Characteristic Decoration of the 
Twentieth Century 
By MARGARET GREENLEAF 
T HE question, has the present day any distinctive 
style of decoration and of furniture charac¬ 
teristic of this period, is one of much interest. 
The Arts and Crafts worker will perhaps in time 
answer it for us. The straight simple lines, con¬ 
ventional ornamentation, and frank unshaded, 
though often neutral coloring as expressed in their 
work, may go down in history as the accepted 
period decoration of the latter end of the nineteenth 
and the early twentieth centuries. There is much 
of dignity and real beauty produced by this treat¬ 
ment, when handled by such masters as Koernig 
and Laenger. Examples of the work of these 
leading craftsmen and decorators were shown 
at the Exposition held in St. Louis, in 1904. 
Here the general public had an opportunity to 
study this school through the medium of the rooms 
in the German Exhibit. The restfulness of the 
scheme, the quaint and sturdy fashioning of the 
furniture, and, most of all, the marvelous treatment 
of the carefully selected woods used for walls as 
well as standing woodwork, appealed to one at 
once. The bold and striking combinations of 
colors and materials one found were interesting and 
worthy of the most careful study. The real color 
motif of the room in every case was established by 
the woodwork. One particularly charming recep¬ 
tion room had its walls panelled high with white 
maple which had been treated with a faint green 
stain, the color effect produced being the crystal 
green of the sea. The panelled walls reaching to 
the ceiling line were of this wood, inlaid about the 
top in a small conventional design. Maple was also 
used for this inlay, though it had been stained 
black, brown, and jacaranda green. The great 
rug was of one tone, deep gray, much darker than 
the walls. I he substantially bhilt, quaintly shaped 
furniture, of gray stained maple, was upholstered 
in dull brown suede, the beauty of the frames 
enhanced by the delicate inlay ol a single line of 
lighter wood. The ornaments in the room, of which 
there were but lew, were ol bronze, the only 
departure being a great brass jardiniere placed 
on a black teak-wood stand and holding a luxuriant 
and spreading palm. The heavy bronze chandelier 
was overlaid with copper in a very striking design. 
I bis was set quite at one side of the room. The 
inset glasses of the shade showed dull green, brown 
and yellow. The drapery used at the large window, 
which completely filled one end of the room, was 
ol a most interesting material, a sort of rough 
silken madras, combining all the neutral tints of 
the room deepened and intensified. 
Another room by Laenger was rather miscalled 
“a lady’s boudoir.” As a reception room in a 
woman’s club or hotel, it would meet every require¬ 
ment from an artistic standpoint; simple to severity, 
yet beautiful and restful to a degree. The walls were 
panelled and inlaid with wood, brown and black 
walnut being used for the ground wood. The 
inlay forming the low frieze was of ivory and black 
and green stained maple. The furniture of brown 
walnut, the upholstering and rug showing in color 
dull transparent blues and greens which deepened 
to the changing hues of the peacock’s breast. 
Since the time of this exposition many rooms 
such as these described have been used in Ameri¬ 
can homes, either in their entirety, that is, holding 
absolutely to the simplicity as exploited in this 
German school, or in more or less modified degree. 
Where a house in architectural detail is suited to 
this somewhat exacting style, such rooms may be 
introduced singly with the adjoining apartments 
fitted in a modified style of the same school. 
Where an entire house is finished in this fashion, 
one feels the almost strenuous simplicity would be 
oppressive. 
A manufacturing company in the West makes an 
especial feature now of supplying wood stains and 
dull finishes which rival those made by the Germans. 
A soft gray blue on oak, showing white graining, 
the dull rich green and silver gray of birch, and 
sea green and gray of maple are among their most 
pronounced successes. 
The designing and placing of the lighting fixtures 
of a room have been much affected by the work of 
these craftsmen. The objectionable long shank 
of the ordinary inexpensive fixture is rapidly being 
displaced by graceful swinging cords or chains, 
holding a fringe covered drop-light; or a curiously 
twisted spiral in circle or triangle is made to hold 
the wire, and all this at small cost. No longer is 
the exact center of the room considered the only 
appropriate spot from which to suspend the chan¬ 
delier. 
Where to draw the line in period furnishing is a 
matter deserving more serious consideration than 
it always receives. It must be understood that 
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