Page 228

A FEW FLOWERS
IKE-BANA, OR THE ART OF
FLOWER ARRANGEMENT: BY
EVANGELINE COLE
  A   MOST     suggestive hint was given
       to all lovers of home decoration
       in the recent exhibition of Flower
       Arrangements held by the Japan
Society  of America    on  the  roof of
the Hotel Astor. It was there demon-
strated that in the arrangement of flowers,
a simplicity of means combined with an
artful distribution of line can be made fully
satisfying to the aesthetic sense. In great
contrast to our Occidental ideas of great
masses of flowers and foliage as constituting
the ideal floral decoration are these more
austere Japanese compositions, the open lin-
eal character of which lends them an airy
gracefulness and charm. It is to be hoped
that the time may soon arrive when we shall
have eliminated from our practice of floral
decoration, as we are eliminating from our
furniture and our architecture, all meaning-
less designs. When that time comes we
shall consider the character of our materials,
and our compositions, like the Japanese
ones, will approach more nearly Nature her-
THREE SPRAYS OF JAPANESE NARCISSUS IN A
FLAT DISH OF GREEN POTTERY.
    A SINGLE BRANCH OF ROSE IN A BRONZE JAR.
self than do the stiff and symmetrical floral
groupings of the present day.
  The very principle on which Ike-bana, or
the Art of Flower Arrangement, is based
is a representation of natural floral growth.
The surface of the water in the containing
vessel is regarded as the soil, and the ar-
rangement must spring from that in a man-
ner that suggests the growth of the plant
arranged. No matter how beautiful the up-
per lines may be, a composition that fails
to suggest strength and vitality at tl'e base
is considered defective. The natural local-
ity of a plant also affects the manner in
which it should be arranged, and no flower
artist would be guilty of the solecism of ar-
ranging land plants and water plants, or
land plants and mountain plants in a simi-
lar fashion.
   In keeping with this idea of representing
natural growth is the sentiment, foreign to
us, that flowers out of season must not be
used, nor rare. plants of whose habits and
growth the artist can have no intimate and
sympathetic knowledge.
   The spirit of the season must be reflected
 in the arrangements. In the spring they
 must be strong in line and suggest the vi-
 tality of early vegetation; in summer, full
 and   spreading:  autumn    compositions
 should suggest the season by their sparse-
228