Line and Form (1900) Part 7

[Ill.u.s.tration (f071): From Canopy of Tomb of Gervaise-Alard 1303. Temp ED^wd^ I^st^ Winchelsea]

In church doorways we may see certain voussoirs of the arch allowed to project from the hollow of the concave moulding, and their surfaces carved into bosses of ornament; while, again, the doorway is emphasized by the recurring lines of the mouldings, with their contrasting planes of light and shadow, and the point of their spring is marked by a carved lion, controlled in the design of its contour by the squareness of the block of stone upon which it is carved (see ill.u.s.tration, p.

121[f072]).

[Ill.u.s.tration (f072): Structural Control of Line in Architectural Enrichments West Door Walberswick Ch. Suffolk]

The carvings of miserere seats in our cathedral choirs often afford instances of ingenious design and arrangement of elements difficult to combine, yet always showing the instinct of following the control of the dominating form and peculiar lines of the seat itself. There is an instance of one from St. David's Cathedral--apparently a humorous satire--a goose-headed woman offering a cake to a man-headed gull (?), or perhaps they are both geese! I won't pretend to say, but it evidently is intended to suggest cupboard love, and there is a portentously large pitcher of ale in reserve on the bench. But note the clever arrangement of the ma.s.ses and lines, and how the lines of the seat and the curves of the terminating scroll are re-echoed in the lines of the figures and accessories.

[Ill.u.s.tration (f073): C. 1460-1480 Wood Carving Miserere Seat Choir Stalls St. David's Cathedral. Controlling Line in Design of Subsidiary Architectural Decoration.]

A stone-carving from the end of a tomb in the same cathedral--that of Bishop John Morgan, 1504--of a griffin with a s.h.i.+eld shows an emphatic repet.i.tion of the inclosing line of the arched recess in the curves of the wings which follow it.

[Ill.u.s.tration (f074): Recessed Panel Carved Stone From the Tomb of Bishop John Morgan D. 1504, St. David's Cathedral.]

There is also a charming corbel of a half-figure of an angel, which, though somewhat defaced, shows the architectural sense very strongly in its design--the vertical droop of the wing-feathers inclosing the figure repeating and continuing the vertical lines of the shafts and the subsidiary mouldings of the arrangement of the drapery, and its termination in crisp foliated forms, which pleasantly counterbalance the set of the scale feathers of the wings and break the semicircular mouldings of the base of the corbel, repeating those of the shafts above.

[Ill.u.s.tration (f075): Constructive Line Reechoed in Architectural Ornament. Corbel, Bishop Vaughan's Chapel, St. David's 1509-]

[Adaptability in Design]

[Ill.u.s.tration (f076): Gothic Tile Pattern S. David's Cath^l.]

Adaptation to s.p.a.ces upon a flat surface is also ill.u.s.trated in some tile patterns from the same place. They are simple and rude but very effective bits of s.p.a.cing, and show a thorough grasp of the principles we have been considering--if, indeed, it is so far conscious work at all. But whether or not the outcome of a tradition which seemed to be almost instinctive with mediaeval workmen--a tradition which yet left the individual free, and under which design was a thing of life and growth, ever adapting itself to new conditions, and grafting freely new inventions to flower in fresh phantasy upon the ancient stock--the movement in art in the Middle Ages, exhibiting as it does a gradual growth and a constant vitality, always accompanying and adapting itself to structural changes, to life and habit, was really more a.n.a.logous to the development of mechanical science in our own day, where each new machine is allied to its predecessors, though it supplants them. The one law being adaptability, the one aim to apply means to ends, and more and more perfectly, inessentials and superfluities are shed, and invention triumphs. It is, too, a collective advance, since each engineer, each inventor, builds upon the experience of both his forerunners and his fellow-workers, and everything is brought to an immediately practical test.

We are not yet in the same healthy condition as regards art, and art can never be on the same plane as science, though art may learn much from science, chiefly perhaps in the direction of the inventive adaptation of a.n.a.logous principles. But in art the question is complicated by human feeling and a.s.sociation, and her strongest appeal is to these, and by these, and as yet we do not seem to have any terms or equivalents precise enough to describe, or any a.n.a.lysis fine enough to discover them.

[Extension]

The next consideration in s.p.a.cing we may term _extension_. This bears upon all surface design, but more especially upon the design of patterns intended to repeat over a large surface, and not specially designed for particular s.p.a.ces. It is a great question whether any design can be entirely satisfactory unless it has been thought out in relation to some particular extent of surface or as adapted to some particular wall or room. Modern industrial conditions preclude this possibility as a rule, and so the only sure ground, beyond individual taste and preference, is technical adaptability to process or material. We should naturally want to give a different character to a textile pattern, whether printed or woven, and intended to hang in folds, from one for flat extension as a wall-paper; and a different character again to such designs intended for extension horizontally from those intended for vertical s.p.a.ce alone.

Floor patterns, parquets and carpets, for instance, naturally demand different treatment from wall patterns, as those orders of plants in nature which cling and spread on the flat ground differ from those which grow high and maintain themselves in the air, or climb upon trees. The rule of life--_adaptability_--obtains in art as in nature, and, beneath individual preference and pa.s.sing fas.h.i.+on, works the silent but real law of relation to conditions. This again bears upon the choice of scale, and differentiates the design of dress textiles from furniture textiles, and the design of varied surfaces and objects, which, while demanding their own particular treatment, are brought into general relation by their a.s.sociation with use and the wants of humanity.

[Ill.u.s.tration (f077a): Extension: Surface Pattern Motives Derived from Lines of Structure.]

[Geometric Structural Plans, etc.]

The law governing extension of design over surface is again geometric, and our primal circle and square are again the factors and progenitors of the leading systems which have governed the design of diapers and wall patterns and hangings of all kinds. Nay, the first weaver of the wattled fence discovered the principle of extension in design, and showed its inseparable a.s.sociation with construction; and the builder with brick or stone emphasizes it, producing the elements of linear surface pattern, from the mechanical necessity of the position of the joints of his structure. At a German railway station waiting-room I noticed an effective adaptation of this principle as a wall decoration in two blues upon a stone colour (see ill.u.s.tration, p. 128[fig077a]). We may build upon such emphatic structural lines, either incorporating them with the design motive, as in all rectangular wall diapers, or we may suppress or conceal the actual constructive lines by placing the princ.i.p.al parts or connections of our pattern over them, but one cannot construct a satisfactory pattern to repeat and extend without them; for these constructive lines or plans give the necessary organic life and vigour to such designs, and are as needful to them as the trellis to the tendrils of the vine (see ill.u.s.tration, p. 129[f077b]).

[Ill.u.s.tration (f077b): Surface Extension: Repeating Patterns Built Upon (1) Square and (2) Circular Basis.]

The same principle is true of designs upon the curvilinear plan. The mere repet.i.tion of the circle by itself gives us a simple geometric pattern, and we are at liberty to emphasize this circular plan as the main motive; or, as in the case of the rectangular plans, to treat it merely as a basis, and develop free scroll motives upon it; or follow it through its princ.i.p.al variations, as in the ogee, formed by dropping out two intermediate semicircles; or the various forms of the scale arrangement. These simple geometric plans are the most generally useful as plans of designs intended for repet.i.tion and extension over s.p.a.ce, and they are always safe and sound systems to build upon, since a geometric plan is certain to join comfortably if our measurements are right.

[Ill.u.s.tration (f078): Surface Extension: Plan of a Drop Repeat.]

We may, however, often feel that we want something bolder and freer, and start with a motive of sweeping-curves, non-geometric, but even then a certain geometric relation will be necessary, or an equivalent for it, since each curve must be counterbalanced in some way, though not necessarily symmetrically, of course; and even where a square of pattern--say to a wall-paper repeat of twenty-one inches--has been designed, not consciously upon a geometric base, but simply as a composition of lines and ma.s.ses to repeat, the mechanical conditions of the work when it comes to be printed will supply a certain geometric control, since it necessarily begins in the process of repet.i.tion a series of squares of pattern in which the curves are bound to recur in corresponding places. Without a geometric plan of some sort, however, we may easily get into difficulties with awkward leading lines, gaps, or ma.s.ses, that tumble down, and are only perceived when the paper is printed and hung.

The designer should not feel at all restricted or cramped by his geometric plan, but treat it as an aid and a scaffolding, working in as much variety and richness of detail as he likes, bound only by the necessity of repeating or counterbalancing his forms and lines. In the diagram (p. 131[f078]) the plan of making a repeat less obvious by means of what is termed "a drop" is given, and this system also increases the apparent width of a pattern.

[Frieze and Field]

The feeling which demands some kind of contrast or relief to a field of repeating pattern, however interesting in itself, seems now almost instinctive. It is felt, too, in the case of plain surfaces, where the eye seeks a moulding to give a little variety or pattern-equivalent in play of light and shadow upon different planes, lines, or concavities and convexities. The common plaster cornice placed to unite walls and ceiling, in our ordinary houses, is a concession (on the part even of the jerriest of builders) to the aesthetic sense. We get the decorated frieze in architecture in obedience to the same demand, though originally a necessary feature of lintel construction, as we have seen, from the days of the festal garland hung around the eaves of the cla.s.sic house, to its perpetuation in stone in so many varieties.* The carved garland depending in a series of graceful curves, or contrasted with pendants, or their rhythm punctuated, as it were, by ox-heads, as on the temple of the Sibyls, Tivoli, formed the needed contrast to the plane masonry of the wall below. Sculptured figures, with the added interest of story, as on the choragic monument of Lysicrates, fulfilled the same decorative function in a more complex and elaborate way.

[*] "Bases of Design."

To satisfy the same feeling we place a frieze above the patterned field of our modern wall-papers. Such a frieze may be considered as a contrasting border to the pattern of the field, much as the border of a carpet, allowing for difference of material and position; or the frieze may a.s.sert itself as the dominant decoration of the room. In this case it would be greater in depth than the simpler bordering type. The interest of the field filling would then be subsidiary, and lead up to the frieze. In wall-paper friezes the difficulty in designing is to think of a motive which will not tire the eye in the necessarily frequent repeats of twenty-one inches. Longer ones have occasionally been produced, the limit being sixty inches. It is often a good plan to recur in the main lines or forms of the frieze to some variation of the lines or forms of the field. If, for instance, the main motive in the field was a vertical scroll design, a _horizontal_ scroll design upon a large scale used for the frieze would answer, the field being kept flat and quiet; or the fan, or radiating sh.e.l.l form, used as a frieze, above a pattern on the scale plan, would be quite harmonious. Relation and balance of line and ma.s.s, and arrangement of quant.i.ties in such designs, are the chief considerations.

With painting or modelling an artist is freer, as he is at liberty to design a continuous frieze of figures, and introduce as much variety as he chooses.

A painted frieze of figures above plain oak-panelling has a good effect in a large and well-proportioned room, and is perhaps one of the pleasantest ways of treating interior walls.

[Ill.u.s.tration (f079): Sketch Designs to Show Relation Between Frieze and Field in Wall-paper.]

[Ceiling Decoration]

Ceiling decoration, again, presents problems of extension in designing, and the large flat plaster ceilings of modern rooms are by no means easy to deal with satisfactorily. The simplest way is to resort to wall-paper, and here, restricted in size of repeat and the usual technical requirements of the work, the designer must further consider appropriateness of scale, and position in regard to eye, relation to the wall, and so forth.

The natural demand is for something simpler in treatment than the walls--a re-echo, in some sort, of plans agreeable to the floor, yet with a suggestion of something lighter and freer: here we may safely come back to rectangular and circular plans again for our leading lines and forms.

Painting and modelling, again, offer more elaborate treatment and possibilities, and we know that beautiful works have been done in both ways; but art of this kind seems more appropriate to lofty vaulted chambers and churches, such as one sees in the palaces of Italy, at Genoa and Venice, at Florence and Rome.

I remember a very striking and bold treatment of a flat-beamed ceiling in the Castle of Nuremberg, where a huge black German eagle was painted so as to occupy nearly the whole field of the ceiling, but treated in an extremely flat and heraldic way, the long feathers of the wings following the lines of the beams and falling parallel upon them and between them; and upon the black wings and body of the eagle different s.h.i.+elds of arms were displayed in gold and colours, the eagle itself being painted upon the natural unpainted wood--oak, I think. The work belonged to the thirteenth or fourteenth century, I believe. It seemed the very ant.i.thesis of Italian finesse and fancy, but the fitness of such decoration entirely depends upon its relation to its surroundings, which in this case were perfectly appropriate.

[Co-operative Relation]

That is the great point to bear in mind in all design--the sense of relation; nothing stands alone in art. Lines and forms must harmonize with other forms and lines: the elements of any design must meet in friendly co-operation; it is not a blind struggle for existence, a fierce compet.i.tion, or a strife for ascendency between one motive and another, one form and another, or a war of conflicting efforts. There may be a struggle _outside_ the design, in the mind of the designer. He may have tried hard against difficulties to express what he felt, and have only reached harmony through discord and strife, but the work itself should be serene; we should feel that, however various its elements, they are not without their purpose and relation one to another, that all is ordered and organized in harmonious lines, that everything has its use and place, that, in short, it ill.u.s.trates that excellent motto, whether for art or life: "Each for all, and all for each."

CHAPTER VI

Of the Fundamental Essentials of Design: Line, Form, s.p.a.ce--Principles of Structural and Ornamental Line in Organic Forms--Form and Ma.s.s in Foliage--Roofs--The Mediaeval City--Organic and Accidental Beauty--Composition: Formal and Informal--Power of Linear Expression--Relation of Ma.s.ses and Lines--Principles of Harmonious Composition.

We may take it, then, from the principles and examples I have endeavoured to put before you in the previous chapters, that there are three fundamental elements or essentials of Design--Line, Form, s.p.a.ce.

[Fundamental Essentials of Design]

Line we need, not only for our ground-plan and framework, but also to define or express our forms. Form we need to give substance and ma.s.s, interest and variety; and it is obvious that s.p.a.ce is required to contain all these elements, while s.p.a.ce a.s.serts its influence, as we have seen, upon both Line and Form in combination upon it, whether object or surface, by the shape of its boundary, the extension of its plane, and the angle and position of its plane in regard to the eye, as well as from the point of view of material and use.

Questions of the character of line and form, and their combination and disposition in or over s.p.a.ces, are questions of composition. They demand the most careful solution, whatever our subject and purpose may be, from the simplest linear border up to the most elaborate figure design.

But although the three essentials to composition must be always present, it is always possible to rely more upon the qualities of one of them for our main motive and interest, keeping the other two subsidiary. We might centralize the chief interest of our composition upon _Line_, for instance, and make harmonious relation or combination of lines our princ.i.p.al object (as in line-design and ornament), or we might rather dwell upon the contours, ma.s.ses, and contrasts and relations.h.i.+ps of _Form_: as in pictorial design, figure compositions of all kinds, and modelling and sculpture: or, again, we might choose that the peculiar character given by the control of certain inclosing s.p.a.ces should determine the interest of our design, as the due filling of particular panels and geometric shapes; or seek the interest of aerial perspective in the pictorial and atmospheric expression of s.p.a.ce.

Taking combinations of Line first, and bearing in mind what has been said regarding its capacities for expression, whether of emotion, direction of force, movement, rest, as well as of facts of structure and surface, let us see if we can trace the principle of harmonious composition, of which these things may be considered as parts.

[Line in Organic Forms]

Look at any of the systems of line in the organic structures of nature: the radiating ribs of the scallop sh.e.l.l, or the spiral of many other varieties; the set of the feathers upon the expanded wing of a bird; the radiation of the sun's rays; the flowing line of the wave movement; the lines of structure in flowers and leaves; the scales of a fish; the scales of a pine-cone or an artichoke. We feel that any of these combinations of lines are harmonious and beautiful, and we know that they are essential to the character and structure. They are organic lines, in short. They mean life and growth. In principle they are radiating and recurring lines; in each form they repeat each other in varying degrees of direction and declension of curve. No two lines are alike, yet there is no contradiction and no unnecessary line, and variety is combined with unity. Each affords a perfect instance of harmonious composition of line, and gives us definite principles upon which to work (see ill.u.s.tration, p. 140[f080]).

[Ill.u.s.tration (f080): Principles of Structural and Ornamental Line in Natural Forms.]