The Courier. (Genoa, Nev.) 1899-1904, 1903-09-11
THE CITY OF COLOR.
NEW YORK A PICTURE OF PLEASING
CONTRASTS IN HuES.
The American Metropolis In This
Respect surpasses All the Great
Monotone Tinted Capitals of the
Occidental World.

Monotone Tinted Capitals of the
Occidental World.
New York has been written about
from almost every possible point of
view-architectural, commercial, polit
ieal and social. Yet so far as we know
it has never been properly appreciated
for the one thing in which it surpasses
all the other great capitals of the occi-
dental world. and that is for its color
Those of us who live here all our lives
or who absent ourselves for only brief
and inconsiders ole periods Of time
never know hoY extraordinary is the
environment IL. which we have been
placed. 1t is only the stranger with an
artistic sense or the native who has
been long away who gets the full ef-
feet of this city of ours in its unique
prismatie f1oridity of hue such as vivi-
fies no other city of its kind.
II you will think for moment and
visualize from memory the great cities
of Europe as colorlst would see them
one is monotone. London has the
dull. dingy, smoky hue of its own No
vember fogs, and as you pass along its
miles and miles of streets, welter of
unvariegated facades and homely Chin
ney pots, your impression will be
more and more that London is one
great smudge, hideous and unrelleved
beneath n sky of watery paleness
which merely accentuates a little more
the dingy hue of everything beneath 1t.
Paris equally represents a monotone, a
delicate gray that is neat and clean and
that adds to the symmetry and har-
moniousness of the whole effect, but
that is seldom diversified by warmer
tones. Berlin is monotone in buff,
and Rome. like Paris, for the most
part, a monotone in gray.
One thinks at first of Naples as
city brilliant with the hues of the
south. but little reflection will show
that 1t is not the city itself which can
be rightly so regarded. but rather the
setting of the city as one percelves it
from the ship on which he enters the
glorious bay or from the Capo di Posi-
iipo. The intense blue of the sky, the
emerald of the surrounding hills, the
sparkle on the waters that lap its
crescent shore. the huge dun slope of
Yesuvius, with its golden smoke, and
Capri in the distance swimming In a
golden mlst-these things afford an un-
forgettable dream of perfect coloring.
But Naples itself The place is as
commonplace and dirty and depress-
ing as Constantinople. which also from
a distance cheats you into thinking 1t
a colorists paradise.
1t is New York alone which, after
delighting the eye with the beauty of
its harbor. embraced by the long
slopes of billowy green. fascinates the
eye by the brilliancy and diversity Of
its color scheme. The sky is as blue
as that which is arched above the
Mediterranean. Its sunshine is as
bright, and ii is sifted down upon the
city like gold dust scattered by law
ish hand. But the sky and the sun
light merely intensity the vividness of
the color contrasts which are visible
at every turn. Here is no convention,
no conformity. no desire for harmo-
nious effect The snowy whiteness of
marble and the clean gray of granite
are everywhere intermingled with the
cheerful buff or the warm, rich reds
of brick. Patches of green appear at
the end of every vista.
The enormous display windows of
the shops are a riot of blues and yell
lows and pale rose and heliotrope and
scarlet Gliding catches and reflects
the sunlight at every turn. Flags and
streamers and multicolored awnings
add TO the effect. so that every street
is n veritable spectrum. Throughout
the whole length and breadth of the
island city color abounds in flecks and
splashes. 1t is just a bit barbaric,
possibly. but 1t Is also wonderful and
striking
To the sober dullness of Madrid or
Rome or London it is what the Pom
peilan wall paintings are to the quiet
eanvases of Harpignies-not art, but
instinct nevertheless with a sensuous-
ness and glow that stir one strange
ly. If you are a native of New York
perhaps you never noticed this. Yet
all the same 1t is set before you every
day. and II you will only think OF 1t
the next time you go out of doors you
will perceive 1t as revelation and
will know that whatever else New
York may be it is, at any rate, color
city, and as such it is one that has no
rival-New York Commercial Adyer-
tiser.