Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1903-07-09
THE CITY OF COLOR.
NEW YORK A PICTURE or PLEASING
CONTRASTS IN HUES.

The American Metropolis In This
Respect SURPRISES All the Great
Monotone Tinted Capitals of the
Occidental World.
New York has been written about
from almost every possible point of
view architectural, commercial, polit-
ical and social. Yet so far as we know
it has never been properly appreciated
| for the one thing IN which 1t 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 inconsiderable periods of time
never know how extraordinary is the
environment in 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 eff
feet of this city of ours in its unique
prismatic floridity of hue such as vivl-
fies no other city of it's kind.
If you will think for a moment and
visualize from memory the great cities
of Europe as colorist would see them
you will be struck by the fact that each
one is a monotone. London has the
dull, dingy, smoky hue of its own No
vehber fogs. and as you pass along its
miles and miles of streets, a welter of
unvariegated facades and homely chin
ney pots. your impression Will be
more and more that London is one
great smudge, hideous and unrelieved
beneath n sky of watery paleness
which merely accentuates little more |
the dngy hue of everything beneath it, |
Paris equally represents monotone. n |
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 10 a monotone in buff, |
and Rome. like Paris. for the most |
part. monotone in gray.
One thinks at first OF Naples as |
city brilliant with the hues of the |
so"th. but little reflection will show |
that it Is not the city itself which can
be rightly so regarded, but rather the |
setting of the city as one perceives 1t
from the ship on which he enters the |
glorious bay or from the Capo di Posi- |
lipo 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 |
Vesuvius, with its golden smoke, and |
Capri in the distance swimming in a |
golden mist-these things afford an I'M |
forgettable dream of perfect coloring. |
But Naples itself. The place is as |
commonplace and dirty and depress-
ing as Constantinople, which also from |
distance cheats you into thinking it |
a cOlorist's paradise.
1t is New York alone which, after |
deIighting the eye with the beauty of |
its harbor, embraced by the long |
slopes of billowy green. fascinates the |
eye by the brilliaucy 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 1t is sifted down upon the |
city like gold dust scattered by a Law
ish hand. But the sky and the sun |
light merely intensity the vividness of |
the color contrasts which are visible |
ut every turn. Here is no convention, |
no conformity, no desire for harmo- |
NOUS effect. The snowy wilderness 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 n 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 q veritable spectrum. Throughout
the whole length and breadth of the
island city color abounds in flecks and
splashes 1t is just o bit barbaric,
possibly, bet 1t is also wonderful and
striking.
To the sober dizziness of Madrid or
Rome or London 1t is what the Pom
peiian wall paintings are to the quiet
canvases of Harpignies-not art, but
Instinct nevertheless with a sensuous-
ness and a glow that stir one strange
Iy. If you are native Of New York
perhaps you never noticed this. Yet
all the same 1t is set before you every
day. and IL you Will only think Of it
the next time you go out of doors you
will perceive it as n revelation. and
will know that whatever else New
York may be it is, at any rate, color
city. and as such 1t is one that has no
rival.-New York Commercial Adver-