New-York tribune., 1881-09-11
MR. -CLNABUE BROWN ON THE DEFENSIVE
Hrnnl RcLnrnrin

MR. -CLN1BUE BROWN ON THE DEFENSIPR.
Prom Belgroria
4, L. Cimabne Brown, am probably at this moment
the best ridiculed and most laughed-at man in all
England; and yet am not ashamed of myself. /
ask you tp look at really are not YOU see
us caiicatured in Mr. Du Maurier's clever sketches
or Mr.. Gilbert's comic operas. Come TO one OF nv
wlfe,s Wednesday evening At Homes. and you viii
in London assembled together. / acknowledge that
you will find sunflower decoration IN tie hall;
and very pretty it is too. l acknowledge also that
you VIII hnd old china plates put up against the
wall, and Venetian glass in the cabinet, and some
good Persian tiles around the fireplace, and
that You will find the girls dressed for the
most part in pleasant neutral tints not in crude and
hear more conversation about Italian pictures and
Mr.. Langs last BallaSe than about the latest fiuc-
tuations of the Stock Exchange. about two pri-
vate persons irresponsible opinions the hundred
and twentieth clause of the Irish Land bill. But il
you see anybody posing IN medieval attitudes after
Fra Angelica, or attempting to assume an express
sion OF earnest ldeality after Sandro Botticelh
and utter intensity after Mr.. Du Maurier, why. then
promise you to forfeit five hundred pounds down
without murmur for the benefit of the Royal Hos
pital Tor lncurable Idiots And will use my first
nomination as Benefactor TO insure that persons
immediate admission within the walls of the in
stitution.
II you turn from fancy to fact the real thing that
we have accomplished is this: We have obtained
the general recognition of culture distinct aim
IN English life. Even those people who laugh at Us
most have really adopted our principles and mi
tated our practice. There is hardly a middle class
house in England where wallpapers and our
cretonnes have not penetrated. The mantlepieces
which used once to be- covered with blue and pold
vases and oTmolu clocks are now decorated With
ollve-green Nallaurls pottery and quantity pretty
Satsulna teapots. The girls who used once To work
Berlin wool tapestry with square pictures of
ladies and lapdogs and monstrous realistic roses
now work with crewels in really beantifnI decora
tive patterns drawn TO conVentionalised designs
Our women universally dress in subdued and deli
cate colors even our childien play with toy books
made lovely for them by Kate Greenaway and alter
Crane. Some of the attempts that people make al the
beautiful still doubtless painful and Tidlcnlous
enough; but, at any-Tate, they make the attempt
instead of remaining of old in "A blissfu and con-
tented state OF utter Philistlne uglness To now
little about art, about poetry. about the emotional
Slue oil NE altogeihe mas become an object and
desire with thousands and thousand of people who
never telt IT so before And that result has been
Drought about IN large part, condeutly assert 10y
us, the despised and much-ridiculed " aesthetics"
There are a few other more serious objections
however, sometimes urged against the great con-
temporary aesthetic movement typiied by my un-
worthy personality, about which objections shonld
like To say few words in passing now that have
got you fairly buttOnhoed i'm a corner by yourself
lhe hrs OF them-a very common one-is that We
aesthetics" are sworn eneme, TO color. There never
was greater mistake on this earth. We reyel in
color, we perfectly roll in II live the midst
of green and blue and scarlet and purple ali ,ur
DAYS. Nobody who has once seen the interior of a
really good modern aesthetic house conld ever after
wards seriously commit such a ri i.iculons blr5sr a
TO say that IL was dlngyP gloomy" or faded
looking, as thousand unthinking critics assest
hesitatingly every day.
which eschews color. There Whitehead, cold
pale cheerless white-forms the background aud
ls white All over lhe wallpaper is white. with
few patches of regularly-disposed gold Ornamenta-
white marble. The carpet has white ground
spnnkled with red and blue roses The cheap
chrome autographs which do duty for fine art have
broad white margins and there is deeper color
ing TO balance and neutralize this chilly general
tone. The place of honor the hearth is filled
! by a great gilt mirror, which reflects the white
| ceiling The chairs and sofas covered in pale
blue satin. The vases are in whitish glass.
The ornaments are Paran statuetteS alahaster
| boxes, and white spar kmck-knacks. There is
hardly bit of color in the whole room; and what
ever there y consists o crude masses of ulmitgated
blue. red and yellow, isolated in great harsh patches
amid the prevailing sea of inhospltable white. The
place seems contrived Oh purpose To repe by It's
utter unhomelineSs.
Now, just contrast such room as this with my
| little drawlng-room in the small house az Hamp-
stead. Our ceiling Is covered with a pretty con-
ilnuous distempered design our walls are broken
in a high decorative dado of storks and water
plants beneath, and small upper piecing above
with geometneal mterlaeng patterns in a contrast
Ihs huo Oui hool s poilSLeu AT the Sides ana has
two or three different rugs placed about be-
tween the chars and table. So every blt If
of coor-subdued. pleasant, restful color for the
most part allow. with unobtusiNe patterns which
mlStakable color, different possible from the
poverty stricken white of utter Phlstia. Then we
have few pictures hung upon the upper piecing;
few decorative plates fastened against tile wall:
cabinet with Venetian glass and good Old Chinese
porcelain above the dark red mantepiece; and a
We have chairs ana sofas covered with pretty tap
estry we have few crewel-work auti-macasSars
Browns sake have flowers in abun-
| dance; and reception nights we
| have the dresses and faces of women
enlivening the whole scene II you We're 10 drop in
| at one of our Wednesday evenings, I'm quite Sure
you would say you never saw much color crowded
into single room in all your life before. Only tho
| color is not dispersed about ndlscrlminately IN
great solitary patches IL is harmonized and snh-
| dued aud combined into a single decorative chro-
| matte effect.
When | say know you would think So am not
speaklng quite at random, but generalizing So
berry from my past experience. A great many cas-
ual acQuaintances of mine who have never been to
my house but have met me at friends dinners, az
our ofhee tthe SeceIary OF State for Scotlands,
sure we shouldn't hike your style of Furnishings
we've heard ITS so very and aesthetic" But
whenever I've asked them Just drop ia and see IL
| they've almost invariably gone away, not only
| charmed but with fixed determination 10 furnish
| their own houses in the same fashion.