The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-08
WHERE AMERICAN ART FAILS
ENGLISH DECORATOR SAYS OUR
FURNITURE rs LACKING.
s. j. Waring Comments on Dur Failure to
Adapt Colonial Styles TO Modern Uses
Predicts o New Renaissance In
This Ceuntry-Hls work for Royalty.

-FTeulCtS u new HenalB8anOo In
This Coumtry-Hls Work for Royalty.
Among the passengers on the Lucania,
IN from Liverpool yesterday morning, was
S. J, Waring, the general manager of War
Ing & Gillow, the we'll known firm of English
decorators. The work Of Mr.. Waring
which is probably best known to Americans
Is to be found in the Carlton. Cecil and Savoy
hotels in London. His latest work will
soon be seen in the new Ritz Hotel on Pic
cadilly.
MIR. Waring has also won distin elton for
his work in decorating and furnishing
yachts. Ho did the Valiant for w. X.
Vanderbilt, the Atmah for Baron Roths-
child, the Lysistrata for James Gordon
Bennett, King Edwards yacht Victoria
and Albert and the Kaiser's yacht Meteor,
H yacht for the Khedive Of Egypt and the
royal yacht and state barge for the Sultan
Of Turkey,
His work has brought him in contact with
royalty, for he did the modern decorations
IN Buckingham and Windsor palaces, the
Palace of Raconiga OF the King of Italy,
the new palace at Athens for Prince Nicho-
Ina of Greace, the new palace at Madrid for
the Inftnta Eulalie, the palace at San Sc
has'ian for the King Of Spain. He is now
engaged upon the decorations for what will
perhaps be the finest palace in India, that
Of the Maharajah at Kapurthala. In this
the state apartments are Indian art, but the
private suites and the harem are all in
French and English style.
Mr., Waring said that in visiting America
he was simply carrying out a long cherished
wish to see the country.
"IalSo wish, he said, "to study the varied
conditions in America of the particular
business in which l am engaged, l want
t. look at it both from the artistic and the
industrial standpoint. I want to see its
manufa ctures, its art studios, it's stores,
to study not only the creative, but the
distributing economy OF the business.
although we work in thirty-fve Diff
ferent styles and periods of decorative
art and know the best that is in them all
we have q special sympathy for what Is
known as the Colonial style, and l am look
ing forward with the keenest pleasure to
visiting some American homes that contain
the best examples in the world of this
period.
Your Colonial art, is. Of course, what
was orr ginally known as the Adams style,
" iloio POPbhoAAyt u liNOI lONNlle az
Georgian, because the Georgian is later
and much heavier in its details. The re-
fined restraint and cultured simplicity
embodied in the pure Colonial style reach
the high water mark of one Of the best
periods Of English decorative art, 1t is
these qualities, blended with a very attrac-
tive domestic note, that nave demon
strated its adaptabiHty to the requirements
Of the present age and have produced an
active demand for it, not only in Great
Britain, but throughout Europe. The
Kings yacht, the Kaiser's Meteor and the
Carlton Hotel in London are examples of it.
With such excellent examples in your
midst, l am at a loss to understand your
apparent blindness to it's beauties. l can
not comprehend the ~monotonous repetition
of heavy, uncouth and clumsy forms of
furniture, apparently Of German design,
which are still manufactured, used and
exported from this country. can attribute
1t only to an absorption of energy in other
pursuits. 1t appears to me, that there is
room vastly to improve not only his class
OF furniture, but also upon the designs and
forms and the harmony Of coloring in the
better class of domestic interiors.
i I'M surprised that, with the phenomenal
energy and capacity which undoubtedly
exist in this country, some eff ort has not
been made to improve upon this state Of
affairs; not by the slavish copying Of exist
ing styles, but by an intelligent study Of the
principles underlying style. Why not take
your own Colonial style and reconstruct it
so as to meet the social needs and domestic
conditions of to-day?
There is to-day an extraordinary oppor-
tunity for the artistic genius of this country
to evolve a new American Renaissance
an art that will meet the conditions of Amer
lean home life, its domesticity, its refined
influences Inc its aspirations.
England, and in TACT all nations, have
gone through that evolution which usually
precedes the formation Of a good distinctive
style. The worst we ever had in England,
and the low water mark of everything in
art, was undoubtedly the early Victorian
era. First we had the slavish imitation of
other styles, with the usual result that the
worst features were copied. This led to an
utter disregard Of the laws of purity, har-
mony and proportion, until at last it Gull
minated in a revolt against ugliness, and
tial cult for the publication OF art was the
result.
Frequently in the process of such an
evolution we find offshoots Of extravaganza
and fantastic astheticism, such as the ex-
traordinary phase which we know as LA
Nouveau,' which l think you characterize
as freak architecture But when the fer
menting process has ceased, we find a new
era has begun which sweeps away the
anomalous c~olorings and barbarous mix
lures of styles and leaves US with a new
Renaissance.
The keynote Of this is simplicity and
adaptability. Simplicity of form, simplicity
in the use of color, simplicity in ornament.
This is what is destined to succeed the
present rage for a gorgeous and aggressive
magnifgence that so early pals upon the
taste.
This simple treatment is seen at its
best in a domestic interior in which every
point has been carefully studied out. The
shape of the room, its aspect, its proper
tons, the position of the doors and windows
and the use to which the room will be put,
require careful thought and considera-
ton. 1t is chiefly because the building
itself, its arrangement of doors and win
dows, has as much to do with the final
effect of the decoration and the furniture,
that | prefer to design the building as
well as the things that are to go into it.
What brings about the best effect in a home
or a hotel or a club or a yacht is not the
lavish expenditure of money, but a knowl-
ledge of styles, a sense of color and SYM
pathetic interest.
Take, for example, a ballroom or high
class restaurant. The chief decorations
here should be for the ladies, and the proper
disposal of their t~oiletteS demands the first