The Weekly Florists' Review^ 



June 9, 1910. 



one who creates a fantastic person 

 purely from his own imagination? In 

 music, what is the higher order of pro- 

 duction — that which imitates some fa- 

 ftiiliar sound, or that which renders an 

 idea? Or, in other words, which ap- 

 peals to your higher sensibility — arti- 

 ficial thunder and wind, or the expres- 

 sion of pity or love? In painting, who 

 is the better artist — the one who can 

 most truthfully present something that 

 has fallen under his eye, or one who can 

 paint an imaginary figure whose beauty 

 anti grace have been seen by his own 

 mind's eye? 



Imitation Plus Imagination. 



Now let us come to the dictionary 

 definition of the word "art." It is as 

 follows: "Art is the application of 



skill to the production of the beautiful 

 by imitation or design." 



Comparing these two definitions, first 

 it is taken for granted that there is 

 some skill both as to dreaming and as 

 to creation; so far there is no special 

 difference. The terms "creation" and 

 "production" sound alike. The dic- 

 tionary says "the beautiful." Why is 

 it not true art if unbeautiful subjects 

 are presented? 



Passing this a^ nonessential, let us 

 explore the meaning of the words "imi- 

 tation" and "design." The term "de- 

 sign" corresponds to the word "ideal" 

 in our home-made definition. Imitation 

 is the one branch of thought which is 

 omitted from our original definition, 

 and we must admit it is quite an im- 

 portant one as applied to our depart- 



Bridesmaid's Bouquet of White Roses. 



ment of art. Taken as a whole, ther 

 is no one production of the floral ar 

 which is purely ideal, and' yet it is a 

 much so as any production of an 

 other art. It is a compound of imita 

 tion and ideal. For example, in ;, 

 bride's shower bouquet the round to] 

 is like the tip of a plant in mature de 

 velopment; the shower is like a trailing 

 vine or collection of the same; the sep 

 arate features are imitative; the as 

 semblage is ideal. A pillow is an imi 

 tative design; its decoration may b< 

 either ideal or imitative. 



Degrees of Ability. 



It follows, then, that if you invent a 

 new style of the shower bouquet you 

 are an artist of more or less ability, 

 according to the high or low standard 

 of your production, if you can catch 

 the combination of lines which makes 

 the graceful course of a wild, trailing 

 vine and can reproduce it in one spray 

 on a solid design, you are an artist, but 

 not of the highest type. If lyou can 

 bring together the plans of a^-Btnnber 

 of such natural creations into a crea- 

 tion of your own which occasion de 

 mands, you are an artist of the highest 

 type. 



It is even so in a literary sense; the 

 person who can describe people and 

 scenes in accordance with fact and in 

 an entertaining way is an artist, but 

 the writer who can create and present 

 a character all his own, from his imag- 

 ination, assisted by his observation, is 

 the really great writer. 



The so-called musician who can make 

 the piano croak like a frog or make a 

 fiddle whine has some musical ingenu 

 ity, but the one who can speak with the 

 violin a better message in a better way 

 than with his lips is a great musician. 



But another definition is wanting to 

 bring us to a perfect understanding of 

 our subject. It is that of "massive 

 designing." Well, it is solid work^ 

 work where the flowers or plants em 

 ployed lose their individuality for the 

 sake of the effect Which the massing 

 will produce. The production is sup 

 posed to be a striking amount of size 

 or color or both. 



Solid Work — Oood and Bad. 



Such solid work may be good or poor 

 designing, according to the scale used 

 in selecting and applying this particu- 

 lar style of design. I have seen solid 

 pillows, solid crescents, harps, gates 

 ajar, triangles, and hearts which were 

 good examples of massive design, but 

 I never saw a solid wreath, or basket, 

 or table plateau which was good de- 

 signing. Why is it? Is it because our 

 aesthetic beings are bounded by six 

 senses, and that some things appeal to 

 neither the five senses nor yet to the 

 sixth sense, which has been so happily 

 called "common sense" — though it is 

 so rare, by the irony of fate — nor yet 

 to our sense of nonsense? 



Is there anything in tlve fact that the 

 first designs mentioned are all imitative 

 and the latter are purely ideal? Where 

 we get the solid style from may throw 

 some light on this question. Evidently 

 it is derived from massive effects 

 in nature, as illustrated in composite 

 flowers; from inflorescence, as seen in 

 racemes, umbels and panicles; as seen 

 in a grove from a distance, or a field or 

 stretch of land which has grown up 

 thick with one kind of flower, like a 

 daisy patch. Our sense of the ludicfous 



