Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-06
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

the involved sentences of the novelist
Marcel Proust, we would reply that
such sentences in reality are not in
VolVed but are the essence of SIM
plicity, If pne will keep on reading
Many sentences are accused of being
involved, when the only trouble is that
the reader sets up a cry OF completely
before finishing. Some sentences
notably those of the unusual French
novelist-are like some novels them
selves it is only at the very end that the
various threads are brought together TO
make an obvious pattern.
In addition to not taking his collect
ing too seriously, the average china
addict should use such pieces as ne
gathers. Too many collectors want 10
make little museum pieces out OF ola
cups, saucers, vases, bottles, lamps,
doorstops Perhaps If they are old
enough, and rare enough, this attitude
is permissible. Most home collectors
will do better to put into use every
one of their possessions. Then they VIII
be able to show them off to advantage,
as we'll as put them to use, which lat
ter must remain inseparable from
beauty.
1t is one of the most diverting oc-
equations of collector to trace the
relationship between utility and beauty
which runs through practically all
household furnishings. Wingchairs,
with side pieces, we're made so because
the wings kept the drafts off in the
unheated houses of their birth period.
There is a reason, truly, for almost
every line or adjunct in almost every
one of the pieces of old furniture.
Often what we take as made for
beauty's sake alone was made solely be-
cause it was useful in that form. Use
makes beauty. The automobile illustrates
this very we'll. The progressive models
over the years have come into being
not only because they represent the
elimination of a search for appear
ance, but even as much because such
lines and dimensions give better bal
ance, greater speed, better utilization Of
materials and space. The engine, the
heart of the motor car, has had more
to do with the beauty of the whole
automobile than a sheer appreciation OF
line values. The engineer, in the final
analysis, will have more to say about
the "lookS" of future cars than the
artist-or the woman.
1t Is not such big jump from motor
cars to teacups as it may seem. Both
are articles of utility, into which beauty
has been forced by the taste of users.
One might drink his morning beverage
from a tin can, as tramps are sup
posed to do; no doubt it would taste as
well. But in every person who uses an
article reposes some love of the beau
tiful 1t may be a poor love OF the
beautiful, cheap love, a mediocre love,
a mistaken love, but always 1t represents
a striving for something more than
sheer usage.
Even if use is the base Of the tri-
angle, the sides go up to peak. and
that point represents the ideal Of APP
pearance which each user has. In tea
cups manufacturers have made shape,
thinness. decoration, the ideals for
which they have climbed the stubborn
sides of achievement Only the person
with a cultivated artistic sense can APP
preciete many of the differences of
lines which cups and vases possess. 1t
is reasonable to suppose that M. Lalique,
the great French glass artist and manu-
facturer, knows better than any of his
artif1cers when a new curve to bottle
is a real discovery or a mere variation.
The happiness of the collector OF
small home articles, such as have been
mentioned, lies in a happy combination
of average use and average apprecia-
ton. It may take a lifetime of study
to know the great Oriental rugs or the
master tapestries, but surely almost
any one can learn something about
cups. saucers, vases. jugs, even bottles,
in which Colonial America so abounded.