Evening star., 1914-11-14

Washington this winter by
Frank AIyah Parsons under the aus
pices of the Washington Society OF the
Fine Arts Tuesday evening, when the
first of these lectures was given, tne
auditorium of the National Museum
was filled, every available seat being
taken by the time the lecturer began
speaking.
Mr.. Parsons is the director of the New
York School of Fine and Applied Art. a
teacher and an authority on the deco
rative arts. He speaks forcefully and
graphically, SO that his meaning is in
variably made plain and impressive. He
teaches. which all lecturers do not, and
gives his audience some real informa-
ton to carry away with them.
The subject of the first. lecture was
Historic Decorative Art Periods and
Their Relation to Our Modern Life
and his Illustrations were not pictures,
but materials. After defining art and
showing the difference between the
true and misconceptions of it's various
branches. he passed to a consideration
of the several periods as related to our
present day life. finally showing by ex-
ampieS what WAS and what was not
artistically good in interior decoration
An object to be decorated" he said
must be strengthened and beautified-
an object which was "ornamented"
might merely be made more SNOWY and
therefore vulgar and in poor taste
Art he described as harmony. and the
value of art as dependent upon this
understanding. He deplored the wor-
! snip OF names. declaring that he would
INFINITELY rather see or own a really
+, good work by an unknown artist tl,a n
poor work by an artist of great dis
tihctlon- Furthermore. he commented
haf
| up to the standard of his best
He strongly urged upon his audience
| the necessity of producing objects for
particular need, and of fitting things
1 generally to a natural environment A
! period. he said, was the result of the
| the domination of one mind or one set
| or ideas. and he pointed out the i'm.
| possibility or at least the incongruity
| or copying the works produced in any
period in any other time under en-
| tirely different conditions Take tbe
| best he said but do not think you can
i take all unless you are of the mold OF
that period. He made his meaning
! plaln by illustrating the character and
! period and one of the Italian renais-
| sance. He showed what was and what
| was not good in the design of a table.
| He explained how necessary it was in
| placing furniture to take into consid-
| Grafton the lines of the room. He spoke
| of the house as the setting for the peo-
pie who lived therein. and of walls as
| the backgrounds for their everyday
| lives
| The simplest laws of the use of COL
| ors he made known. and he told how
| furniture covering and draperies should
i be selected and how pictures should be
placed and hung. And for each thing
| he gave a reason simple, 50 logical,
| that none who heard him will forget.
| In conclusion, he said that If it was
possible in this country to have a gen.
! eraI appreciation of the value of in
terror decoration of a really artistic
character. of dress which was an ex-
| preston of art. and of advertising
based on these principles. it would not
be long before we should become an
art-producing nation an art-loving
people capable of producing great art
but until such was the case no large
| results could be expected. In other
words. that we must build up on a COM
mon basis and with a keener apprecia-
| tion of basic principles and the rela-
( tion of art to everyday life.
| In subsequent lectures Mr.. Parsons
will take up the several periods. study
| ing each in relation to present needs
and requirements and illustrating his