Reminds me ...

that I hadn't posted in a while about walls, though I have been talking about Rex Whistler and he did paint on walls. 

Above is a photo from Paul T. Frankl's New Dimensions of a French office. Remember this was 1928 so that room is as contemporary and as chicly French as it got. The wonder of this book is that it illustrates the early days of Modernism, the influence of Cubism, and the sometimes simple luxury of Art Deco. That would be simple in the way that a Chanel suit could be described as simple.

Mr. Frankl describes this room as "Extreme simplicity of surface with dominating cubist effects are characteristic features of the furniture in this room. The horizontal stripes along the walls are laced together by lines symbolizing mechanical and industrial drawings. The cube lighting fixtures of opaque glass harmonize with the setting. Designed by Georges Lamoussu."

What I find seductive is the decoration of the walls: "the horizontal stripes along the walls are laced together by lines symbolizing mechanical and industrial drawings." That sentence alone provides me a with a solution to a dilemma I have had about painting some of the walls in the flat (see view from the sofa) and making the walls the art rather than the stuff hanging on them. 

The combination of early Modernism, or the International Style as it was named in 1932 by Philip Johnson and Henry-Russell Hitchcock, and what we now call Art Deco is marvelous.