Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-07-22

{
dozen or so women say In
effect. 81 wouldn't think of
making use of any OF 1t, be-
cause IL cannot be used with anything
I have. 1t would mean getting every
thing new
| And because they are convinced that
modernism stands by itself and would
'curdle" with the precious furniture
! that they have at present they look at
/ all displays Of moderniStic furnishings
with as little personal interest as they
would look at the chairs and couches
taken from the tomb of Tut-ankh-
Amen.
Yet some of these women cheerfully
| make every other sort Of combination
you could think of They put carved
| Chinese tabouret beside Colonial
American desk, replica of seven
| tenth century Spanish chest rubS ell
bows with a Louis XIV divan. This is
mission table. relic of the '90s, on
which stands lamp of ornate French
gilt work
OF course. you don't comment upon
the fearless mixture, but If you did you
would probably be told by those respon-
sible that they see no reason why Pc
RODS shouldn't be mixed, and that If
you don't mix them your house looks as
ii it had been done by an interior deco
rator.
At least most of us have grown used
to such mixtures. We have bought our
furnishing piecemeal. Some Of 1t con-
sists of legacies handed on by auntS
and uncles and fond parents when they
went to live in smaller quarters or
broke up housekeeping. And I sup
e. a. wall that u;n HnY1st odd
confusion to chaos by adding still an
other period to the collection.
But it Is really rather silly 10 think
that modernistic furniture does not lend
itself to use with other types of furnish
ing. It strikes me personally that be-
cause of its very simplicity certain mod
ernistic pieces I have seen go better in
a mixed interior than the highly ornate
and richly traditional Spanish pieces
that are having a vogue at the present
time.
Several important decorators have set
themselves the problem OF using their
modernistic furniture in combination
with other furniture. They have proved
to their own satisfaction at least that
the ultra-modern pieces may sometimes
be combined effectively with certain
sorts of period pieces, or even with the
nondescript leather covered. wicker or
wood pieces that are to be found In most
houses.
Thus you may see a bedroom fur
nished with a simpler sort of Colonial
bed in combination with modernistic
rug, bedside table and small bookcase.
A library has a leather-cov lounge
used with plain-toned rug and mod
ernistic lamp and bookcases.
OF course, some rather terrible things
are bound to happen when persons
without much judgment In furnishing at
tempt to combine modernistic things
with furniture of other vintageS. Still,
it is interesting to know that there are
decorators who consider the mingling of
this newest Of ell periods with earlier
periods as a not impossible task.
The thing to remember Is that the
best of the modernistic interiors are
extremely simple. so IL you want to use
any modernistic pieces successfully you
win find it necessary to eliminate a
great deal of useless, meaningless, pur-
poseleSs ornament, and this can be done
in most houses to advantage.
There Is really no reason why mod
ernistic lounge or divan might not be
used in a room not thoroughly modern
istic Probably you have seen these
divans-solid, plain wooden frames. sur
mounted with a luxuriously deep, low
top. Often there is separate end
table, also severely simple, made with
out dust-collecting carving. but offering
a number of partitions at the side where
books or smoking accessories may be
slowed.
/ can imagine starting out to furnish
my semi-modernistic living room with
such q divan. Nothing could be SIM
pier or less fraught with the tradition
of any period. Then I should have
bookcases made of plain, substantial
woodwork without the usual holdings
and scroll work. Any carpenter could
construct them without having the
slightest idea that he was doing any
thing 'modernistic." These should
have painted or stained to match the
frame Of the divan.
The figured Oriental scatter rugs In
the living room I should transfer to
other rooms, and In their place get one
plain large rug in one or two tones I
should take the mirror with Its gilt
curly cued frame from over the mantel-
piece and In its place put up a strip Of
colorful printed fabric.
In the style of our clothes, the fash
ion of our hats and the design of our
jewelry we almost all appear to be adj
vocates of modernistic art never
heard q woman object to the design of
figured printed fabric on the ground
merely that 1t was modernistic. The
covers of the magazines we read are
quite likely to bear modernistic designs,
and so usually do the jackets of the
new books left lying on our living room
tables. So, as a matter of fact. we and
many of our small belongings would 60
quite nicely into modernistic interior.
Copyright. 1927