Evening journal., 1903-09-02
NEW YORK CITY OF
PLEASING C0L0RS
American Metropolis Sur.
passes All Great Tinted
Capitals in Old World

NcW 1OIk mas Deen written about
from almost every possible point of
yiew-architectural, commercial polit-
lcal and social. Yet so far as we know
II has never been properly appreciated
Tor the one thing In which IL 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 ef-
feet OF this city Of ours in it's UNIQUE
prismatic foridity Of hue such as vivi-
fies no other city Of it's kind.
II 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
vember fogs. and as you pass along it's
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 a sky of watery paleness
which merely accentuates a little more
the dingy hue Of everything beneath IL.
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 a monotone in bun,
and Rome, like Paris, for the most
part, a monotone in gray.
One thinks at first of Naples as a
city brilliant with the hues OF the
south, but a 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 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
a distance cheats you into thinking 1t
a colorist's 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. It's sunshine Is as
bright, and it 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
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 bun 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 rejects
the sunlight at every turn. Flags and
streamers and mulucolored awnings
add to the effect, so that every street
is a veritable spectrum. Throughout
the whole length and breadth Of the
island city color abounds in fiecks and
splashes. 1t is just a bit barbaric,
possibly, but it is also wonderful and
striking
To the sober dullness 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
". If you are a native Of New York
perhaps you never noticed this. Yet
all the same It is set before you every
day, and II you will only think Of II
the next time you go out Of doors you
will perceive it as a revelation and
VIII know that whatever else New
York may be it is, at any rate, a color
city, and as such it is one that has no
rival.-New York Commercial Adver
tiser.