Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1879-12-27

SIDES the only thing that requires any labor to
clean is the CRATE itself. and this should be made
as little conspicuous as possible. Any amount
OF play OF design may be given to the wooden
surroundings. They may be ornamaDted with
pihsters, or brackets, or shelves, or panels; car
r1ed up to the ceiling or left three or four feet
high; and all this may be done more effectively
In wood than In marble, as well as much more
cheaply.
for covering and decorating wall spaceS-plain
color In paint, paper, or dlstemper; patterns in
paper, textile fabrics. or paint; and panelling
II the first method be employed, all the interest
OF the wall surfaces is made to depend upon
color. There can be no objection to this; plain
surface Of color is beautiful thing, provided 1t
unfortunately it is in rare exceptions only that
we and walls OF pleasing or suitable tones
These generally used are pale green and yellow
ish drab. It will be said that these are HARM
less, and to a certain extent this defense Is true
But II must be borne in mind that the harmless
is not very high Ideal to aspire to- and that it
is this inability In most Of US to make our walls
better than harmless that drives us to seek re-
lief I'm vaSt-sZed mirrors or other coarse decora-
tons to give some life to our rooms. II we are
Fortunately enough to possess, good pictures,
walls with such tint as shall form a
good background to, without interfering with,
the pictures. A rich browniSh-green will be
found one of the best for this purpose. If, how
ever, we have no pictures, or very few, we mus
depend on the beauty of our wall decoration
that we have seen on the walls in our friends
houses is there any one amongst them that ever
gave us an even mOmentary feeling OF interest
or pleasure? Some, as we said before, are harm
less that is to say. entirely undressing; but
for the most part they are actually aggressive by
their extreme crudenesS. There is one, for in
stance, very much like that Of lavender kid
gloves, that is used often in distemper and paint
and mixed with pure white or white and gold in
papers. The effect is one OF astonishing repul
siveneSs. 1t possesses no brilllancy no depth, no
or
is unsuitable for pictures, and clashes with al
most every tint that is brought near to it. 1t
is impossible, without the help of illustration,
TO say much about color that will be of much
practical value; nor, indeed, have we space to
refer to all the thousands of harsh tints, single
and mixed which may be seen disflguring the
walls OF houses. The only thing that can be
done in this matter is to appeal TO every ones
own taste as far as possible, and to try and
make them exercise their Judgment. Do not let
us be content, on the one hand, with gloomi-
ness and duliness; let us avoid with horror on
the other hand, all ciudeneSS and mere ShOwi-
ness. Let us be careful that the color chosen
shall be one not merely beautiful In small
quantities, as for instance scarlet or bright blue,
but suitable TO covering large spaces, and Suifi-
GENTLY quiet to be permanent rest to the eye.
When wallpapers printed in patterns are used.
there are further considerations which should
guide our choice. II should be borne in mind,
however, that although in these cases more
than one color is employed, yet there is always
general effect of harmonious blending of tone
together which should be sought after-an effect
best seen at such a distance that the pattern
ceases to be very distinct This general effect
is analogous to, and should be considered in the
same light as, one tint. Many papers when
viewed from certain distances give undue prom
fnence TO one particular feature, owing to its
color not being in proper harmony with those
OF the other features of the design; and
the constant repetition of the pattern
over the wall surface often causes the
prominent features to be arranged in lines
and figures in themselves unpleasing, though
all the lines and figures OF the design unrepeat-
ed may be faultless Before a wallpaper is
chosen, therefore, care should be taken that
order to detect this secondary pattern, If 1t ex-
lists. Exactly the same effect may be produced
without prominence in color by the unequal
= Of the design snpposlng for in
owing TO this fault the pattern is thicker in
some places than in others, then the thick parts
viewed from short distance will make little
masses of light, and the thin parts little masses
of dark color, which may make on large sur
face secondary pattern OF ufipleasing appear
ance.
But besides the production of general effect at
such distance that the primary design can not
be distinctly seen We have to consider the latter
itself, the curves of its lines, and the beauty OF
its elementary features. 1t is, OF course, impos-
that wallpaper patterns have assumed, but
there are certain classes of them about which
something may be said. The first Of these
flowers, leaves, birds, etc, are used in what is
called an unconventional manner, that is,
drawn on the paper as the artist would draw
them were he simply making studies from
nature. Now, even SuppOSing that it were posi-
bic at a considerable cost to reproduce exactly
the illustrations CT frst-rate work on botany or
olnitholCgy, such design would be emlneltiy
uDsuie ed TO its place. THIS suppose, no one will
venture to deny. Not only. however, would II
be unsuitable 1t would be fntrinScally bad 1t
would lack the first element Of artistic design
arrangement But it may be said that in all
patterns that repeat themselves in the way in
which wall papers OF necessity must, there must
be some arrangement. This is true; but the
fact only makes the want OF arrangement in the
subordinate parts more conspicuous by con
trast with the formalfty OF the main features. |
have seen. for instance, a pattern made OF little
punches OF flowers, red and blue and yellow
Gust as they might have been had they been
copied directly after they had been picked, only
very badly done, at the angles OF q diamond
true the flowers which compose the bunch are
natural. but not the bunch ITSELF nor the plac-
ing OF punches at regular intervals 1t Is, in
fact, absurd TO talk OF naturalism on a wall-pa-
per at all; at best we can only produce but a
feeble parody Oft. What We can dc. howeveris to
make use OF certain forms suggested by nature
which will be really suitable to the positions
they have to occupy, which Will be pliable, that
is to say, capable OF being worked up Into
continuous, evenly distributed. and we'll
arranged design and which will be. besides all
this, very beautiful in themselves. Such ideall-
cations from nature are the honey-SUckie pat
tern of the ASsyrianS and Greeks; all the Won
Gerful stone carvings which fill our medieval
churches, so reDoWnedfor the appreciation they
bear evidence ID OF the most subtle forms OF
birds, beasts, ard flowers; all the Persian
designs for ceilings, textile fabrics, pottery and
paintings. unriyalled for 1ntricacy OF form with
out confusion, grace of line without weakness
and brilliancy of color without gaudiness; ali
the flowing frieZeS OF Renaissance times SO
faultless in their curves. 1t is not because We
love nature more, but because We understand
her less, that we have ceased to follow pre-
cedent that has been hitherto universal.
There IS another class OF papers in which the
main pat of the patterI Is geUmetrlcal. Papers
Of this kind are often very satisfactory, but do
not usually possess as much interest as those
involving free curves. They are, however
often very suitable to passages and halls, and
may lie Used with advantage in places where
something little less InonotOnouS than plain
surface CT color is required. The geometrcal
patterns should always be small, never more
than few inches square, and should be simple
also. Their want OF interest tends to make
them coarse and vulgar If used on large scale.
AS q rule, 1t Will be found that where figures ia
rolvtng squares are employed, 1t viii be much
better to place them with their sides vertical
and horizontal, than with their corners at their
highest and lowest points, like the diamond
shaped paneS OF glass IN church windows. The
difficulties in decoration arc very much Increased
in many cases by the thorough badness OF the
groundwork on which 1t has 10 be placed and
by the thorough badness OF the thing that has
TO be decorated. So that often all that can be
done Is TO make the best Of q bad job And here
the decorator is placed in 4 dilemma for he
cannot remove ana much Of his work is on this
nfTNer 4 RI