JAPANESE ART

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 19946, 2 November 1934, Page 12

JAPANESE ART

NEW TYPE OF EMBROIDERY The revival of interest in Japanese art is responsible for a fresh type of embroidery which is coming into vogue, in which English stitches and materials are used in a light and charming way in floss silks on a gold or silver crinkled rayon fabric, writes Clemence Kerr in the “Daily Telegraph.” The embroidery achieves the “crackle” look which is so fashionable in parchment and pottery handicraft work at the present time. The designs are purely Japanese, pagodas, trees laden with cherry blossom, ornate little bridges, smooth blue lakes and fleecy clouds, introduced in decorative flowing lines, and with, of course, Japanese figures. This style of embroidery is being used for whole “sets” for both personal use in the way of lingerie sachets, and for table runners, cheval sets, cushions, and many other articles in the realm of home decoration. Pastel coloured silks are used, and the finished appearance is so light and delicate that this work is harmonious in almost any setting. In its modern aspect for important embroideries, wall pictures, panels, and screens, large or small, designs based on colour prints of old Japanese paintings on silk could be well adapted by the artistic woman.

Many of these prints are essentially modern in spirit and colouring, despite their antiquity, and the lines are wonderfully decorative, whether the subject be a single figure or landscape.

“At Home” in Most Severe Settings As an example there is a print of a picture by a seventeenth century artist of “Nakatsukasa,” a famous ancient poetess. This is a kneeling figure, with two-thirds of the background in a beautiful shade of red gold, with a deep rich green and ivory coloured foreground. The graceful robe in soft red and pale jade blue and green has touches of gold; and the sash, in a lighter tone of ivory than the foreground, again with its emblems in gold, gives a decorative and absolutely modern look to this design. It would be “at home” in the most severe of modernistic settings, and the beauty of colour and line would be always a joy to the beholder.

In the lesser world of artistic embroidery the small pictures which give so much pleasure in their workings are now appliqued as well as worked in cross stitch. The well-known “Santa Maria” has the sail ciphers in crimson linen or silk, in cottage garden scenes the thatch is put on in bright brown linen. This touch adds to the attractiveness of these needlecraft pictures, and lessens the time spent in stitchery. One of the advantages of this type of embroidery is that it is so effective and yet so quickly done. Applique is also used for vivid splashes of colour in flower subjects, for the blue vase in a group of golden marigolds, or in a flower here and there, if the flowers are large enough to treat in this way. Feature of Venetian Work. The gayest of flowers are a feature of Venetian work, another phase of needlework which will attract many women this winter. Here the art of cutting out flower shapes takes the place of fancy stitchery to a large extent. Petals and leaves of brightly coloured, soft felt cloth are posed in designs on a canvas linen in natural colouring. This is not applique work, since the flowers have to be made up before they are sewn on to the canvas. The main idea is to keep them as flat as possible, and to achieve a striking and harmonious arrangement in the colouring of the super-imposed petals. The effect is distinctly modern, and the floral sprays and groups can be used to decorate many articles in home decoration, including satchets, boxes, and cushions, and the ever useful tea cosy.

Embroidered linens are showing a more colour tendency; although the colouring is usually of the pale pastel order. Pale rose and pale jade linen guest towels have ends embroidered in contrasting tones. Trolley sets of two traycloths and serviettes are treated in the same way. There is a good deal of open work embroidery, the lighter Madeira and Richelieu work being used for luncheon sets, the stitchery done in a deeper tone than the linen, or even in colour, blue or gold. Afternoon tea cloths are decorative nowadays, and a good deal of embroidery is lavished on them. This may be raised or multicoloured silk work in natural or conventional floral designs, or bordered in a lace like open work embroidery, in which buttonholed “ties” have an important part in the background of the design.