THE NEW-YORK EXHIBITION ILLUSTRATE E.

With fruit, flowers, foliage, shells, architecture, &c., sometimes as mere borders toembellish a painting, and often filling the entire space to be decorated. In thesedesigns the objects are sometimes represented in their natural colors, producing achromatic effect, sometimes only in chiaro-oscuro, in which case, as before hinted,the decoration is one of design only.

The Moorish system, of which the Alhambra furnishes a familiar example, is(strictly speaking) neither chromatic nor one of design, according to the usual accep-tation of the word which implies the imitation of natural forms. , The colors al-most invariably employed are pure blue, red and yellow, or gold as a substitute forthe latter color. From their simplicity they are incapable of forming of tliem-selves other than the most ordinary melody, exceedingly monotonous and tiresomet° the eye. They are distributed, however, within certain ingeniously varied linesan d patterns, and the decoration resulting is one of purely geometrical forms, at-tracting the eye by the difference of their colors. The essential feature of thiss tyle, then, consists in the exquisitely varied and harmonious tracery whichbreaks up the surfaces. Mr. Owen Jones’ decoration of the London Crystal Palaceexhibits the results of employing the primitive colors, and omitting the geometri-°al harmony of the Moorish style.

The employment of color alone as a means of giving additional beauty to arc hitecture, is a subject of greater importance than is usually conceded to it. Many°f the materials used in building are perishable in their nature, and require a. coat-In g of some kind of paint for the mere purpose of preservation; but, .to clothediscordant materials with a harmonious arrangement of color, so as to form aPleasing whole, is of far greater importance to the artistic effect of the work, andSquires a knowledge of the resources of color not inferior to those of form bywhich the architect is guided in his compositions.

If we reflect on the immense use which Nature has made of color as an in-strument for beautifying her choicest forms, and imagine what we should lose ifthey were clothed in a negative tint, we may form an idea of the value of color asa means of giving beauty. If we carry the imagination farther, and conceivethe natural order of colors reversed, we feel at once the importance of usingthem in works of art in accordance with the laws of nature.

The theory of colors is of a very recent development, and a knowledge of thel*rvvs deduced, is confined to very few even of those who require it in the exerciseof their professions. It is rarely that we find practitioners even in the higherbranches of painting, who are guided in their compositions by any other principlethan those suggested by individual taste, and a cultivated eye. It is a questionworthy of consideration, how far the mediocrity of painting of the present day isattributable to an overweening reliance on natural powers, and a neglect of the%hts of science. In the sister art of music, we continually see that those whore fnse instruction in the theory of the art rarely attain Jo any excellence, whilethose who study profoundly, advance steadily, in proporflon to their natural en-dowments. We are thoroughly convinced that much genius is now wasted in theuoquirement of rudimentary knowledge in the slow school of practical experiment,an d that the excellence of the Greek school of design arose from a thoroughlydigested canon of form, and the use of geometrical formulas which make theeo, n positions of second and third rate artists of that period the wonder and ad-miration of the present day.

Within the last twenty or thirty years has appeared a series of works on color,«mong which that by Mr. D. R.Hay, of Edinburgh, “On the Harmony of Colors”is a very remarkable essay, not only for its lucid and practical exposition of theiaws of color, but for the many scientific and artistic truths presented. ThisWriter proves very conclusively that the seven colors of Sir Isaac Newton are re-ducible to three primitive ones, blue, red and yellow: that they form, in binary com-bination, the seven prismatic tints corresponding to the seven notes of the gamut0r musical scale; and that a variation in the admixture and arrangement oi them,uncording to the same numerical laws as those which regulate harmony and melody'u fousic, produces an infinity of compositions of color, which afford an exquisite plea-slJre to the eye analogous in character and equal in variety to that which musicbas for the ear. That a strong analogy between these arts has for a long time^ ee n felt to exist, is evident from our employment of the same terms to expresssimilar effects in music and color; but Mr. Hay, we believe, is the first one whoas demonstrated that the laws governing these two arts are identically the

same.

There are some facts connected with this analogy as instructive as they are curi°Us. They are both non-demonstrative arts. Neither affirming nor proving any thing,th ey each illustrate, amplify and heighten the force of every expression of truth.

arts, they are in themselves not generative of ideas, but require union wit ia creative art for a full development of their powers. Thus color joined to designriv als music “married to immortal verse.” Divorced, they aie to be appreciated°uly by minds sufficiently cultivated to supply the absence of the conjugal ai t.

0 such, music is most attractive when purely instrumental; they preei-r,n 8 to supply the thought or sentiment. On the other hand, with many theov ® of color is so predominant that a third-rate specimen of the Venetians< ?hool has charms beyond the most exquisite designs of the Florentines or Eo-^uiis. The f ormeP artists, if inferior in design, are pre-eminent as painters. Color

in their hands has all the expression of language in poetry. Their works maysafely be referred to as canons of color, and exhibit a proof of the infinity ofvariety, of which the tones and combinations of coloring are capable. Many ofthem have so little merit on the score of design or expression of thought, as tosuggest the question whether they are not mere instances of the instrumentalmusic of color, and, whether a similar arrangement, pleasing to the eye solely onaccount of its harmony, its variety and due proportion between the quantities ofquiet and brilliant colors employed, if judiciously applied to a building, may notconstitute an instance of color handled as an art.

The fact that coloring matter in natural objects corresponds to organization,and always indicates a function, has been used as an argument to prove that theemployment of color without regard to function, is contrary to the laws of na-ture, and therefore inadmissible in art. This argument derives its plausibilityfrom ignoring the distinction between nature and art! It is not only the prero-gative, but sole resource, and province of art to enter the fields of nature, andseizing upon any of her laws to apply them to her own creations. While naturedeals with life , art operating on dead matter is forced, like Prometheus, to stealfire from heaven with which to animate her works. Hence the variety of formswhich art is capable of assuming is limited only by the infinity of nature’s prin-ciples.

A decoration arising chiefly from the harmony and variety of colors introduced,is the style attempted, in a simple key, in our Crystal Palace, to which we refer byno means as evidence of the extent to which it may be carried, but merely as acommencement in that direction. The shortness of time allowed for decoration,the difficulty of obtaining a large number of experienced workmen at short notice,and the ephemeral character of the building, all pointed to a broad and bold treat-ment of the subject, not only as most feasible, but most conducive to the purposesof the Exhibition. It seemed desirable to furnish a modest and appropriate back-ground to the articles exhibited, rather than to make the building the chief objectof interest.

The following rules, many of them applicable to the most complicated, as wellas the simplest systems, have been mainly adhered to in the design of the deco-ration of the interior:—

I. Decoration should in all cases be subordinate to construction. It may beemployed to heighten or give additional value to architectural beauties, but shouldnever counterfeit them. Being in the nature of an accompaniment, it shouldkeep in modest accordance with the air, and not drown it with impertinent em-bellishment. Coloring, to be employed with good effect on a building, shouldresemble the drapery of the antique sculptures, which, displaying betweenits folds tlie forms beneath, serves rather to enhance than to conceal theirbeauty.

II. Ail features of main construction should have one prevailing tint, enrichedoccasionally by the harmonious contrasts of that color. Ail secondary, or auxil-iary construction, may bo decorated by the employment of a richer variety of theprincipal color. This mode of treatment is suggested by the distinction whichnature has made between the coloring of the trunk, branches, twigs and leaves oftrees.

III. The prevailing color of the ceilings should be sky-blue, thus borrowingfrom nature the covering which she has placed over our heads. Monotony maybe prevented by the introduction of orange (the natural complement of blue),garnet and vermilion, in such quantities only as may be necessary to recall thesecolors employed elsewhere.

IV. Rich and brilliant tints should occur in small quantities, and be employedto attract the eye to the articulations and noble portions of the members, ratherthan to the members themselves. As in the human figure, variety of color andform is most displayed in the extremities and joints, to which the broader style ofthe limbs and trunk serve as a foil, so in buildings, the bases and capitals ofcolumns, brackets of arches, and the framework of panels, would seem legitimateobjects for the reception of rich coloring. Occurring at fixed numerical distances,they are measured out in equal proportions as to space, and afford also a duequantity of brilliant and stimulating tints—sufficient to enliven the large propor-tion of mild color so essential to a general effect of quiet and repose.

V. All natural beauty of color existing in any material, should, if possible, hobrought into play, by using that color itself, instead of covering it with paint ofanother hue.

VI. The leading feature of beauty in the Crystal Palace, being that of propor-tion and geometrical harmony, rather than elaboration of detail, all ornament in-troduced should be of the same character, mere geometrical outlines and forms tothe exclusion of classical decoration, the characteristic of which is an imitation ofthe organization of foliage.

VII. White should be used in large quantities in all cases of simple compo-sitions, not only to give value, by contrast, to the few colors employed, but toreflect light and cheerfulness to the work.

An adherence to these rules has produced a style of decoration pleasing from itsnovelty and from the harmony arising from the use of color in accordance withthe laws of science and the practice of the best masters. It presents to the eye a

85