The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1892-04-18
VULGARITY IN DESIGN.
Jewelry, Furniture and Bric-a-Brac Tha
Shock the Ksthete.

Jewelry, Furniture and Bric-a-Brac That
Shock the Ksthete.
There Is nothing in modern life more
discouraging to the person Of taste than
the deliberate vulgarity in design which
Is so conspicuous in modern malsufac
lures, and this is especially true in those
matters of adornment or luxury where
it would be supposed that if anywhere
would be found the evidences of refine
ment and cultivation. If in the articles
with which the dwellings and the per-
sons of the rich are adorned one does
not find evidences of good taste it is in
deed discouraging outlook for the
seeker, and yet it is in precisely in these
things that the most fragrant violations
of all aesthetic canons are encouraged.
One has but to consider the tricks of
the makers of jewelry to understand the
extent to which this evil has gone. The
last whim Of the makers of slang is to
be seen in the windows of the jeweler
wrought out in precious stones Now
the art Of the cunning goldsmith is de-
voted to the making of pigs in gold and
gems, now it is some other beast equally
inartist1c, again it is some idiotic pun,
which Is enshrined in costly stones or
rich enamel, and yet again the para
phernalia of the turf, the gaming table,
or what not, absOrbs the best skill
which the modern world can show in
this line. Even worse are the coarse
and vulgar designs which are to be seen
in the cases of respectable jewelers. of
the feminine leg or foot, the suggestive
and semi-indecent ornaments which ap-
peal to the taste of certain classes, not
only of men, but of women, who are ap-
parently perfectly proper members of
society.
The designs of furniture and bric-a-
brac are, if anything, worse. 1t is true
that there are good designs to be found,
but it is no less true that the reign of
height. The hard and unsympathetic
execution of mechanical means which
would be tolerable only when directed
by the most delicate and sympathetic
taste is made the more detestable by the
coarse and forced manner in which it is
used. When the designer goes to the
past to purloin a design, if he wishes to
hit the popular taste he selects some rO-
coco motive of the worst period, and as
a rule it is popular in direct proportion
to its wOrthlessness.
When one compares the ornaments of
today with those of the times of our
grandfathers he may well ask whether
our grandchildren will have as much
reason to respect their heirlooms as we
have to look with pride upon ours. If
one takes the SO called souvenir spoons
with which the shop windows have been
filed, how many Of them are even toler-
able in design?
1t is always easier to find fault than
to find out a remedy, and it is undoubt-
eddy true that in the present case the
matter is largely the result of the in
crease Of material prosperity among
those classes where neither taste nor in
telligence has had time to be developed.
The markets are controlled to a great
extent by the new rich, and it is not IN
natural that the impress Of their vulgar
ity should be left in a broad mark upon
the arts of the time. 1t is no less true
abroad, however, than it is in this coun-
try that the designers have apparently
degenerated, and the explanation given
does not so we'll apply abroad as in this
country.
No doubt the taste of the world is
being educated, but the problem today
is to educate the taste of the many in
stead of the taste of the few, and it is
far more difficult than any which has
ever been presented to the devotees Of
the aesthetic in the history of civilization
before Courier.