Birge Family, Buffalo, NY - Table of Contents
Birge Wallpaper Company
Buffalo, New York
On this page below:
Martin Wachadlo, Birge Wallpaper Company
Roy Rutherford, G. K. Birge and a Family Tradition
Buffalo
History Museum Display
See also: Recollections of an Artist Working for the Birge Wallpaper Company
M.
H. Birge and Sons Wallpaper Co. - Indian Room
Reprinted from December 1886, The Scientific American,
Architects and Builders Edition
Persons
seeking new ideas in the decoration of house decoration
will be attracted by the extra colored plate showing a
design for a "reception room," contained in this number of
our journal. It
illustrates the application to decorative purposes of
specimens of East Indian ornament, as reproduced and
adapted by the Messrs. M. H. Birge & Sons, of Buffalo,
N.Y. In a special line of paper hangings of their
manufacture, which they name the "Birge Velours," this
firm last year introduced a number of Moorish patterns,
taken from the sumptuous ornament of the Alhambra, and the
success attending that venture has induced them to extend
their search for novelties still farther east. The result
would seem to show that the decorative art of India lends
itself quite as readily and effectively to certain
Occidental requirements as that of the Moors. Most
of our readers are probably aware that the art of India
comprises two very distinct and dissimilar products. That
which may be called "Hindoo" art had its origin in the
country prior to the influx of Mohammedanism, and reflects
the spirit of the older religions of the people. By
Indian art proper, however, is usually meant that which
has grown out of the Arab invasion and conquest.
Possessing marked characteristics, which have always
commanded the admiration of artists, it is nevertheless as
essentially Arabesque as the Alhambra itself. While
the Hindoo ornament ornament abounds in grotesque and
barbaric features, that of Mohammedan India possesses a
delicacy and refinement not elsewhere surpassed, if
indeed, ever equaled. Monstrous human and other animal
forms appear in the art of the Brahmins and Buddhists,
while the creed of the Arabs, as strictly as the law of
Moses, forbade the copying of the shapes of man or beast. It
was through the London exhibitions of 1851 and 1862 that
this later development of Indian art was first brought to
popular attention in England. Competent critics at once
pronounced it a happy blending of the sever forms of
Arabian and Saracenic art with the graces of Persian
refinement. Rather
more flowing and less conventionalized than the pure
Saracenic style, it is equally devoid of superfluous
ornamentation, while it preserves the same division and
subdivision of general lines which form the charm of
Moresque decoration. "In equal distribution of the surface
ornament over the ground," says the English critic whom we
have already quoted, "the Indian artists exhibit a rare
instinct and perfection of drawing, while the balance of
color is so exact as to defy European imitation. The most
brilliant colors are used, but always in perfect harmony." It
is from this pure fountain of Indian Arabesque that the
Messrs. Birge have drawn a quantity of ideas for
decoration, and, among others, the patterns illustrated in
our plate. "The Taj. at Agra," they tell us, in a pamphlet
from their house, "the most exquisite piece of
architecture in the world, erected by Shah Jehan in memory
of the beautiful Nour-Mahal, has furnished us with many
suggestions fir Indian ornament: These we have carefully
adapted and arranged for hangings and borders, preserving
as far as possible, the wonderful beauty of coloring of
the originals." The
window grilles, of carved wood, and the table, in the
plate, are also from Indian patterns. There can be no
doubt that here is a rich treasure house of ideas awaiting
our artists and decorators, for the decaying mosques and
palaces of Delhi and Agra abound in architectural ornament
of the rarest and most exquisite description. The only
wonder is that such a mine has been so little explored.
Perhaps the patterns reproduced in the "Birge Velours" may
crate a demand for more from the same source. |