The Modern Home
Pictures—I
Ire discussing the place of pictures in the modem home let me make it quite clear first of all that I am not concerned with the connoisseur or collector. His interest is presumably centred on his pictures, and he will tend to regard his house primarily as a background. for them. I am dealing with the house of the ordinary man who buys a picture because he likes it, and because he has a bit of bare wall-space that seems to him to want filling.
It is a first principle of the modern house that it should contain nothing without a purpose—though the purpose may be purely aesthetic. Furthermore, each object should be re- garded in its relation to the whole room rather than as a thing desirable in itself. It is impossible to lay too much stress on this. One cheap print, properly chosen and placed, is greatly preferable to half a dozen masterpieces vying with each other for our attention, or in unsuitable surroundings. In any ease, one picture is almost certainly better than six. A picture is hung for a purpose, and that purpose should be to focus our attention. One cannot focus anything on six places at once. There are few rooms, other than the very largest, which need more than two or three pictures—and it is need which should settle the question. Blank spaces are by no means to be shunned and hurriedly filled up with anything handy they give that air of tranquillity and space which is perhaps the most valuable characteristic of the modem interior. They throw into prominence whatever things of beauty may be near ; and so—far from doing the artist a dis- service—they do him greater honour. One of the pleasantest houses I have ever been in contained only one picture—a lovely modem Frencli_ painting. This may sound the very extreme of austerity ; but its result was that one's eye con- stantly rested with deep satisfaction on that one picture— and to this day I remember every detail of it, although I have
not seen it for several years. . . _ . _ _
And now, how are these rare pictures to be chosen ? Because their subject is attractive ? I think not. Supposing (to take extreme eases) one chooses an appealing study of the usual apple-cheeked child playing with a good-tempered collie, or some Highland cattle wading in a misty loch, or a charming landscape. For. perhaps the first thirty times one looks at them one sees the subjects. After that they become part of the wall, and if one notices them at all (so mercifully blind can we become) they are seen as a distracting, mess of light- coloured objects, or as a few rusty blobs on a dirty grey back- ground, or as a formless blur of greens and blues. The eye passes hurriedly on, or looks down at the eggs and bacon. Now let us suppose that we have chosen an outrageously modern picture._ No one but the artist could tell us what it is meant to be (and he would deny that it was meant to be anything); but obviously a handful,of screws has had some- thing to do with it, and perhaps some bits of machinery and a seashell or two. Well, there it is, looking like Bedlam to the ordinary man. We must now suppose a little more : that it is really what some people would consider a good picture—that it makes a good pattern ; and that we have put it in its right surroundings—its colours picking up the scheme of the room, its style in harmony With that of the room. Now, so soon as we have ceased to wonder what screws have to do with sea- shells, and why that other thing is all lop-sided, we shall begin to find that this picture gives us something totally lacking iu the others. In the first place it is, and it remains, an integral part of the room. It is not a mere interruption ; it is, rather, the climax of the whole scheme. Again, being suited in manner to the style of the room, it expresses its period. But, best of all, if we have chosen really well, our picture will have vitality of its, own—" something to _say," so that the eye returns to it with increasing satisfaction.
I know that the preceding paragraph is full of unsupported statements, that I appear to have loaded the scales unfairly in favour of modem painting. I shall hope to remedy this next week. G. M. BOUSWITREY.
''(Te /it '
Previous page
