B'ebhuaby 27, 1913. 



The Florists' Review 



11 



THE ART OF FLOWER 

 i^ ARRANGEMENT <^ 



By FRED C. V. BROWN 



I ■■■ ■■ I r ' ■ " % , ^' '■ ' ■' ■! " ■' ^^ 



CLUSTERS AND BOUQUETS. 



Their Special Freedom of Outline. 



In this installment of my discussion 

 on flower arrangement, I shall try to 

 tell how art may be embodied and rec- 

 ognized in the arrangement of clusters 

 and bouquets, but before I launch into 

 the subject I want to impress the minds 

 of my readers with some idea of the 

 diflSculty of this class of work; I want 

 them to realize that the hardest task 

 I have attempted in this little series 

 of articles is to demonstrate 

 art in the arrangement of 

 bouquets and funeral clus- 

 ters. We are left fancy- 

 free and are not restricted 

 in any way except by the 

 nature of our material. We 

 are not restrained or guided 

 by the conventional lines 

 of the wire frame or the 

 suggestive confines of a 

 basket, but are thrown en- 

 tirely on our own resources 

 and are compelled to give 

 a practical demonstration 

 of our power to create. 



The greatest error we fall 

 into is that of a stiffly 

 symmetrical outline. We 

 wire our blooms and select 

 some ferns; then, with a 

 thoughtlessness born o f 

 familiarity, we arrange our 

 materials with more or less 

 mathematical accuracy. 

 This is inartistic and con- 

 veys no meaning; . aside 

 from the natural, pleasing 

 beauty of the flowers them- 

 selves.itis without attraction. 



It is difficult to give any 

 set rules for such work, be- 

 yond that of emphasizing 

 the necessity of using good, 

 sane and substantial reason- 

 ing, and being natural. 

 Let your flowers follow, as 

 much as possible, the direc- 

 tion of their natural 

 growth; that is, do not do 

 too much wiring and, with 

 rare exceptions, see to it 

 that you do not have a 

 symmetrical outline. 



In the illustration of the 

 lily cluster it is not diffi- 

 cult to fathom the mean- 

 ing or read the story, and 

 there is sufficient care ex- 

 hibited to prove that the 

 attempt was made to ar- 

 range a cluster of lilies tied with a bow 

 of ribbon. There is no great tax on 

 tl>e imagination to determine what has 

 b^en attempted. 



. The idealist in art would tell you 

 that you would never pick up a bunch 

 of lil^g in the fUbn shown, that the 

 btnca^has the a]^arance of "being 

 made," and that it^should have the 

 appearance of an Srmful of flowers 

 that have merely been cut from the 



plants, laid on a table and drawn to- 

 gether with a bow of ribbon for a tie. 

 That would be the argument of the 

 idealist. 



Our answer to such an argument 

 would be to thank the critic, for the 

 very idea that the maker desired to 

 convey was that care and thought had 

 been exercised in the arranging, but 

 the point that is really open to doubt 

 and criticism is whether the natural 

 grace of the flowers has been impaired 

 by the outline of the whole cluster. The 



A Spray of Lilies That Tell* its Own Story. 



ribbon is in its natural position, where 

 all the lines converge, and thereby its 

 use is proved. The whole cluster is 

 simple and tells a simple story. 



In the illustration Of the bouquet 

 the blooms are all given a sense of di- 

 rection and you would not hesitate to 

 call it an arm bouquet. It has the ap- 

 pearance of ^n, annful. The gA£denias 

 are grouped at the point of greatest op- 

 position, and the reason and excuse for 



the ribbons as a tie are quite apparent. 

 There is no limit to the different forms 

 that we might originate for bouquets 

 and clusters, and the individuality of 

 the maker will stand out clearly in this 

 class of work, but whatever you attempt, 

 with whatever material, in whatever 

 form, always keep before you the fact 

 that simplicity is the keynote of success. 

 At this stage of the discussion it may 

 be well to review and epitomize what 

 has already been said, so as to see 

 what is the sum total of the require- 

 ments of art and determine 

 whether the embodying of 

 art in our work is of 

 greater advantage than the 

 haphazard methods employed 

 by all too many of our florists. 

 We may summarize our 

 argument b y repeating, 

 substantially, what we said 

 at the beginning — that art 

 comprises these three re- 

 quirements: First, sim- 

 plicity; second, balanced 

 proportion; third, harmony 

 of coloring. 



The simplicity of our 

 work makes it unnecessary 

 to tax the mind to discover 

 our meaning. And sim- 

 plicity,, on account of its 

 economy of material, is also 

 of financial advantage. The 

 balanced proportion i s 

 pleasing to the eye and 

 does not detract from the 

 object attempted or the 

 story we have tried to tell; 

 it leaves a pleasing impres- 

 sion on the mind, because 

 the eye is not taxed* to 

 make connections between 

 too great differences. The 

 harmony of coloring we 

 agreed to accept as correct. 

 Furthermore, a knowl- 

 edge of art gives a reason 

 for our existence as mem- 

 bers of a profession; it sus- 

 tains our arguments in fa- 

 vor of the patronage of 

 stores that make a special- 

 ty of "flowers only." Art 

 also practically proves the 

 superiority of our claims for 

 patronage, as compared with 

 those of the street faker, 

 or the comer grocer with 

 his bargain blooms, and 

 demonstrates to our cus- 

 tomers that ours is not a 

 mere business, but a pro- 

 fession requiring study and thought. 



Art also insures a greater demand 

 for powers, which means increased 

 business, for artistic productions are 

 foil of pleasant surprises, thus attract- 

 ed creat- 



, sno 



ing the public to our wares 

 ing a desire for jospession. 



The economy of art, alone, slibuld be 

 sufficient to caus» «U our florista to 

 give the subject the serious thought it 

 demands. 



