituted one
r Inc other must be done. There very few men IN
tbe position architects assistants who can possibly
tn ke fnp