New-York tribune., 1878-05-31
THE PARIS EXHIBITION.
BRITISH FURNITURE AND UPHOLSTERY.

l.
\ RfMAEHABIE CHANGE IN sTYLE AND TAsTE-THI.
PBInCE OF WAIEs's PAyuIoN-TnE INFLUENCE
OF Oriental Art.
lFEOM STAFF CORRESPONDENT or TIE TErEINE.l
PAEIs May 10.-ln classes Il and ~ OF group 3,
| which include furniture and upholstery, the number
OF British exhibitors Is siNtytwo. As Il whole their
display is extremely interesting. Much OF it is very
good Ia itself and especially attractive as q c0lcc
tive illustration of the very remarkable change
which has taken place III English style ard taste
since 1851 - the same process has been gong on
in America 10 some extent. ard under similar Bfu-
cncc-. you may like TO hear how far the English
| have travelled in thcr efforts for what is now ac
| crPted a, artistic furniture and decoration.
The subject has been 80 fully discussed that may
omit all tho historical part of it. and start with
things as they to-day. In furniture, the lead
! ing exhibitors have shown their best. In decora-
! tIon using the word largely, they have done much
less, with two or three conspicuous exceptions. The
cXlcmporzcd courts of the British section give little
space OF opportunity for the reproduction OF such
| ROOMS a. may he seen in London to-day, which
have been decorated in many eases by artists
rather than 10y upholstcrerS in two cases by
upholSterers who also artists The chief cXccp-
! tiors are the old English house, initiated from
| wcll-known house in Chester built and to he fur
! nshcd hy Mc.srs Consou X Loeb. and the Prince
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decorations and furniture from Mcssrs Gillow u
Co. Ghe former Is syll incomplete. so let us take
the Pavilion and see \ hat has been done with that.
Messrs. Gillow & Co. are an old-faShioned firm,
long established in London. whose reputation for
solid workmanship wa, gained during the last two
or three generations, when the business of uphOl-
| stoTing and undertaking went hand III
| hand, and when the influence of the latter
upon the former was very marked indeed.
They went reproducing year after
year the same pOndcrous structures: chairs on
which Gargantua might have sat and tables on
which the materials of his rcpast might have been
safely piled; Sidcbodrds that looked like nothing so
much a. sarcophagi; drawng-rooms sometimes only
a shade less sombrc than the diningrOom, and fitted
up expressly for funerals, sometime, blazing with
gold and crowded with fantastic furniture belong
Iur 10 no known STYLE Whichever the fashion, the
impression on the bchodcr was always the same.
The ambition of the designer had been to Use as
much wood as possible, to put the ribs of a three
decker into a drawing-room sofa, and 70 make
everything an ostentatious to the wealth of
! its owner When such a firm aS tins gave IN 10
! the prevailing fcclingIn favor of artistic form IN
furniture and above all OF simplicity, II Is the high
est proof thai the force Of the current had become
! irresistible.
What Mc-srs. Giilow have done in the Princes
| Pavilion. neither they nor any other London house
could have done ten ago, or even Ave. Mcssr'
NorIi, y Co. had begun earlier tlian that, and on"
or two rivals had appeared by 1870 -. But the
conservative feeling was stIll stronger than the III
uoyatiuc impulse traditions of dull rc-pcctahilIty
| are not uprootcd IN England i'm a moment. IVcn
five wear, ago il WI, not easy 10 carry au artistic
| idea throughout the furnishing of a house; there
were difficulties about -tuii-, porcelain, glass and
many other matters. Dealers IN these things felt
! the pressure later But when two or three great
! houses had resolved to yield. they brought with
them strong rcinforcclncuts from the leading people
/ in every branch of domestic supply They re"rsah-
lied their own business and # there be on" tEing ol
! which Nc,-r~ GIilow speak with more pride than
another il that al the dr~Isus inth, Pavilion are
| from their own artists. and that aiI the work has
been done Lythcir own staff 50 far a. they have done
il at all They have not called IN the aid Of ROYAL
| Acad,micians to provide patterns, nor OF imported
craf .m,u TO do the most delicate cabinet work.
believe the same is true of the artisans IN iron, IN
silver, IN china in tile. and all the rest which go to
the complete equipment Of the various rooins And
everything is British. No foreign and has been ad-
mittcd: tie carpets, yciycts silks, the very tap
cstry is English and al these dainty fabrics are
/ from English looms. Bot the wood with which the
great ainiug-room Is pancilcd l- American h'd'h
walnut chosen instead of OAK for lt, greater sober
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where in these day, have contributed the inlnid
panels of lac 10 the doors Of some Of the cabinets.
Ia the part of the seventeenth century. to which
period the stylc employed bclonE- il j. certain that
American walnut and japanese !ac were not used.
but the use of them here II 10 Irproaoh 80 long ~
the spirit oi the epoch Is caught. 1t Is better for ho
artist to work freely than 10 copy scrUlcy every de-
TAIL or deny himself tho help OF any material ior
winch "A precedent doc, not exist
The Pavilion j., entered through pair of wrought
ron patc,. designed by Mr. H. {. j. Henry, who has
had = large share IN the whole decoration. lis com
position and all the detail, of the cabinet woih are
his while hi. colleague Nh /. ". Hay, Is the artist
who'd, signed the tapestries. the carpet patterns, ana
the like. They both sallri,d cmlloy', Of M"SSTs
Giilow, and regularly occnpcd in the ordinary busi-
| ness Of tie house. The hall and staircase. like
the FACADE and the whole structure arc 10y Nh Gil
bert RcdgIayc from whose hands Mcs,rs GIllow re-
cclycd it, and whose work ends where theirs begins.
The three principal rooms the ground ipor:
! dining room in the centre; the Princes morning
room opening out of 1t Oh the left the Pfincessa
| boudor opening out of IT on the rght. The dining
room H. at a guess, thirty feet by twenty and
twenty feet high From the floor upward
| for rather more than half tho whole height,
| massive black walnut pancllIng runs all
around the room. II is too massive to
be called dado, and It's Treatment III c"iuilhS
| aud panels, with plnh and cornice and distinct
architectural features continually repeated, Is per-
has too grave for the purposes OF the room, ana be-
yond question too heavy for room Of such proper
tious The fault il due to the influence of old hab-
| it,. of which ! have just been speaking. II Is
| rrh.ycd to some extent by elaborate inlayin III
! black and white which lighteus the mass of wood
Above this the walls are hung with tapestries from
a manufactory established at Windsor twelve years
ago with some announcement from the Queen, nii-
| dor thc cnntrol Of a commIttce. Of which Prince