352 
that enters into his work. The new art may never be 
popular among American practitioners of the noble art of 
architecture, but it is, nevertheless, well worth the study and 
attention of every true lover of art. 
As a practical illustration of some of the more recent 
stages of art nouveau as developed in Germany, I want to 
invite attention to the architectural exhibition held at Vienna 
in 1908. The entire exhibition was a successful solution of 
the architectural problem. Here architecture did its best 
and most dificult work. It ruled by serving other arts and 
produced its effects of simplicity by complicated devices. It 
is extremely difficult to give expression to the secret of beauti- 
ful proportions and to produce a rhythm of space in harmony 
with the purpose in view, because the average human brain 
contains no organ for the appreciation of such effects. Yet 
here everything was so finely done, the exhibits so completely 
found their requisite spatial atmosphere, that even the spec- 
tators, in their attitudes and gestures, seemed free from 
affectation, and to be both natural and in keeping with their 
surroundings. 
The exhibition was dominated by the genius of Herr Hoff- 
man, who is an architect who has acquired a remarkable 
sureness of procedure and a mastery over materials and 
objects in which he has few equals and which is so highly 
developed as to almost preclude the possibility of error. 
His methods found expression not only in the plan accord- 
ing to which the various halls and courts were grouped, but 
in the arrangement of the exhibits in such a manner that each 
contributed to the general architectural effect. The result 
was a unity that made the underlying diversity pleasing and 
intelligible. 
There was a profound significance in the arrangement of 
the halls and courts, including the lofty central building, 
with its niches containing symbolical sculptures—perhaps 
conceived as polychrome faience rather than as white plaster 
—the groups of smaller halls to right and left, the pretty 
little house which exhibited all the agreeable features of a 
dwelling-place; the great court overlooked by the high win- 
dows of the central hall; the small courts which invited the 
visitor to pause and rest on his way from gallery to gallery; 
Vestibule, by Hoffman, with mural decoration by Kling 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
September, 1909 
Mant TUTTE Ce A thee teen eee er en 
SP rats es B Post 
ee kao i Leal, 
Small court (Roller) 
the poetic little nooks, embellished with flowers and foun- 
tains and pools; and, finally, the gardens, in which a modest 
but highly successful attempt was made to show that the 
arrangement of a garden is a task worthy of artistic en- 
deavor. Fine, fine, fine, and interesting, if not beyond com- 
pare, at least in a true and penetrating sense that left a 
definite impression on the mind. 
The educational value of such an exhibition can not well 
be set down within reasonable limits. It showed, more than 
anything else, the arts working harmoniously together for 
the betterment of human life. It presented a picture of 
life as the artist would have it, and it embraced the whole 
calendar, including even’ the application of domestic art to 
the embellishment and amelioration of everyday life. 
A word should be added on the sculpture. The Metzner 
room carried out the promise of the architecture, and proved 
that, in sculpture also, the master is revealed by what he 
omits. In sculpture, as in decoration, scene painting and 
stage setting, and in every art which aims at style, simplifica- 
tion of forms and omission of unessential details favor the 
production of monumental effects. This artistic economy, 
remarks a German writer in commenting on this exhibition, 
is the last refinement of art. A glance suffices to tell us 
whether elaboration of detail has been prevented by lack of 
skill or purposely omitted by an artist of consummate ability. 
In the latter case we see the deep study of Nature and the 
confident mastery of detail, even in constrained stylistic treat- 
ment, and feel an impression of life and reality which ‘is 
lacking where the stylistic simplicity of form has been as- 
sumed only as a cloak for incompetence. 
Metzner’s sculptures are instinct with life, despite their 
startling simplicity of form. Their meaning is expressed by 
a few eloquent lines and surfaces. No other living sculptor 
is so nearly an architect as Metzner. No other is so well 
able to give life to stone without destroying the effect of the 
massiveness of the material. He has accomplished feats that 
appeared impossible in the treatment of modern clothes. 
