Vol. VIL No. 6 
SYRACUSE, NEW YORK 
October 1905 
SUBSCRIBER asks for the exact 
meaning of the word conventional 
as used in design. To make a 
conventionaHzation of any natura- 
Hstic form one examines several 
specimens, selects the points on 
which the majority agree, elim- 
inates any details which are mere 
individual characteristics or acci- 
dents, and from these points con- 
structs a type or generalization which is the conventional 
form, ready for design. 
For instance, take several wild roses; most of them 
have five equal petals, a few have but four, some have 
six or seven; some abortive, some larger than the others. 
The majorit}'^ having five, the conventional flower will 
have but five equal petals. The majority of the roses 
having heart-shaped perfect petals, the conventional flower 
will have heart-shaped perfect petals, and so on through 
all the points of the flower. A conventional person is one 
who reflects all the accepted ideas of the community. A 
conventional flower or other form bears a general resemb- 
blance to all of its kind. This makes a safe citizen and a 
safe form for design, but not an interesting one. As people 
and roses vary considerably in color, that quality is left 
out and a conventional flower as well as a conventional per- 
son is colorless. Color is necessarilly itidividual, not gen- 
eral. Here is where the artist comes in and lends the per- 
sonal, individual touch which is so necessary to good design, 
but it is the individuality of the artist, not of the flower. To 
be strictly correct one should speak of a conventional design 
as a decorative conventional design if one refers to anything 
out of the ordinary, but most of us are lazy and we use con- 
ventional alone or decorative alone, taking for granted that 
every one understands. 
The difference between a decorative naturalistic and a 
decorative conventional treatment of any subject consists in 
this : A naturalistic treatment trys to bring into a harmoni- 
ous whole a number of distinctly different units, using all the 
little individual traits to give personality. The result being 
usually distinguished at first sight by beauty of color and 
dark and light, and in a degree a familiar aspect of things; 
when one looks long enough to see the details, one sees no 
longer the picture, but the disintegrated units. 
This is as it should be for a picture, but for a decoration 
the case is quite different. The conventional must always 
be considered in connection with design, as a design is some- 
thing composed by the artist out of nature, as the con- 
ventional rose is selected by the artist from the natural 
roses. 
A decorative conventional treatment, then, is an arrange- 
ment which endeavors to bring into harmonious whole, the 
general and characteristic points which the artist has noted, 
omitting all personal traits of the subject in such a way that 
these points will immediately impress itself upon the be- 
holder, and the whole thought, the whole design is seen at 
once. Any details that have to be looked for are a mistake. 
The result is usually distinguished by rhythm, beauty of 
line and color, dark and light, and the delight of discovery, 
for as ever}- artist sees things in a different aspect from 
every other artist, as is shown even in naturalistic painting, 
so to this is added the mental attitude of the artist in which 
he takes liberties with the natural form in order to increase 
his idea of beauty of line, movement, mass, etc. The more 
of this element which enters into the composition, 
the more delight is felt by the beholder. 
To return to our definition then, a naturalistic treatment 
endeavors to give the personality of the subject, which must 
predominate over the personality of the artist, although to 
be successful the artist 's personality must not be entirely 
lost. 
A conventional treatment endeavors to give pleasure by 
giving the general qualities of a subject predominated by 
the personality of the artist, although to be thoroughly sat- 
isfying the personality of the original subject must not be 
entirely lost. 
A naturalistic treatment is objective, the conventional 
subjective; a naturalistic treatment uses the mind and hand 
to display the beauties of outside nature; the conventionl 
treatment uses the beauties of outside nature to display the 
infinite variety of the human mind and imagination and 
the skill which can be cultivated in the hand. 
A good naturalistic painter is restricted by the actuality 
of things, beyond a certain limited liberty of expression 
he is bound to stick to the truth of things as seen by every- 
body. In reality he is more conventionally hide-bound 
than the designer. The good conventional designer adds to 
the whole realm of nature the infinite world of the mind, and 
beyond a certain limitation of liberty in the necessity of 
holding to the principles of good design, he is free to wan- 
der at will, changing lines here, color there, arranging and 
re-arranging, until he at last perfects a rhythm, a lasting 
harmony, a part of the music of the spheres. His are the 
magic fingers that can transmute the baser metals into gold 
and gold into a subtile essence of delight. 
The tobacco jar problem was not as successfully solved 
as many have been, due especially to ignorance of the 
proper shape of a tobacco jar. 
A good tobacco jar should be rather squatty than tah, 
it should have a wide opening at the top so that the hand 
can enter, the cover should be deep and of such a shape 
that a sponge can be held in the top to keep the tobacco 
moist — rather like a large knob. 
The first prize was awarded to Russell Goodwin, Mar- 
blehead, Mass., second prize Emily Hesselmeyer. Mention: 
Bertha Drennan and Tucia Jordan. 
Nothing remains of a nation but its poetry, painting, 
sculpture, and architecture. 
If you could see me dig and groan, rub it out and start 
again, hate myself, and feel dreadfully! The people who 
"do things easily!" Their things you look at easily, and 
"give away easily!' ' 
