THE contention that America is essentially an inartistic nation and must always look to other countries for her artistic inspiration, is as absurd as it is unfounded. The same power that impelled the hand of a Rembrandt, a Romney, a Durer, or Da Vinci is innate in the American people, and with the knowledge and talents and inspirations of all the countries laid at her feet, America ought to be the richest art producer in the world. That she is too busy achieving financial and economic independence to have much thought for the refinements of life, is a theory no longer tenable. More money is spent by Americans in the purchase of art and art objects than by any other nation, and larger circles are actively interested in the propagation of art than in any other country. The trouble lies in America's eternal consciousness of her own youth and premature growth, and her perpetual fear of being herself, expressing herself, or placing confidence in her own judgments and abilities, lest she call down the ridicule of the parent countries and her own narrow-minded critics upon her.

Although America was the last to respond to the great European renaissance of the decorative arts and its development has been slower here than in countries where the governments gave it aid, its growth has been steady and healthy and has not failed to attract the attention of Europe and to win by some of its recent brilliant achievements, the warmest recognition and praise. Both Italy and France have bestowed the highest honors in their power upon the remarkable high-fire porcelains of an American woman, Adelaide Alsop Robineau. Persia and France have given the stamp of their approval to the beautifully glazed Durant pottery made in this country. Japan has purchased for her Tokio Museum some examples of the exquisite decorated porcelains of Dorothea Warren O'Hara, and our handwrought silver, jewelry and enameling is fast finding its way into some of the best known foreign collections.

"Curiously enough," says the English "Studio Year Book," "the most emphatic doubts concerning the reality of the American artistic growth are heard in the States, and it is in Europe that the possibilities of the American evolution are discerned."

It seems no longer feasible to doubt our ability to found a new decorative period - that of twentieth century American! - and to sever our slavish dependence upon other times and other countries which, indeed, makes our vaunted Americanism appear hypocritical when we begin to see ourselves as others see us.

The phrase "Decorative Art" used to apply only to mural painting and sculpture, but the new decorative arts include all those various arts which enter into the decoration of the interiors of homes and public buildings - such as the designing and execution of textile fabrics, metal and woodwork, ceramics, glass, and the decoration of the wall. The removal of the responsibility for the artistic conception of these agencies of decoration from the hands of the artisan and manufacturer, and the placing of it in the hands of the artist and craftsman, is the great achievement of the new movement and the cause to which the present revolution in the ideals of interior decoration is largely due.

In the field of decorative textiles American activity is broad and varied. One line of development has been the regeneration of old American processes and designs which were fast passing out of memory and use. Another shows the tendency to borrow those primitive processes of other countries which have been found to lend themselves especially well to modern decorative uses.

Mr. and Mrs. Talbot in their old Rhode Island mansion outside of Providence have set themselves the task of restoring the Colonial drafts for handweaving which, handed down by memory and embellished by the fancies of successive generations of weavers, lost many of their original earmarks and intentions. While keeping strictly to the spirit of the old designs and using handlooms in their execution, the Talbots have employed the knowledge of all that modern art has evolved in the way of texture and color, creating hangings, bedspreads, and rugs which lend a charm and storied atmosphere to many a room where the early American traditions still linger. This new hand-weaving is not marred by the shortcomings of the older period.

Colonial embroidery presents an unexplored storehouse of valuable decorative material. Of the designs employed in the needlework of the Colonial period, one writer has said: "Some of the workers evidently studied nature as seen in the forest, or simple gardens which could be created in the wilderness. Others worked in oriental designs, notably the conventionalized palm leaf familiar in Indian shawls and doubtless suggested by some treasures from a sea captain's chest. The French influence, too, was easily discernible, and was probably brought in satins and brocades that found their way across the water even in those troublous times. There are strange leaves and stranger flowers, with now and then a grotesque leaf or butterfly, yet all tinctured with Puritan primness."

The separation of the good old design from its later elaboration with unnecessary spirals and ornaments has been the effort, during twenty years of the Blue and White Society of Deerfield, Massachusetts. To the work they have lent beautiful modern colorings which, had they been accessible, would probably have been the choice of the original needle-woman, and they have also lent to it the strength and character of modern stitchery. Aside from the quaintness of the work, it has many striking decorative qualities which lend themselves well, in wall panels, cushions, and tablecovers, to the decoration of the modern home, and which are still expressive of certain important phases of American life and character.

The methods of rug-making of the early Colonists are being revived to-day and are demonstrating their interesting possibilities when developed in accordance with modern ideas of design and color. Braided rugs are made from strips of rag dyed the required colors, braided and sewed together row after row. They present a close, flatly woven surface and are exceedingly durable. In the modern rugs the center area is usually in a solid color which is worked out into deeper shades of the same and of black. The opportunity for a well-selected gradation of color in the border and for good strong color in the center, together with the unpretentiousness of its character, make these rugs very effective in certain types of decoration.