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Show Art? and Crcifts Mt4?4?ion Furniture. "There can be nothing lasting in this cen-. cen-. tury of decorative work that is not the result of a unity of effort between arts and craftsman." crafts-man." These are the words of Walter Crane who came to America in the eighties, and called upon J. Williams Benn who recently wrote a masterly article on "Quaint" and nouveau styles in furniture for the "Upholsterer." many years ago, and spread by his many disciples throughout two great continents. Mr. Benn quotes from "The Life of Morris" published by the Putnam Sons, in which there appears these lines: "His artistic production pro-duction was more than an attempt to revive old Gothic forms. It was an adoption of old forms, with an infusion of modern spirit." i This was the doctrine of Morris and Ro- setti who with Burne Jones and Charles !u Faulkner, and other artists began the move ment to close the breach existing between . " art and industry, and among other things to I displace the shoddy furniture of the shops with artistic creations similar to those of the I mediaeval days. Many of you have seen California, the Mission Mis-sion of Dolores, that at Monterey, another at Santa Barbara, and possibly some have seen those further south in Old Mexico. xV t - They are filled with old Mission furniture, I which has been copied for the modern homes I of America, but in turn the first Mission furniture used in those early days of Spanish control was taken from the Flemish and Spanish designs, and it all goes back to the early Gothic. ' " And why is it being used today? It is the result of the education begun by Morris The Freed Furniture & Carpet Co. were among the very first to appreciate the artistic quality and adaptability of this beautiful furniture fur-niture for the modern home. The first our buyers purchased was an experiment, but this season we secured the most beautiful M pieces of Mission furniture we could find, H for the high class art loving customers who M watch our displays. fl In Mission furniture there is everything M to appeal to the artistic eye. The sturdy M strength, the beauty of grain in the Hun- M No. 1. H garian ash, and flaked quartered oak, the H purity of design, the absolute comfort. H And, if you will read between the lines, a IH word from the first circular issued years ago H by Morris & Co., still holds good. It says: H "It is believed that good decoration, involv- H ing rather the luxury of taste, than the DH H luxury of costliness, will be found to be H much less expensive than is generally sup- Hl posed." H The furhiturd is plaih, simple, With otie H tolor ahd little that is elaborate, the idea H being to firlish the walls in decorations that H will be a direct contrast, and put the color H on such a background, rather than in the B turrliture itself. B Beside chairs, settees and the like to be Hj) seen at the Freed Furniture Store, we have B' dining room sets in the old Dutch styles, H with encrusted tiles taken from old fire B places, and buffets in Mission designs, con- B structed of cathedral oak, and trimmed with H old hiriges and locks that show the rust from M actual use. B" The large illustration is a Morris Chair of H Hungarian ash, with Spanish leather in ver- H million red, with the coat of arms embossed H in white and gold. This is one of the hand- H somest pieces of this furniture ever made and H something rarely beautiful. The cushions in HI the design numbered I are covered with split Hi leather buckled on, and all the cushions in Hf this furniture are elastic felt or air. Hi Besides the pieces of Mission work, we HAj have a few pieces of the famous Bradley H furniture. H The members of the Freed Furniture Com- Bi pany are thorough believers in the Ruskin H , idea that "Industry without art is brutality," 1 and in our admiration for the beautiful pro- Ha ductions made possible by the artistic school H of Arts and Crafts, we have purchased and HwT we are djplayfng selected pieces of thjs new 1 furniture, that cannot be excelled anywhere H in America. |