Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-02-26
The Selection and Hanging oil
Pictures.
By GENEyIEyE HENDRICKS.

Some one has very wisely said, Let
me see the pictures in your house
and will tell you what kind of per-
son you are" Surely this must be
true, for nothing can be more indica
tive of the tastes and interests of a
person than the pictures he hangs
on the walls Of his home.
People frequently buy bad furni
ture, poor in design and unattractive
in its coverings, because they are
limited in funds and feel that they
same alibi for mistakes in buying
pictures, for, however desirable pic.
lures may be, one can live without
them, whereas one cannot live with.
out chairs and tables. Also, copies of
good pictures can now be had within
the price limit Of almost any one.
Many people make the mistake of
hanging too many pictures on their
walls. They do not realize that each
picture takes away from the interest
OF every other picture. Unless they
are cleverly grouped many pictures
will tend to cut up the wall spaces
OF our rooms and diminish their ap-
parent size.
Should Not Be Personal.
Another mistake which many peo-
pie make in selecting pictures is that
they purchase or use pictures which
cannot be of any possible interest to
any one but themselves. The pic
lures in our living rooms should not
be personal, for there we entertain
our friends who will not wish to look
at pictures of our friends and mem
bers OF our family whom they do not
know.
THE ,,roxa,. Sro ,,,;a, ard ,ar~,~ -
well selected pictures is one of the
most important phases in the decora.
ton OF our living rooms. Often a bad.
ly furnished room can be made inter
esting, IL not almost redeemed, by
good pictures, while. on the other
hand, a beautiful room may be ruined
by poor pictures. badly hung!
1t is difficult to give any hard and
fast rules as to the selection of pic
lures. A few rather general rules,
however, might be of use. One OBJ
viously true, is that it is surely better
to do with no pictures at all than to
hang bad ones! A bare wall is unin-
teresting, but it need not express bad
taste.
Pictures I'm Periods.
Rooms that are furnished in period
styles should have pictures that are
true to the period. This does not
mean, OF course, that in an Italian
Renaissance room we must of neces-
sity have an antique painting pro.
duced in that period. 1t does mean.
however. that delicate steel engrav-
ing or an etching of modern street
scene coming from an entirely differ
ent era would be out of place in sub.
1ect matter in such a room, inasrnuch
as 1t would not express the spirit and
feeling produced by the other objects
In the room.
The medium in which a picture is
expressed-that is, whether tits in oils
water colors. etching or engraving-is
almost as important as the subject
matter in expressing this feeling OF
period style. Old paintings and pic.
lures OF oil paintings and other pic
lures which would be produced in rich
colors would naturally be associated
with the Spanish and Italian and
other heavy styles of furnishing
Prints and etchings and engavings,
more delicate and graceful in line and
color, would naturally fit in with the
more delicate furniture of the French
and late English and late American
Colonial periods.
The size of pictures should also be
in relation to the room in which they
are hung. A small room will be