Some Foreign Styles in Decoration and Furniture 
SUGGESTIVE SCHEMES FROM AUSTRIA AND GERMANY THAT ARE ADAPTABLE TO AMERICAN HOMES—HOW 
THE MODERN SPIRIT MAKES USE OF BRILLIANT COLORS IN COMBINATION WITH BLACKS AND GRAYS 
Photographs by the Author 
A BOUT ten years ago in Germany and Austria the modern 
style of decoration sprang into life, and since then its de¬ 
velopment has been a steady process, growing and increasing 
little by little, reach¬ 
ing out in every di¬ 
rection, till it now 
stands on a firm 
fundamental foun¬ 
dation that cannot 
be shaken. 
The traveler sees 
this influence a 11 
over Europe to-day, 
and finds Germany 
and Austria fairly 
bubbling over with 
it. There the peo¬ 
ple are enthusiastic 
with an enthusiasm 
based on intelligent 
understanding; it is 
in the air, they 
breathe it and feel it. 
These feelings must 
have an outlet, and 
we find this modern 
style of decoration 
in their homes, their 
theaters, factories 
and shops; and al¬ 
ways appropriately 
applied, always 
showing evidence of 
careful thought as to 
the use of the build¬ 
ing, always the ar¬ 
tistic and the prac¬ 
tical merged in one. 
And here we have 
touched on the se¬ 
cret of the harmony, 
and restful, yet joy¬ 
ous, atmosphere of 
the results of this 
modern movement! Everything means something, even the 
tiniest article or detail has its place and its use, and the entire 
home, or whatever the building may be, is designed and made for 
its occupants. It is their especial needs and individual wants that 
are filled, and the home is thus not only extremely beautiful, but 
comfortable and practical. 
Another of the strongest notes in this new movement (for it 
is new to us as yet) is its fearless use of bright colors—its desire 
to make the home cheerful. Nothing is overdone, however; the 
brightest of tones are properly combined with softer and more 
subdued shades, and the results are inevitably happy and pleas¬ 
ing ; or, for instance, one or more very intense color is used care¬ 
fully with black or white (or both), giving a most pleasing and 
delightful effect, vigorous and stylish, but eminently fitting. 
For the introduction of the masterly use of black and white we 
acknowledge Prof. Josef Hoffmann the leader. Black and white 
in combination with 
one or more bright 
colors have great 
possibilities, b u t 
their use must be 
thoroughly under¬ 
stood. 
This is well illus¬ 
trated in the first 
photograph, which 
is a dining-room de¬ 
signed by Hoffman 
and carried out by 
the Wiener Werk- 
s t a e 11 e (Vienna 
Workshops), of 
which he is the ar¬ 
tistic head. Here we 
find the oak furni¬ 
ture stained black, 
with the grain of the 
wood filled in gray. 
The coverings of the 
chairs is a delightful 
hand block printed 
linen, the design of 
which is most un¬ 
usual, strongly sug¬ 
gesting a Japanese 
stencil: it is a black 
and a white stripe 
with a flower of in¬ 
tense magenta, while 
the leaves are 
touches of bright 
green in two tones. 
The same material is 
repeated in the win¬ 
dow hangings. 
The walls and 
ceiling of this room 
are quite plain, and we find no ornamental cove or picture mold¬ 
ing of any description. The main color of the walls is rather a 
neutral green with a little striped ornament running vertically in 
black and white. The carpet used is one tone of green, rather 
dark, and was chosen to give weight to the black furniture. The 
table cover is unique and quite different from those we are accus¬ 
tomed to seeing; it is made of the same linen as the furniture 
coverings and window draperies. A pretty touch, which adds 
much to the effect of the room, is the repetition of the flower 
color of the material in the abundant geraniums artistically 
arranged at the window in the white lacquer holders, seen also in 
some of the other photographs and described in another part of 
this article. 
A dining-room in which black and white have been successfully combined with brighter colors. 
The furniture is black, the carpet and walls green, while table and chair coverings are 
striped black and white with magenta flowers and green leaves 
( 32 ) 
