The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-05-15
The Designs Of Wall Paper.

New York, May 1a-..rhe day for smat
tering in any kind Of art work is over
only well-ground knowledge and thorough
training are effective; the demand for Z
higher grade Of excellence having steadil,
| advanced. all superficial effort is barrel
out Of the market" This is the gist o.
| opinion as set forth by the manufacturer
the designer-both practised and aspiring
and the sonnoisseur. who has arrived a
| just conclusions from long acquaintance
with both sides Of the question. Il get al
out OF patience with schools that try t.
teach girls how to design without frs,
teaching them to draw" said the artist
in charge Of the designing department ir
| wallpaper factory. He had just bought
a design from a young woman, had put i,
into stout wooden box, and shut the Id
as though he did not mean soon to lift It.
That is the fourth student l have seen
today who was trying to sell designs. Every
day from November until the end Of May
go through the same experience. Where
one design offered is worth having, ninety
nine are mere variations Of old styles. and
the work so poor that but for the colorins
1t would not pass at all. Out OF four hun
dred designs submitted I buy, may be,
ten. and eight out of that ten buy simply
because they are so much like the designs
we are using in the factory that it is worth
our while not to let other manufacturers
get hold OF them. The design have jus,
put in the box is one Of that kind. 1t is al
most facsimile, except in the shading, OF
paper we have just had set up. ! don't
want any other factory TO get It, I have
ninety-eight designs shut up In that box
hot - - a.
ger motive
Now. here" he continued. els good
design. This is done by a hundredth anna
teur in Cincinnati" and he held to view a
square Of mounted paper. The design was
conventionally unconventional, and was dis
tinctive. The large flowers and blade-like
leaves were perfect and artistic, but they
were interviewer into figure. The color
Ing was admiral A woman's name was
pencilled on the margin. I'VE may not
use this either" said the manager. 'but !
told the firm it was so good we ought to
own 1t. 1 have two others from the same
source. and have written the young woman
that / shall send her designs to London;
they will find sale there.
For moderate degree Of talent in de-
signing there is steady demand. The best
III lLS, PuSSiDly OI i've III the CITY, ell
pioy individual designers. They pay them
well and get good work in return. The fac
tories that cater to the average trade do
not employ their own designers: they rely
en- the designs which they can buy outside
Their demand. then, is the practical field
for the design maker. and his, or her, ar
t.stic possibilities must necessarily be limit
ed. They must draw well and design well.
hrrf
Girls come to New York with a strong bent
for drawing. and possibly some crude talent
and start in to get living out Of their i'm
perfect knowledge. 1t is obvious that they
must be disappointed. Those who have
pluck and geuine talent get over their first
enthusiasm and learn to take probabilities
into consideration; then they do better.
Taking it all in all, men succeed better
than women. They are generally trained
regularly for what they undertake to do.
and patience and technical knowledge are
required as wen as talent; practically first
Of all: a special design for the special
adoption. The width Of loom is a distinct
and the demand for certain
kinds of paper.
Women have not done much in designs
for chintzes and carpets. OF course, the
would be as easy for them
as the paper; smooth surface, and only
shown on one side; but the carpet-weaving
and the practical knowledge involved put a
different phase on the matter. The warp
and the wool, as the threads Intervene,
the possibilities Of the loom and its limita-
tons, give the designer in tapestry silk or
carpe texture much more to take into con-
sderati ton than he would have to consider
for cotton fabrics
The country is full Of so-called designers,
and sometimes the question resolves itself
not so much into survival of the fittest as
Of the least unfit" said a woman who is
the best-known exponent of her art in New
York 81 see so many girls go into the work
In half-hearted way that am impelied to
warn them frankly that they are wasting
their time Designing is not an art by It,
self. 1t includes vast deal of general all
round knowledge and calls for as much
special and creative work as is required of
he legitimate painter. A successful design
sr must have personal feeling for compost
ion. and must understand the laws of har-
nony, and particularly in relation to ltera-
lure and historical epoch and happening.
What is needed is style that is unham-
oered by precedent, originality that is not
eccentric, ana, ABOVE all, decoration Whicn
aims TO beautify. There Is no limit to the
amount of thought and study involved in
lrt designing.
For the first ten years after American
was first introduced. there was
rood living to be made out OF IL by what |
night be termed mere amateur talent; |
mean amateur in the sense of unstra!ned. |
Within the last four or five years there has |
zen a distinct advance In the grade of |
work. demanded, and the dabblers and diet |
antes have gone to the wall, because all |
ver the country the average taste has come /
o be more cultivated. People will not put |
p now with what they once not only toll
rated but really liked. The art schools
ave done this, and the standard of art in
his country is growing to be recognized.
n the west-Chicago. st. Louis. Cincinnati
there are splendid art schools, and the
ubiic taste has been elevated distinctly
y their influence. There is higher tone
4 house-decoration now and people demand
etter. simpler. and truer ideas in the way
( furnishing and appointments"
UuA