The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-08-24

be betrayed through increase q, ,a,.
and subscriptions by those In svnns
thy with this new endeavor. he L.
no stress upon this possibility. Rathss
he stands upon the simple ground ths.
the objection Of the additional exnsrss
Ia far more than counterbalanced ~
the gain OF the additional service
again It may be urged thai ~.
museum is an institution to exh,A,,
works Of fine art; that 1t should stn.
it's exhibitions their clearest innr..
sion without blurring 1t by the intro.
duction Of aught else, and thai !,
should run no risk of rendering tbsr,
a mere setting or background, an inc,'
dent of some alien service. yor.
president strongly believes, howevo.
that this change of policy would a.
velop a greater appreciation OF N.
works Of art that the museum exh,hl,s
through bringing a larger number ~
visitors and through awakening 4.
them the spiritual emotion so essential
to that appreciation. Even IL he \.
wrong in this belief he would be well
content IL the museum serves in mi.
atluiNhOiiebA W1Js ndthOu6n IL serves O0v
as the incidental yet splendid settinr
for the appeal OF its sister arts"
William Laure Harris believes ths,
workers to-day may find inspiration IN
the masterpieces of the past, as his al.
vice to Good Furniture shows. u.
writes: mo designer, manufactures
or merchant interested in lace shopn
fail to visit the exhibition of seven.
teenth and eighteenth century laos,
assembled at the Metropolitan Nh.
scum Of Art by Joseph Brock, curator
of decorative arts, and Miss France,
Morris, curator of textiles, and on view
until October /. The exhibition ia
composed of loans from the best mi.
vate lace collections of American
women, and comprises the finest show.
ing of the needlecrafts ever gathered
together anywhere in the world. The
priceless fiounces, chalice wells. lappets
and collars and cuffs recall the TO-
nance Of the old regime in France,
the glory of the late Renaissance IN
Italy and the low countries. From a
modern textile mans point OF view,
among all these splendid examples o,
seventeenth and eighteenth century
laces there is nothing whatever to
suggest that lace ever was or ever
could be used for window curtains.
The reason is that during the golden
age of lacecraft lace curtains were
unknown. Strangely enough, the use.
growth and triumph of weaving as
applied to window draperies CORE
spends very closely with the decline
Of fins lacemaking. So phenomenal
has the growth of the lace curtain
industry been of recent years that Il
is well to summarize the conditions
which now prevail with regard to cur.
ta!ns and explain the particular sig.
nificance lace curtains have to-day IN
homemaking.
Most writer's on laces describe freely
the wondrous punto tdoHato folidmi,
point d. Argentdn, reSedu rosdce and
point fArDentdn, resedu rosdce and
may readily be copied from popular
and technical works on the subject
Few people realize that we are ac-
tually living in a great new era, when
old lines Of thought have been swept
aside and the decorative possibilities
Of the lacemaker's art and craft FAR
transcends the question of exquisite
lappets or astonishingly intricate col.
lars and cuffs A modern lace curtain
is radically different in purpose from
the magnificent laces of the past. The
wondrous fabrics created by great ar
lists during the golden age of lace
making were intended to be seen at
close range and on dark background.
The modern lnce curtain on the other
hand is a shimmering, shifting and
more or less transparent decoration
lung against the light to soften the
implacable glare of the modern plate
glass windows that otherwise are alb.
solutely unadorned, and even without
the dark crossbars and small window
panes that gave character to the Win.
dOws Of our srandfathers."