168 
sign for Women, New York School of Design, New York School 
of Fine and Applied Art, Newark School of Fine and Industrial 
Art, and Pratt Institute School of Fine and Applied Arts. 
The fish in the pool of aquatic plants, which is the central object 
of the exhibit at the Museum, were supplied by the New York 
Aquarium. Thus six New York institutions have cooperated in 
the project, which has aroused widespread interest in educational 
and art circles. 
The two articles immediately following in this issue of the 
Recorp were published in the June and July issues of the Bulletin 
of the Metropolitan Museum, and the permission of the Museum 
to reprint them here is gratefully acknowledged. 
LITTLE-USED SOURCES OF PLANT FORMS FOR 
DiSiGN# 
From the time that man commenced to make pottery and to 
work in stone, plant forms have been used as a basis of design. 
Indeed some of the bas-reliefs on ancient stone structures and the 
designs on early pottery, or even the shapes which became the 
models for earthen vessels, form important sources of information 
for us in reference to the plants economically important to ancient 
man both in [eurasia and in America. In the distant past, as at 
present, some of the designs are so conventionalized that the actual 
origin of the idea is obscure, but in many cases it 1s perfectly ob- 
vious, whether plants, leaves, flowers, or fruits. 
Those who utilize plant forms in design are familiar with the 
uses and limitations of such works as Plauszewski’s Graines et 
plantes seches, Nierendorf’s Urformen der Kunst: photograph- 
ische Pflanzenbilder von Professor Karl Blossfeldt, and Hatton's 
Craftsman’s Plant Book, or Figures of Plants. The object of 
this brief paper is not to discuss the published sources generally 
known to artists and designers, but rather to point out some orig- 
inal sources which are accessible vet relatively little used. 
Everyone realizes that there is a wealth of material available 
in nature, but those who go to nature for their models or for their 
1 Reprinted with permission from the Bulletin of the Metropolitan Mu- 
seum of Art, 28: 102-104. June, 1933. 
