accustomed to moulding clay or plaster designs in such a manner as to be
readily reproduced in bronze. His slim and graceful statuettes holding
candles or gongs, and other artistically designed objects for household
use, have all a distinctly Viennese character. His charming nude figures
are full alike of childlike innocence and nervous strength, and are
moreover instinct with the spiritual expression which naturally belonged
to their originals. Gurschner's designs for jewellery have very much
the same effect upon a true judge. The great thing distinguishing his
work from that of his contemporaries is the fact that it is modelled
from the living figure, not as is generally the case, from mere
water-colour sketches. The difference cannot fail to strike the most
superficial observer. Elsewhere, colour is often the chief
consideration; with Gurschner it is form.
In modern decorative work, silver is now very largely used and
appreciated. It is her skilful use of this material which has won so
high a position for Elsa Unger, a daughter of the wonderfully successful
etcher, Professor William Unger. Elsa Unger has a very great
predilection for silver, and has attained to rare skill in expressing
herself in that material. She herself knows perfectly well how to deal
with it at every stage of its progress as art material. She can hammer
it out and chisel it; she can engrave it, and combine with it beautiful
_émail à jour_ of soft, harmonious colouring. One of the most noteworthy
peculiarities of Elsa Unger's work is, indeed, her mastery of her
material. She is not content, as are unfortunately most of her
contemporaries, with delegating to others the working out of her
designs, but she herself sees to every detail, doing all the work with
her own hands. Some of her articles, such as gentlemen's studs and
sleeve-links, in beaten silver, relieved with blue enamel, are alike
simple and elegant, and have the rare advantage of being also cheap.
With Elsa Unger may be classed another woman worker in silver, Anna
Wagner, who has produced amongst other tasteful work a beautiful silver
buckle, relieved with enamel. Amongst men who have won a reputation as
skilful workers in silver maybe named E. Holzinger and Franz Mesmer, who
were trained in the same institution as Elsa Unger and Anna Wagner, the
School of Art Craftsmanship connected with the Museum of Vienna, well
known for the thoroughness of the instruction given in it. In this
academy, which was thoroughly reformed a few years ago, and is now under
the able direction of Baron Myrbach, the students learn to esteem skill
in art craftsmanship as it deserves, and become thoroughly familiar with
the materials employed in it. In the course of their training, feeling
for true beauty and elegance is mixed, so to speak, with their very
blood, becoming part of their natures, so that they cannot go far wrong.
Look, for instance, at some of the combs made by Elsa Unger. How
delicately harmonised are the beaten silver and the pale lilac-coloured
enamel, and how well the gracefully curving lines of the two materials
blend with and melt into each other! How chastely effective, moreover,
is the way in which the leaf-motive is worked out in the pins for the
hair designed by Mesmer, and what a happy thought it was to make the
many-coloured half-jewels, or jewels of minor value, emerge as they do
from the beaten silver. These works are, moreover, a very striking
example of how necessity may sometimes become a virtue. The cheapness of
material, so essential in an educational establishment, has not been
allowed to detract in the very slightest degree from the beauty of the
work produced; so that it is possible to have a real work of art, of
which but few examples are produced, at a very low price--say from about
thirty-five shillings; and that work is not a machine-made article, but
one the production of which, by his or her own hand, has been a true
labour of love to the designer, marking a real progress in art culture.
To the Technical Academy of Vienna the architect, Otto Prutscher, and
the painter, V. Schoenthoner, also owe much, but the charm of their work
consists rather in its colour than in its form. Much is to be hoped in
the future from both of these talented artists, and what they have
already produced proves that there has been no sacrifice of
individuality, no cramping of special tendencies, such as is so much to
be deprecated elsewhere, in the training they have received.
Otto Prutscher's necklaces and rings are remarkable alike for the beauty
and harmonious variety of their colouring. He uses enamel to a great
extent, and also quite small precious stones. Very uncommon, too, is the
way in which he employs metal, though only enough of it to hold the
enamel in its place. It would appear as if the artist had in his mind a
vision of the women who are to wear his work, who are too tender and
frail to carry any weight, so that the use of much metal in ornaments
for them would be quite unsuitable. For a Salome or a Queen of Sheba
that sort of thing is scarcely appropriate--but it is done for the
softly nurtured Mignonne of the present day. The little coloured pins
designed by F. Schoenthoner are also noticeable for their elegance and
suitability for the purpose for which they are intended.
A word of unstinted praise must be accorded to the graceful designs of
the talented Fräulein Eugenie Munk, whose skill and good taste have been
devoted to the production of a great deal of very beautiful and refined
jewellery.
I have already spoken of the work in diamonds of Roset and Fischmeister,
and I should like to refer to those two master craftsmen again in
connection with some of their figural ornaments, such as buckles for
belts, rings, studs for shirt fronts and cuffs, etc., worked in dull or
bright gold, all of which I consider worthy to be spoken of as Viennese
works of art. The different masks on the studs, each with its own
individual expression, really display quite remarkable talent in their
designer, for they are not only thoroughly artistic but most amusing
studies in physiognomy. Unfortunately it is impossible to give in
reproductions of such work any true idea of the subtle manner in which
the blue-green colours of the enamels, the gleaming white of the
diamonds, and the pearly opaline tints of the moonstones, harmonize with
each other and with the gold of their setting in the beautiful necklaces
of Messrs. Roset and Fischmeister. The watch-chains for men, with their
finely-modelled and characteristic ornaments, manufactured by the firm
of F. Hofstetter, must also be mentioned on account of the skill with
which the links are interwoven. The pendant is designed from a sketch
made by Professor Stephan Schwartz. Two other designs from the same firm
show very considerable skill.
Very interesting is the way in which the materials are combined in the
belt-buckles by Franz Hauptmann. The water-lily buckle is of greenish
gold, and the enamel, which is of the translucid variety, is also of a
green hue, as are the onyx stones worked into the design. The motive is
the flower and seed of the water-lily, and from the water, represented
in enamel, rise up the delicate flowers in the same material of a snowy
whiteness.
An examination of the sketches of designs for jewellery, reproduced
here, cannot fail to bring one fact forcibly before the mind.
Mechanical repetition is most carefully avoided, and as a result every
example retains its own unique charm--the mark of the artist's hand.
W. FRED.
_Scarf Pin_
V. SCHÖNTHONER
_Scarf Pin_
V. SCHÖNTHONER
_Scarf Pin_
V. SCHÖNTHONER
_Silver Brooch with Enamel_
F. MESMER
_Pendant in Gold, Enamel and Pearls_
OTTO PRUTSCHER
_Silver Brooch with Enamel_
JOSEF HOFSTETTER
_Scarf Pin_
V. SCHÖNTHONER
_Head of Scarf Pin_
V. SCHÖNTHONER
_Head of Scarf Pin_
OTTO PRUTSCHER
_Silver Brooch with Enamel_
F. MESMER
_Gold Brooch with Enamel_
OTTO PRUTSCHER
[Illustration]
[Illustration:
PLATE 1.]
[Illustration: _Necklace of Brilliants_
ROSET & FISCHMEISTER
PLATE 2]
[Illustration: _Jewellery_
ROSET & FISCHMEISTER
PLATE 3]
[Illustration: _Belt-Buckles in greenish Gold, enriched with Onyx Stones
and Enamel_
FRANZ HAUPTMANN
PLATE 4]
[Illustration: FIG. A
FIG. B
FIGS. C & D
_A. Silver Pendant and Chain_
The Chain by J. HOFSTETTER
The Pendant by PROF. SCHWARTZ
_B. A Comb in Silver and Horn_
J. HOFSTETTER
_C and D. Gold Pendants set with Precious Stones_
OTTO PRUTSCHER
PLATE 5 ]
[Illustration: _Jewellery_
OTTO PRUTSCHER
PLATE 6]
[Illustration: FIG. A
FIG. B
FIG. C
_A. Belt and Silver Clasp_
EMIL GRINGOLD
_B and C. Silver-mounted Combs_
ELSA UNGER
PLATE 7 ]
[Illustration:
_Necklace_ E. HOLZINGER & ELSA UNGER
_Threefold Clasp, Upper Central Clasp_ E. HOLZINGER & F. MESMER
_Large Twofold Silver Clasp_ ANNA WAGNER
_Brooches and Links_ E. HOLZINGER, E. UNGER & A. WAGNER
PLATE 8]
MODERN GERMAN JEWELLERY. BY CHR. FERDINAND MORAWE.
[Illustration]
My opportunities of surveying the German jewellery market, and of making
acquaintance with the ins and outs of the jewellers' business, have been
limited; but it is certain that both are flourishing; at least, the
German jewellers do not look as if they starved! Moreover, the demand
for precious ornaments seems to increase year by year, and the display
in the jewellers' windows grows more and more luxurious, as is the case
with most other businesses. Nobody will store superfluous and
unmarketable goods, least of all the jeweller, who is always a business
man. You will be thoroughly aware of this fact if you start discussing
art with him. He is cautious and suspicious of anything in the shape of
novelty. He seems to say to himself: "This artist has ideas; he wants to
show something new; but we cannot agree with these ideas, for we do not
know if we shall be able to do business." This is a great pity, for the
trade in women's ornaments offers more artistic scope than almost any
other. It is not enough nowadays just to set some nicely polished stones
neatly, or to be so lavish of material that the ornament produced
represents an immense value; for the result will probably be something
not at all artistic. Indeed, this generally occurs. The lot of the
artist who designs women's ornaments is not a happy one, and it is
almost like a message from heaven when a jeweller tells him that he will
really condescend to carry out an original design. Even then he must
sometimes put up with the fact that his design, which was intended for
one person or purpose only, is repeated, like a manufactured article, a
hundred and a thousand times again.
Happily there are some artists in Germany, as in England, France, and
Belgium, who are above the fashion, and whose artistic individuality is
so strong that they are bound to succeed in other spheres of art as well
as in that of women's jewellery.
Two of the first to show activity in this direction were the Berlin
artists, Hirzel and Möhring. Both chose for their ornaments the same
manner and methods which Eckmann and his fellow-workers had previously
employed in decorative art; they adhered as closely as possible to
simple natural plant-forms, especially Hirzel. Thallmayr, of Munich, is
still working in the same style, but with more individuality than
Hirzel. Thallmayr will certainly spend his life studying the leaves and
blossoms of the trees and the flowers in his garden, while the other
will doubtless produce new results, departing somewhat from the real
forms of nature. Möhring's works already showed this tendency when he
produced them nearly at the same time as Hirzel his. Subsequently these
artists were occupied less with women's ornaments than with other things
coming within the category of decorative art,--this owing to lack of
intelligence and enterprise on the part of the jewellers and
manufacturers. Tables, chairs, and other necessary household articles
found a much wider market. But we are now dealing exclusively with
women's ornaments. Two circumstances in this connection are very
strange. In the first place, it seems that the artists of the present
time (I speak of Germany) are not successful in designing finger-rings.
Here and there one sees an attempt made to design characteristic shapes,
but the sphere of the ring is so confined that nobody has succeeded in
producing anything really elegant and novel. Mostly one sees extravagant
examples, of confused design. The second peculiar fact is, that one very
seldom finds an artist devoting himself to designing earrings. The whole
artistic movement in relation to women's ornaments is still somewhat
puerile. This may be recognised by the absence of the ear-ring, that
most superior ornament, which, unlike all others, has an independent
language of its own. Although in the list of female ornaments the clasp
and the brooch occupy the foremost place, the pendant for the breast
should not be forgotten. The mission of the pendant is to show by its
fancy and its tastefulness how and in what degree the German is
distinguished from the Englishman and from the Frenchman.
I will mention in this connection two artists living in Germany who are
not Germans, but by their manner of life and work might be such. Both
these artists, in their several ways, will exercise great influence on
the development of our ornaments. I refer to Van der Velde and Olbrich.
It is well known that the first is a Belgian, while the other is a
foreigner, inasmuch as he comes from Austria.
Olbrich's pendants and pins are very characteristic. He takes a hammered
gold-plate, enriches it with precious stones and enamel, and adds a rim
set with long pearls. It is easy to see that he is fond of rummaging
among the treasures of the old cathedrals and convents; he knows the
secret of their effect, and, besides this, he has an extraordinary
talent for inventing new things himself. His jewellery is the best we
have now in Germany, because it is superior to fashions and periods. His
jewels are pure, thoughtful works of art. When worn, they produce a most
sumptuous effect; but their richness has nothing tawdry about it. These
jewels show us how we ought to deck our wives, both at home and at the
theatre; moreover, they suggest things fit for the lady superiors of
religious orders, for abbesses, even for our queens. They show us too
how our burgomasters' chains, with their insignificant crosses and
stars, might be improved. These ideas are perhaps at present as
intangible as a beautiful dream, but that is no reason why we should not
indulge our fancy in this direction. For the moment, however, we must be
satisfied if the jeweller is inclined to carry out our designs.
Looking further among our artists, we find Karl Gross, of Dresden. Mr.
Gross, who formerly lived in Munich, delighted us while there with a
good many beautiful designs for jewellery. He produced not only female
ornaments, but also paper-cutters, seals, and so on. He always displayed
good taste and a fine sense of form, having, like Olbrich, the capacity
to carry out his designs quite independently, without consideration of
his predecessors' effects. A hair-pin of Gross's may be regarded as
quite an independent work, although it relies on an old tradition. Those
artists, indeed, show the most freedom who have adapted the beautiful
examples of past generations.
Examining our new jewellery, we find very little work which has the
appearance of having been done by a strong hand. Most of it in time
becomes unbearably monotonous. Still, it is something that we in Germany
have at least two artists who design in so fresh and characteristic a
manner that their works are always looked at with the greatest interest.
I already have mentioned them--Olbrich and Van der Velde--and I fall
back again upon them, though I have already taken them in consideration.
We have other artists, too, who follow sound principles in other
branches of decorative art. One of the most individual of these is
Riemerschmid, of Munich. Others there are who are nearly on the right
way, but whose personal artistic sense is not broad enough to make them
produce something really good. This general mention is, therefore, all
their work demands.
In addition to finger and earrings our jewellery artists are responsible
for other objects, such as the bracelet, the watch, and the fan. I think
it is very difficult to rescue the bracelet from conventionality. We
must hope the best for the future. But what about watch-cases,
especially those of ladies' watches? This art is quite neglected, not so
much by the manufacturers as by the artists. At this year's Darmstadt
Exhibition there were two watches displayed. One of them had the case
enamelled, if I mistake not, in the form of a chrysanthemum, and on the
other was modelled the figure of one of the "Fates." The effect of the
chrysanthemum watch was fairly good, but the less said about the "Fate"
the better. Why is it not possible to design an ornament with taste and
furnish it with precious stones and enamel? It is the greatest pity that
our sculptors have no imagination. Having arrived at the determination
to think of a watch, the artist has no idea beyond depicting one of the
"Fates" with the thread and the scissors. I said just now that the watch
was neglected less by the manufacturers than by the artists. Nowadays
you may find watches indeed with gaily-coloured cases, but the
decorations are miserable, like everything else that is invented by the
manufacturers. They don't want to pay a good price for the artist's
sketch, and they are proud of the inspiration of their own Muse. In this
case one cannot avoid the conclusion that the artists are themselves to
blame for their neglect of this branch of the jeweller's art.
THE condition of affairs with regard to the fan is also very
astonishing. Why do our artists not supply our ladies with nice fans?
Please do not confound "nice" with "precious." The fan as we know it now
is so utterly "played out" that scarcely anything can be done with it.
New arrangements of the feathers are invented; the handle is trimmed in
different ways; new materials are used, but a really new and artistic
idea cannot be devised. Titian's "Lady with the Fan" is admired; the fan
is known very well, but nobody thinks of making use of it. Meanwhile
another kind of fan is being more and more extensively employed. I refer
to the palm-leaf of the Japanese and the Chinese. People are very fond
of being fanned by these leaves, but nobody observes their artistic
possibilities. An artist who can afford to be independent of mere
fashion is therefore wanted to give new life to the fan. Such an artist
will win lasting success.
[Illustration: FIG. A
FIG. B
_A. Collar Ornament in Gold, Enamel, Onyx, and Brilliants_
_B. Collar Ornament in Gold, Enamel, and Brilliants_
ROBERT KOCH
PLATE 1]
[Illustration: _Gold Pendant, set with Lapis Lazuli, Pearls, and
Rubies_ Designed by JOSEPH M. OLBRICH
_Silver Pendant, set with Bloodstones and a large Pearl_ Executed by D.
& M. LOEWENTHAL
PLATE 2]
[Illustration: _Pendant in Gold, Silver, Enamel, and Pearl_ Executed by
THEODOR FAHRNER
_Gold Pendant set with Amethysts and Pearls_ Executed by D. & M.
LOEWENTHAL
Both designed by J. M. OLBRICH
PLATE 3]
[Illustration: _Gold Brooches_
Designed by HERMANN R. C. HIRZEL
Executed by LOUIS WERNER
PLATE 4]
[Illustration: _Gold Brooches_
Designed by THEODOR VON GOSEN
Executed by "VEREINIGTE WERKSTAETTEN," MUNICH
PLATE 5]
[Illustration: _Gold Brooches_
Designed by BRUNO MÖHRING
Executed by F. H. WERNER
PLATE 6]
[Illustration: FIG. A FIG. B FIG. C
_A and C. Gold Pendants set with a Turquoise_
_B. Gold Pendant set with Turquoises and Moss-Agates_
CHR. FERDINAND MORAWE
PLATE 7]
[Illustration: FIG. A
FIG. B
_A. Silver Brooch set with Turquoise and Enamel_
Executed by THEODOR FAHRNER
_B. Gold Pendant set with Pearls and Sapphires_
Executed by D. & M. LOEWENTHAL
Both designed by JOSEPH M. OLBRICH
PLATE 8]
MODERN BELGIAN JEWELLERY AND FANS. By F. KHNOPFF.
[Illustration]
Recent _Salons_ in Belgium have been notoriously unsuccessful, and it
cannot be disputed that the public is becoming less and less interested
in the large exhibitions of Fine Arts. Notable artists have been
conspicuously absent; new works have been as scarce as old ones have
been abundant; and, lastly, the general arrangements have been
altogether lacking in attractiveness. Despite the violent opposition of
interested persons, official and otherwise, the type of display started
some time ago in Brussels by the "XX" club, and continued by the "Libre
Esthétique" and "Pour L'Art" societies, has succeeded in attracting the
attention of _connoisseurs_ and art lovers generally, with, apparently,
every prospect of retaining it.
The combination of works of painting and sculpture with the most
exquisite productions of ceramic art, glass-ware, and all that is most
delicate in jewellery and goldsmith's work, adds a special attraction to
these exhibitions, which are always looked for with the utmost interest.
It is, indeed, the jewellers, who, among all our Belgian art workers,
have succeeded in making themselves and their productions the best known
and most widely appreciated; the more so as in their case one was able
to compare their works closely and determine their relative merits. It
may truly be said that their most notable characteristic is diversity--a
diversity which is shown, not only by the amateurs, so to speak, but
also among the professionals.
No remarks on Belgian sculpture--particularly in its decorative
sense--are complete without mention being made of Charles Van der
Stappen. True, he has executed but a small number of detached ornaments,
but in the arrangement of the hair in his exquisitely fanciful busts he
has lavished a wealth of fine modelling, the influence of which is still
widely felt.
In the works of M. Paul Dubois we discover the sculptor modelling the
details of his buckles and clasps as he would so many powerful muscles.
M. Fernand Dubois seems to be a _chercheur_ of a more subtle kind; but
this very excess of ingenuity sometimes mars the plastic effect of his
jewels.
From Victor Rousseau we have had so far nothing more than a gold
bracelet. The subject is quite simple--two hands holding a pearl; but
the work is in every way worthy of the young Brussels artist, whom I
regard as one of the most remarkable personalities in the domain of
contemporary Belgian sculpture.
The decorator Van de Velde, who has left Brussels, and is now settled in
Berlin, exhibited at some of the "Libre Esthétique" _salons_ a series of
jewels remarkable for their firm and consistent construction.
The jewels displayed recently by M. Feys are distinguished by grace and
felicitous appropriateness; but even more striking is the perfection of
their execution, which is really extraordinary in its suggestion of
suppleness.
Other jewels displayed recently at the "Libre Esthétique" by M. Morren
and Mlle. de Bronckère also deserve notice.
In the course of a very interesting study on M. Ph. Wolfers, M. Sander
Pièrron, the sagacious Brussels critic, thus described the work of this
remarkable specialist in the "Revue des Arts Décoratifs":--