ART IN THE PLANT WORLD
“_As if the rainbows of the fresh mild spring
Had blossomed where they fell._”
The plants are perfect artists. From the budding of the Rose to the
sudden shooting forth of the seeds of the Wistaria, everything they do
is in perfect taste. Ugly flowers are decidedly uncommon. Those which
human judgment declares to be less lovely than their fellows have their
attractive points, if we take the trouble to look for them. If art is a
desire for beauty, a searching after perfect harmony, then the plants
and flowers are the most artistic creatures in the universe.
Plant colours are particularly interesting. The flowers are
master-craftsmen when it comes to the adornment of dainty, delicate
petals with pigments which are the distilled essence of a thousand
rainbows. No other quality in the natural world gives man a deeper
emotional enjoyment. Floral colours speak a whole language of their
own of which we can get only faint interpretations.
Cold biologists explain that the beautiful hues and shades of plantdom
are largely designed to attract insects and so secure a necessary
distribution of pollen. There is no doubt that this is true, but for
one to believe that this is the sole function of a flower’s beauty is
to reduce the world to a materialistic basis and banish all thoughts of
the esthetic, the spiritual and the ideal. The flowers are permitted to
adorn themselves in bright raiment at least partly in order to satisfy
the universal craving for the delicate and the artistic.
It should not be imagined that the gayest and most brilliantly coloured
members of the plant world are always residents of the tropics. The
hot countries undoubtedly produce many specimens of startling hue and
pattern, but it is often their ostentation and exotic character, rather
than their beauty or charm, which attract attention. They are apt to be
a bit barbaric and not as numerous as they are reputed to be. For great
masses of beautiful flowers, we do not go to Mid-Africa or Cuba, but
to the mountain-bound meadows of the Alps, the plains of Australia,
or the prairies of America. What is more startlingly beautiful than
a field of Yellow Buttercups or Black-eyed Susans which can be seen
anywhere in the eastern United States? Where can our eyes feast upon a
more wonderful scene than a field of Wild Verbenas and Delphiniums as
found in Texas? In the tropics the flower masses are more scattered.
Even the far-famed Orchids are only abundant in occasional favoured
spots.
The gardens of our large country estates offer floral displays which
cannot be rivaled anywhere. Our temperate zone Roses, Peonies,
Hollyhocks, Wistaria, Lilacs, Lilies, Tulips, Hyacinths, Gentians,
Asters, Anemonies and Poppies are the most delicate colour creations
in existence. For brilliance and alluring charm nothing surpasses the
Mountain Laurel and Rhododendrons of the East, or the Trumpet Vine
and Yellow Jessamine of the South. The gorgeous Azalias, Camellias,
Pelargoniums, Calceolarias and Cinerarias also belong to the regions
which have cold periods in their annual weather schemes. Even the
humble Gorse is clothed in gold, while the prickly and much-despised
Cactus bears little crimson-coloured bells.
It is quite evident that man got his original idea of colour from
Nature, particularly the plant world. Why is it that we are inclined
to wear green in spring, brown in autumn, and all manner of colours in
summer? Simply because, consciously or unconsciously, we are imitating
Nature. We take pigments and dyes and get a pale similitude of an
exquisite flower. If it happens to be a Rose, we name the colour after
it. Sometimes we name tints after the sky or an animal or a bird, but
in these cases, we might just as well have gone to the flowers for our
nomenclature.
Every tint and hue which we can ever hope to reproduce is present in
the plant world. The flowers by no means monopolize them. On close
examination, a single stalk and leaf exhibit a wonderful variety of
colour. In the Begonia and the Sea Holly, the stalks are exactly the
same colours as the flowers. The wild Cranesbill sports a crimson
stem. The stalks of Poplar leaves are a vivid yellow. To speak of
“green leaves” is to speak in the most general of terms. What is
more exquisite than the silver gray to be seen on the backs of many
tree-leaves, notably the Alders, Willows, and Poplars? Many leaves join
the Wild Lettuce in having purple backs. The reverse sides of Magnolias
and Rhododendrons are red-brown. In the autumn, nearly all leaves show
brilliant patches of colour.
In borrowing Nature’s colours to set forth our ideas, we have become
possessors of a mighty vehicle of expression. With yellow, we can speak
of life, light, cheer and vitality. Red tells of fire, heat, blood,
excitement and passion. Blue indicates coolness, quiet and restraint.
In choosing green for its most universal colour, Nature harmonizes life
and restraint, warmth and coolness, as represented by the component
blue and yellow. In the same way, when she wants to concentrate the
maximum colour power in a single fruit or flower, she uses orange,
a combination of light and heat, vitality and excitement. Purple
represents a neutralized idea. Red vitality is tempered with blue
restraint, which results in mysticism. Nature clothes the Poppy in red
to suggest power and strength. The royal purple of the Aster and the
Violet is purposely calculated to arouse a feeling of mystery and awe.
Our man-made cloth designs often show various plant forms intact in
the weave. The same is true of lace, while one has only to look at the
miniature flower gardens which women wear on their heads to realize the
potent influence of plants in the domains of millinery. An important
plant element seems to run through many fields of applied art.
In some ways, the beauties of form and structure are more appealing
than chromatic charms. Lines are more refined and fundamental than
colours. A feathery mass of tree-twigs seen against a distant horizon
is exquisitely beautiful. A symmetrically shaped tree comes very
close to presenting an idea of pure form. One may argue that it is
impossible to dissociate all idea of colour from a natural object. This
is theoretically true, but practically, while we are impressed by the
colour of the Rose, it is the structural beauty of the Palm and Weeping
Willow which attracts our eye.
Nature is the true and original sculptor. From her we learn our rules
of symmetry and design. All her plant creations are finished with a
faithfulness to artistic principles which is quite exact. Nor does
she build houses with false exteriors. Her structures show forth the
necessity of truth in real esthetic creation. Bartholdi’s exquisite
Statue of Liberty, viewed from the interior, is an ugly, hollow tube.
A stalk of corn not only has a pleasing exterior but is made up of
symmetrically formed and packed interior cells. From a giant Redwood to
a microscopic vegetable organism, every line and structural unit in the
plant world is perfect in its inception and execution.
Each plant, viewed as a whole, has its own peculiar style of structural
beauty--the variation of line and form which stamps it with charm.
This differentiation extends to all parts of the plant and gives
character to leaves, stem, flowers and fruit. Marvellous is the art
worked out in the minute parts. The tendril of the Passion Flower,
the radicle of a Seedling Maple, the feathery hair on a stalk of
Mullein--all these are shaped according to the unknown law of beauty.
Probably every geometrical form exists in some seed pod or fruit. The
artistic little seeds of the Milkweed and the Dandelion are packed into
their containers with a skill which cannot be duplicated, once they
are dislodged. There are a million seeds in the capsules of certain
Orchids. Many seed vessels are tipped, balled, carved and frescoed.
The same delicate touch is seen down to the last cell. Plant stems
range from the common tubular variety to four-sided, hexagonal and
octagonal forms. Trees exhibit exquisite mosaics in their rough
bark. Bell-shaped flowers and flowers which are tubes, rings, ovals,
trumpets, horns, and cones are only some of the pleasing shapes to be
found in this part of vegetable anatomy.
It is a significant thing that there are few straight lines in
plantdom. Everything is built in fascinating and alluring curves.
There is a definite idea of symmetry to be observed everywhere. The
beautiful, five-pointed, leaves of the Sweet Gum Tree are arranged so
that each one fits into an interstice between two others and so obtains
a maximum supply of air and light. In general, leaves nearest the
ground are largest, thus insuring each its supply of sunshine.
When we study ornamental design, ancient and modern, we see plant forms
on all hands. The Greeks and the Moors were the only nations to be
content with geometric shapes and lines--and they were only content at
times. All other peoples have given plants and flowers a large place
in their decorative conceptions. The Egyptians and the Assyrians,
who may be considered the first civilized artists, used the Palm,
Papyrus, Lotus and Lily. The Greeks and Romans were partial to the
Acanthus, Olive, Ivy, Vine, Fir and Oak. The Gothic art of Germany,
France and Spain featured the Lily, Rose, Pomegranate, Oak, Maple,
Iris, Buttercup, Passion Flower and Trefoil. The modern Chinese are
more conservative and seek inspiration only from the Aster and the
Peony. The Japanese use the Almond, Cherry, Wistaria and the graceful
Bamboo in their art work. These various plant forms are sometimes quite
conventionalized but are readily recognizable, whether they occur in
architecture, carvings, paintings, illuminations, tapestries or cloth
fabrics.
The plant world has been man’s most constant and readily apprehended
artistic model. Yet when we see the multitude of attractive lines,
curves and shapes in Nature’s great garden, we wonder that he has so
limited his imitation. One rarely sees the Thorn-Apple, the Hawthorn,
the Daisy or the Tulip in wood or stone, yet they are all exquisitely
beautiful.
Again, artists and artisans throughout the centuries have nearly
always confined themselves to but two phases of plant life--the leaves
and the matured fruit. Tendrils have been neglected or treated with
characterless mediocrity. Thorns, leaf stipules, buds, pods, and leaf
scars have been universally overlooked. Who has ever seen the fruit of
the Rose in ornamental art? Why is it no one has thought to use the
leaf scars of trees like the Horse Chestnut as decorative units?
Grapes and Pomegranates are reproduced with some justice, but the
various small berries almost always appear as miscellaneous spherical
bodies, whereas they are really greatly varied. The Snowberry, Privet,
Laurel and Barberry have distinct characteristics of form and shape.
There are chances for worlds of artistic expression in various seed
pods and fruit vessels. An open Pea Pod occurs in certain Renaissance
ornament. Why not (and this is not intended to be humorous) a String
Bean?
Even a lowly thing like the scarred stalk of an old Cabbage has a
pattern worthy of imitation. The shields or remains of leaves of former
seasons form an artistic detail of the growing Palm Tree. The Romans
occasionally reproduced them on their columns. Leaf shields are also
met with in Greek border ornament.
Why must our sculptors represent the various fruits as bursting with
mature mellowness? In many cases, the unripe fruit is artistically more
attractive than when in the later stages of development.
We rarely think of disease or decay as being pleasing, yet some plants
are artistic even in their dissolution. Certain galls and cankers draw
beautiful designs on the bodies of their victims.
Everything in plantdom has its own peculiar style of structure and
beauty. All are worthy of imitation and reproduction, provided only it
is done in the right place and the right way. It must be remembered
that, in origin, ornament was first symbolic and then decorative. Real
ornament is never unduly prominent but subordinates itself to the idea
and structure of the whole.
Man has imitated the plants also in things of a lowlier nature. Cups,
vases, pitchers and other utensils were undoubtedly first suggested by
similar shapes in plantdom. It is not too fantastic to imagine that
the smoking pipe is modelled after the flower known as the Dutchman’s
Pipe. An electric wire running down the chain of a suspended lighting
fixture looks all the world like a climbing vine. Human jewelry has
its prototype among the flowers. Our garden beauties powdered their
faces long before their human sisters ever thought of that method of
self-adornment. It is said that Greek dancers and athletes sometimes
exercised before certain slender plants in order to pattern their
bodies after them.
We are not all artists or interior decorators, and yet we can all
make use of the artistic possibilities present and inherent in our
plant friends. We can cultivate and further the use of plants and
flowers in and about our homes. Europe is far ahead of us in this
respect. In England, a city house may be ever so frowsy and run-down
but it will be sure to have its well-kept window boxes. The suburban
homes of labourers and other lowly folk are often veritable bowers of
loveliness. The German must have a garden in which to drink his beer.
If there is none handy, he builds one, and cool and delightful he makes
it. In many European cities, all the houses come out to the building
line and even arch the sidewalks. Not a bit of greensward is in sight.
Yet shrubs, flowers and vines spring from every sill and balcony and so
make the streets to blossom as the Rose.
American cities are too inclined to be barren wastes of brick and
stone, with but scant provision for plant beauty. Even the rich, who
have their elaborate and beautiful country gardens, seem to forget
the plants and flowers when they come to the city. The self-tending
Ampelopsis and Wistaria vines are the only plants at all common. Our
short summer season and the fact that so many people do not occupy
their city homes in warm weather are a little discouraging, but need
not shake the enthusiasm of any one really interested in plants. For a
few dollars a season florists will assume all care of exterior plants
and vines.
The man who has a little plot of ground before his door is indeed
fortunate. Even a well-clipped grass lawn is a refreshing asset. Sweet
Peas train well against a wall. Pansies flourish in shady spots and
Nasturtiums wax beautiful where other plants fail.
A brown stone front, flushed to the sidewalk in the middle of a block,
need not go without floral decoration. Even a terra cotta box on
either side of the entrance is capable of holding much growing joy.
Evergreen shrubs fit well into such surroundings. A window box has
great possibilities. In early spring, Crocus, Narcissus and Hyacinth
flourish in it to advantage. Ivy-Geraniums of smooth waxy leaves and
graceful loose sprays will grow all summer. Vines of various kinds can
be trained so as to make very effective window screens.
The subject of home plants is fascinating. It is well to note that it
is not always necessary to go in for the more elaborate varieties. It
is surprising what a delicate and pleasing decoration is made by so
humble a thing as a sprouting Carrot or a Sweet Potato Vine.
Outdoor and landscape gardening are whole sciences unto themselves.
In general, a Renaissance house looks best surrounded by formal
and well-clipt flower beds. Houses on the Gothic order should have
undulating lawns and irregular groups of shrubs and trees about them.
Plants and flowers are the first and original artists. Their creations
are our best and most worthy models. We can use them both as examples
to be imitated and beautiful objects with which to surround ourselves.
They are one of our greatest esthetic inspirations.