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_WORKS BY WALTER CRANE_
THE BASES OF DESIGN. With 200 Illustrations, many drawn by the
author. _Third Edition._ Crown 8vo, 6s. net.
LINE AND FORM. A Series of Lectures delivered at the Municipal
School of Art, Manchester. With 157 Illustrations. _Third
Edition._ Crown 8vo, 6s. net.
THE DECORATIVE ILLUSTRATION OF BOOKS, OLD AND NEW. With 165
Illustrations. _Fourth Edition._ Crown 8vo, 6s. net.
LONDON: GEORGE BELL AND SONS
IDEALS IN ART
IDEALS·IN·ART:
PAPERS·THEORETICAL·PRACTICAL·CRITICAL·
BY·WALTER·CRANE·Author·of·“Line&Form”.Et
[Illustration]
LONDON:GEORGE·BELL·&·SONS:1905
CHISWICK PRESS: CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO.
TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.
PREFACE
The collected papers which form this book have been written at
different times, and in the intervals of other work. Most of them
were specially addressed to, and read before the Art Workers’ Guild,
as contributions to the discussion of the various subjects they deal
with; so that they may be described as the papers of a worker in design
addressed mainly to art workers. They are not, however, wholly or
narrowly technical, and the point of view frequently bears upon the
general relation of art to life.
Some of the papers were delivered as lectures to larger audiences, and
others have appeared as articles, mostly in journals devoted to art.
Of the former, the one upon the Arts and Crafts movement was prepared
for and read as one of a series of lectures given during a recent
exhibition of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society, and is now for
the first time printed in its entirety.
The “Thoughts on House-Decoration” was read before the convention of
the National Association of Master Painters and Decorators recently
held at Leicester.
“The Influence of Modern Social and Economic Conditions on the Sense of
Beauty” was the substance of an address at the opening of a debate on
that question at a meeting of the Pioneer Club.
The paper on “The Progress of Taste in Dress” was written for “The
Healthy and Artistic Dress Union,” and appeared in their journal
“Aglaia.” The article on Mr. Chesterton’s book appeared in “The
Speaker”; that on “The Teaching of Art” in “The Art Journal.”
The notes on “Gesso” work appeared in an early number of “The Studio,”
and I have to thank the editor, Mr. Charles Holme, for kindly allowing
me to reprint it here, and also for the loan of the blocks used for the
illustrations, both for this and others of the papers.
My best thanks are also due to Mr. Ernest Gimson for the loan of
photographs of his cottage at Stoneywell; to the Earl of Pembroke for
enabling me to obtain those of the double cube room at Wilton; to Mr.
Charles Rowley, and Mr. Charles W. Gamble of the Municipal School of
Technology, Manchester, for photographs of the Madox Brown frescoes; to
Mr. Augustus Spenser and Mr. FitzRoy, the Principal and the Registrar
of the Royal College of Art, for their help in obtaining for me the
examples of the work of the students given; and to Mr. Arthur P. Monger
for the care he took in photographing them; also to Mr. Kruger of the
Royal College, for the use of his admirable drawing of the decorations
of Westminster Bridge, which appeared in “The Magazine of Art,” and is
now reproduced by permission of Mr. M. H. Spielmann and Messrs. Cassell.
I should like to add a note or two on some of the illustrations, on
other points not commented upon in the papers.
The sketch plan and elevation of a collective dwelling (at page 116),
for which I am indebted to my architect-son, is offered as a suggestion
of what could be done in this way on very simple lines. Each tenant in
such a collective dwelling would have his private house or cottage,
with the advantage of the use of the common dining-hall, and the
service of a collective kitchen; also a general reading-room, and to
these rooms a vaulted way with an open arcade on the side next the
quadrangle would enable each tenant to reach this part of the building
under cover from his own dwelling, which comprises a private garden, as
well as the use of the common quadrangle.
From the architectural point of view grouped dwellings, upon some
such principle as here suggested, would undoubtedly lend themselves
to artistic and pleasant treatment, and would mitigate the depressing
effect of the monotonous rows of squat dwellings intended for our
workers’ homes, and the mean sameness of the streets, which are
spreading around our great towns in every direction, only, it is to be
feared, to form slums in the future.
In regard to Manchester, spoken of on page 119, another practical step
has been taken in the much-needed direction of school-decoration.
Through the public spirit of Mr. Grant, one of her citizens, who has
found money enough to start the work, students of the Municipal School
of Art are enabled to carry out on a large scale mural paintings upon
the upper walls of the class-rooms in one of the principal primary
schools. The subjects have been enlarged from some of my coloured book
designs such as “Flora’s Feast.” Such work might not only be made to
bear most helpfully on the general work of education, but in itself be
an important side of school influence, since by means of large simple
typical mural designs great historical events and personages, as well
as natural form, might be made familiar to the eyes of children at the
same time that their sense of beauty and imaginative faculties were
appealed to.
Local history might in this way be preserved also. In this connection
one was glad to see the other day at Hoxne (the ancient Eagles-dune)
in Suffolk the school-house connected with the history of the place by
having a figure of St. Edmund carved as a finial of the chief gable,
with a relief in stone let into the wall beneath, illustrating the
incident of the saintly king being taken by the Danes at the bridge,
while an inscription mentions that the building marks the spot, and the
date of his death in 870.
WALTER CRANE.
YEW TREE FARM,
_September, 1905_.
CONTENTS
PAGE
OF THE ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT: ITS GENERAL TENDENCY AND
POSSIBLE OUTCOME 1
OF THE TEACHING OF ART 35
OF METHODS OF ART TEACHING 58
NOTE ON TOLSTOI’S “WHAT IS ART?” 69
OF THE INFLUENCE OF MODERN SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS ON
THE SENSE OF BEAUTY 76
OF THE SOCIAL AND ETHICAL BEARINGS OF ART 88
OF ORNAMENT AND ITS MEANING 102
THOUGHTS ON HOUSE-DECORATION 110
OF THE PROGRESS OF TASTE IN DRESS IN RELATION TO ART EDUCATION 171
OF TEMPORARY STREET DECORATIONS 192
OF THE TREATMENT OF ANIMAL FORMS IN DECORATION AND HERALDRY 203
OF THE DESIGNING OF BOOK-COVERS 225
OF THE USE OF GILDING IN DECORATION 237
OF RAISED WORK IN GESSO 247
THE RELATION OF THE EASEL PICTURE TO DECORATIVE ART 265
A GREAT ARTIST IN A LITERARY SEARCHLIGHT 273
INDEX 283
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Page from Blake’s “Songs of Experience” 5
Page from Blake’s “Songs of Innocence” 6
Wood engravings by Edward Calvert 7, 8
Illustrations to Tennyson:
The Ballad of Oriana, by Holman Hunt 9
The Palace of Art, by D. G. Rossetti 10
The Bride (from “The Talking Oak”), by Sir J. E. Millais 11
Manoli, by Frederick Sandys 13
Royal College of Art, Students’ Designs:
Figure Composition, Frederigo Barbarossa, by Lancelot Crane 37
Time Studies, by H. Parr 38, 39
Time Studies of Figures in Action 41
Design and Plan of a Domed Church, by A. E. Martin 42
Design for Tapestry, by E. W. Tristram 43
Design for Embroidery, by Miss E. M. Dunkley 45
Museum Studies in Embroidery, by Miss E. M. Dunkley 46
Sheet of Heraldic Studies, by Miss C. M. Lacey 47
Studies in Counterchange, by W. G. Spooner 49
Studies of Scroll Forms, by W. G. Spooner 51
Studies of Plant Forms, by W. G. Spooner 53
Pen Drawings, by H. A. Rigby 55, 57
Cabinet, designed and decorated in Gesso, by J. R. Shea 59
Group of Pottery, designed and executed by the Students 60
Wood Carving, by J. R. Shea 61
Stained Glass Panel, designed and executed by A. Kidd. 62
Frieze, by James A. Stevenson. 63
Page of Text, written by J. P. Bland 65
Panel by Vincent Hill 67
Wentworth Street, Whitechapel 79
Egyptian Hieroglyphics as a Wall Decoration (Temple of Seti,
Abydos) 89
Greek Cylix (Peleus and Thetis) 105
Sketch for Collective Dwelling, by Lionel F. Crane 116
Plan of Collective Dwelling, by Lionel F. Crane 116
Frescoes by Ford Madox Brown in the Town Hall, Manchester 118, 119
View in Bournville 123
Cottages at Bournville, designed by Alex. W. Harvey 123
Interior, 1a, Holland Park, designed by Philip Webb 131
Ranworth Rood Screen, Norfolk (from Drawings by W. T. Cleobury)
133, 134, 135, 137, 138, 139, 141, 143
Lucas van Leyden, “The Annunciation” 145
Carpaccio, “The Dream of St. Ursula” 147
Cottage in the Garden City, Letchworth, Herts, designed
by Lionel F. Crane 149, 150, 151
Stoneywell Cottage, designed by Ernest W. Gimson 153, 155
Old English Farmhouse Interior (from a Sketch by Walter Crane) 157
Combe Bank, Sevenoaks, the Saloon, decorated by Walter Crane 159
Printed Cretonne Hangings, designed by Walter Crane 160, 161
Wall-papers, designed by Walter Crane 163, 164, 165, 167, 168, 169
Greek Drapery (Temple of Nike Apteros, Athens) 173
Types of Artistic Dress 177
Types of Children’s Dress 179
Types of Working Dress 181
Hungarian Peasant Costumes 182, 183
A Contrast. Modern and Mediaeval Simplicity 187
Decoration of Westminster Bridge, by the Students of the Royal
College of Art (from a Coloured Drawing by G. E. Kruger) 195
Suggestion for a Temporary Gatehouse at Temple Bar, by
Walter Crane 197
Temporary Street Decoration 199, 201
Royal Mantle from the Treasury of Bamberg 205
Chasuble from the Cathedral of Anagni 206
Sicilian Silk Patterns (XIVth century)
207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214
Embroidered Tabard in the Archaeological Museum at Ghent
215
Details from the Embroidered Tabard 216, 217, 218
Robe of Richard II (from the picture at Wilton House) 219
The Lions of England, designed by Walter Crane 220
Heraldic Lion, designed by Walter Crane 221
The Lions of England (from the Tomb of William de Valence,
Earl of Pembroke, Westminster Abbey) 222
Equestrian Figure with Heraldic Trappings (from the Tomb of
Edmund Crouchback, Earl of Lancaster, Westminster Abbey) 223
Binding in black morocco, with Medallions and Coat of Arms,
by Thomas Berthelet 227
Binding in black morocco, with Arms of Edward VI, by Thomas
Berthelet 229
Binding in stamped calf, with emblematical designs 231
Binding of oak boards covered with stamped calf, by John Reynes 233
Binding in brown calf, inlaid, by the Wotton Binder 235
Appartamenti Borgia, Vatican, showing Pinturicchio’s
“Salutation,” etc. 238
Detail from Pinturicchio’s “Salutation,” with enrichments in
Gesso 239
Palermo, Cappella Reale (from a Water-colour Sketch by Walter
Crane) 241
The Double Cube Room, Wilton House 243, 245
Method of Working with the Brush in Gesso 249
Filling for Picture Frame in Gesso Duro, designed by Walter
Crane 250
Design for a Bell-pull, modelled in Gesso, by Walter Crane
251
Gesso Panel, design for the Art Workers’ Guild, by Walter Crane 253
The Dance (Frieze Panel in Gesso), designed by Walter Crane
254
Picture Frame in Oak with Gesso filling, designed by Walter
Crane 255
Treatment of Form in Gesso Decoration, by Walter Crane 256
System of Modelling with the Brush in Gesso 257
Gesso Decoration at 1a, Holland Park, by Walter Crane, the
woodwork by Philip Webb 258, 259, 260, 261
Panel in Gesso, tinted with lacquers and lustre paint, designed
by Walter Crane 262
Panel in Gesso, tinted with lacquer, designed by Walter Crane 263
Pictorial Decoration (Ducal Palace, Venice) 271
“Love and Death,” by G. F. Watts, R.A. 275
“Sir Galahad,” by G. F. Watts, R.A. 277
“Hope,” by G. F. Watts, R.A. 279
IDEALS IN ART
OF THE ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT: ITS GENERAL TENDENCY AND POSSIBLE
OUTCOME
It seems a strange thing that the last quarter of the nineteenth--or
what I was going to call our machine-made--century should be
characterized by a revival of the handicrafts; yet of the reality of
that revival there can now be no manner of doubt, from whatever point
we date its beginnings, or to whomsoever we may trace its initiation.
Indeed, it seems to me that the more we consider the characteristics
of different epochs in the history of art, or of the world, the less
we are able to isolate them, or to deal with them as phenomena by
themselves, so related they seem to what has gone before them, and to
what succeeds them, just as are the personalities associated with them;
and I do not think this movement of ours will prove any exception to
this rule.
Standing as we do on the threshold of a new century--which so often
means a new epoch in history, if not in art--it may, perhaps, be
allowable to look back a bit, as well as forward, in attempting a
general survey of the movement. Like a traveller who has reached a
certain stage of his journey, we look back over the region traversed,
losing sight, in such a wide prospect, and in the mists of such a far
distance, of many turns in the road, and places by the way, which at
one time seemed important, and only noting here and there certain
significant landmarks which declare the way by which we have come.
To take a very rapid glance at the phases of decorative art of the past
century, we see much of the old life and traditions in art carried on
from the eighteenth century into the early years of the nineteenth,
when the handicrafts were still the chief means in the production of
things of use or beauty. The luxurious excess of the later renascence
forms in decoration, learned from France and Italy (though adopted in
this country with a certain reserve), corrected by a mixture of Dutch
homeliness, and later by French empire translations of Greek and Roman
fashions in ornament, often attained a certain elegance and charm in
the gilded stucco mirror frames and painted furniture of our Regency
period, which replaced the more refined joinery, veneer, and inlaid
work of Chippendale and his kinds.
Classical taste dominated our architecture, striving hard to become
domesticated, but looking chilly and colourless in our English gray
climate, as if conscious of inadequate clothing.
This Greco-Roman empire elegance gradually wore off, and turned
to frigid plainness in domestic architecture, and to corpulency in
furniture, as the middle of the century was approached, when the old
classical tradition in furniture, handed on from Chippendale, Sheraton,
and Hepplewhite, seemed to be suddenly broken into by wild fancies and
fantastic attempts at naturalism in carving, combined with a reckless
curvature of arms and legs supporting (or supported by) springs and
padding. Drawing-rooms revelled in ormolu and French clocks, vast
looking-glasses, and the heavy artillery of polished mahogany pianos,
while Berlin-wool-work and anti-macassars in crochet took possession of
any ground not occupied by artificial flowers, and other wonders, under
glass shades.
The ’51 Exhibition was the apotheosis of mid-nineteenth century
taste, or absence of taste, perhaps. The display of industrial
art and furniture then, to judge from illustrated catalogues and
journals of the period, seemed to indicate that ideas of design and
craftsmanship were in a strange state. The new naturalism was beginning
to assert itself, but generally in the wrong place, and in all sorts
of unsuitable materials. Those were the days when people marvelled
at the skill of a sculptor who represented a veiled figure in marble
so that you could almost see through the veil!--but that was “Fine
Art.” Industrial art was in a very different category, yet it was
influenced by fine art, and, generally, greatly to its disadvantage. We
had vignetted landscapes upon china and coalboxes, for instance, and
Landseer pictures on hearth-rugs--and our people loved to have it so.
These things were done, and more also, in the ordinary course of trade,
which flourished exceedingly, and no one bothered about design. If
furniture and fittings were wanted, the upholsterer and ironmonger did
the rest.
Yet was it not in the “fifties” that Alfred Stevens made designs
for iron grates? so that there must have been _one_ artist, at any
rate, not above giving thought to common things. Designers like
Alfred Stevens, and his followers Godfrey Sykes and Moody, certainly
represented in their day a movement inspired chiefly by a study of
the earlier renascence, and an honest desire to adapt its forms to
modern decoration. Their work, though suffering--like all original
work--deterioration at the hands of imitators, showed a search for
style and boldness of contour and line, touched with a certain refined
naturalism which gives the work of Alfred Stevens and his school a very
distinct place. It was mainly a sculptor’s and modeller’s movement, and
represented a renascence revival in modern English decorative art; and
through the work of Godfrey Sykes and Moody, in association with the
government schools of art, it had a considerable effect upon the art of
the country.
But I think many and mixed elements contributed to the change of
feeling and fashion which came about rather later, in which perhaps may
be traced the influence of modes of thought expressing themselves also
in literature and poetry, as well as the study of different models in
design.
[Illustration: Page from Blake’s “Songs of Experience”]
[Illustration: Page from Blake’s “Songs of Innocence”]
[Illustration: Wood Engravings by Edward Calvert
The Return Home]
[Illustration: Ideal Pastoral Life]
[Illustration: The Chamber Idyll]
[Illustration: Wood Engravings by Edward Calvert
The Flood]
[Illustration: The Lady and the Rooks]
[Illustration: The Brook]
One cannot forget that the early years of the nineteenth century
were illuminated by the inspiration and clearness of inner vision
were expressed in so individual a form with such fervour of poetic
feeling and social aspiration, both in verse and design, in the books
engraved and printed by himself which remain the remarkable monument
of his neglected genius.
[Illustration: Illustrations to Tennyson
“The Ballad of Oriana.” By Holman Hunt]
The group of artists associated with him, too, such as Edward Calvert
and Samuel Palmer, marked an epoch in English poetic illustration,
associated with wood engraving and printing, of very distinct character
and beauty, the influence of which may be seen at the present day in
some of the woodcuts of Mr. Sturge Moore.
The more conscious classical designs of Flaxman and Stothard were
colder, but graceful, and mark a period from which we seem more widely
separated than from others more remote, yet seemingly nearer in
sentiment.
[Illustration: Illustrations to Tennyson
“The Palace of Art.” By D. G. Rossetti]
Quite a different kind of sentiment was fostered by the writings of
Scott upon which so many generations have been fed, but they had
their effect in keeping alive the sense of romance and interest in
the life of past days, still further enlightened by the researches of
antiquarians, and the increased study of the Middle Ages, and above
all of Gothic architecture. All these must be considered as so many
tributary streams to swell the main current of thought and feeling
which carried us on to the artistic revival of our own times.
[Illustration: Illustrations to Tennyson
The Bride (from “The Talking Oak”). By Sir J. E. Millais]
The poetry of Tennyson, with its sense of colour, sympathy with art and
nature, and the romance of the historic past, its thoroughly English
feeling, and its revival of the Arthurian Legend, and its association
(in the Moxon edition of 1857) with the designs of some of the leading
pre-Raphaelite painters must be counted if not as a very strong
influence upon, at least as an evidence and an accompaniment of that
movement.
The names of Ford Madox Brown, of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, of William
Holman Hunt, at once suggest artists of extraordinary individuality,
remarkable decorative instinct, and carefulness for, and scholarly
knowledge of, beautiful and significant accessories of life, of which
all have not only given evidence in their own craft of painting, but
also as practical designers.
The name of another remarkable artist must be mentioned, that of
Frederick Sandys, contemporary with the pre-Raphaelites, imbued
with their spirit, and following their methods of work. A wonderful
draughtsman and powerful designer, who in all his work shows himself
fully alive to beauty of decorative design in the completeness, care,
and taste with which the accessories of his pictures and designs are
rendered. His powers of design and draughtsmanship are perhaps best
shown in the illustrations engraved on wood which appeared in “Once a
Week,” “The Cornhill Magazine,” and elsewhere, which were shown with
the collections of the artist’s work at the International Society’s
last exhibition at the New Gallery, and at the Winter Exhibition at
Burlington House in the present year (1905).
[Illustration: Manoli. By Frederick Sandys
From “The Cornhill Magazine”]
In some quarters it appears to be supposed that the pre-Raphaelite
movement consisted entirely of Rossetti, and that to explain its
development you have only to add water--or caricature. It is
extraordinary to think in what uncritical positions professional
critics occasionally land themselves.
I cannot understand how any candid and fairly well-informed person can
fail to perceive that the pre-Raphaelite movement was really a very
complex movement, containing many different elements and the germs of
different kinds of development in art.
If it was primitive and archaic on one side, it was modern and
realistic on another, and again, on another, romantic, poetic, and
mystic; or again, wholly devoted to ideals of decorative beauty.
The very names of the original members of the brotherhood, to say
nothing of later adherents, suggest very marked differences of
temperament and character, and these differences were reflected in
their art.
The stimulating writings of Ruskin must also be counted a factor in the
movement, in his recognition of the fundamental importance of beautiful
and sincere architecture and its relation to the sister arts: in his
enthusiasm for truer ideals both in art and life: in the ardent love of
and study of nature so constantly, so eloquently expressed throughout
his works.
Despite all controversial points, despite all contradictions--mistakes
even--I think that every one who has at any time of his life come under
the influence of Ruskin’s writings must acknowledge the nobility of
purpose and sincerity of spirit which animates them throughout.
It is the fashion now in some quarters to undervalue his influence, but
at all events it was at its best a wholesome and stimulating influence,
provocative of thought, and no man must be held accountable for the
mistakes or misapplications of his followers--the inevitable Nemesis of
genius.
It was an influence which certainly had practical results in many ways,
and not least must be counted its influence upon the life, opinions
and work of the man to whose workshop is commonly traced the practical
revival of sincere design and handicraft in modern England--I need
hardly say I mean William Morris.
It is notable that at the outset the initiation of that practical
revival was due to a group of artists, including the names already
mentioned, and although in later days the practical direction of
the work fell into the hands of William Morris, the fact that the
enterprise had the sympathy and support of the leading artists of the
pre-Raphaelite School must not be forgotten.
Indeed, it is said that the initiative or first practical proposal
in the matter came from D. G. Rossetti, and it must be remembered
that originally the main object of the firm was to supply their own
circle with furniture and house decorations to suit their own tastes,
though the operations were afterwards extended to the public with
extraordinary success. The work, too, of the group was strengthened on
the architectural side by such excellent designers as Mr. Philip Webb,
who, in addition to architectural and constructive work of all kinds
is remarkable for the force and feeling of his designs of animals used
in decorative schemes, both in the flat and in relief.
The hare and hound in the frieze of the dining-room at South Kensington
Museum are early works of his, as well as the woodwork of the room.
The study of mediaeval art had, however, been going on for many years
before, and books of the taste and completeness of those of Henry Shaw,
for instance, had been published, dealing with many different provinces
of decorative art, from alphabets to architecture. The well engraved
and printed illustrations of these works afforded glimpses even to the
uninitiated of the wonderful richness, invention and variety of the
art of the Middle Ages--so long neglected and misunderstood--while
the treasures of the British Museum in the priceless illuminated
manuscripts of those ages were open to those who would really know what
mediaeval book-craft was like.
Then, too, the formation of the unrivalled collections at South
Kensington, and the opportunities there given for the study of
very choice and beautiful examples of decorative art of all kinds,
especially of mediaeval Italy and of the earlier renascence, played a
very important part both in the education of artists and the public,
and helped with other causes to prepare the way for new or revived
ideas in design and craftsmanship.
The movement went quietly on at first, confined almost exclusively to a
limited circle of artists or artistically-minded people. It grew under
the shadow of the atrocious Franco-British fashions of the sixties, now
(or recently) so much admired, crinolines and all, in some quarters,
because I suppose they are so old-fashioned.
Independent signs of dissatisfaction with current modes, however, were
discernible here and there. It was, I think, about this time that Mr.
Charles L. Eastlake (late Keeper of the National Gallery) who was
trained as an architect, published a book called “Hints on Household
Taste,” in which he says somewhere: “Lost in the contemplation of
palaces we have forgotten to look about us for a chair.” This seemed to
indicate a reaction against the exclusive attention then given to what
were called “the Fine Arts.”
Associations were formed for the discussion of artistic questions of
all kinds, and I mind me of a certain society of art students which
used to meet in the well-known room at No. 9, Conduit Street, the
existence of which indicated that there were thought and movement in
the air among the younger generation and new ideas were on the wing,
many of them carrying the germs of important future developments. Even
outside Queen Square there were certain designers of furniture and
surface decorations not wholly absorbed by trade ideals, who maintained
a precarious existence as decorative artists.
There were architects, too, of such distinction and character as Pugin,
William Burges, and Butterfield, who were fully alive to the value of
mediaeval art, and were bold experimenters as well as scholars and
enthusiasts in their revival of the use of mural decoration in colour.
Mr. Norman Shaw’s work, which has so much influenced the newer
architectural aspects of London, comes later, and is more distinctly
and intimately related to our movement, which it may here be said has
owed much of its strength to its large architectural element.
There were, of course, builders and decorators in those days, but
the genus “decorative artist” was a new species as distinct from the
painter and paper-hanger.
While these, and the historic, the landscape, the animal, and _genre_
painter had their exhibitions, were recognized, and some of them duly
honoured at times, decorative artists and designers may be said to have
had nowhere to lay their heads--in the artistic sense--so they laid
their heads together!
The immediate outcome of this sympathetic counsel took the form of
fireside discussions by members of a society of decorative artists
founded by Mr. Lewis F. Day, strictly limited in number, called “the
Fifteen.” This small society was in course of time superseded, or
rather absorbed, by a larger body known as the Art Workers’ Guild,
which contained architects, painters, designers, sculptors, and
craftsmen of all kinds, and grew and increased mightily; it has since
thrown out a younger branch in the Junior Art Workers’ Guild.
Guilds, or groups of associated workers were also formed for the
practice and supply of certain handicrafts, and societies like that of
the Home Arts and Industries Association organized village classes in
wood-carving, pottery, metal-work, basket-making, turning, spinning,
and weaving linen, embroidery, and other crafts.
These efforts, mostly due to a band of enthusiastic amateurs, must
all be counted, if not always satisfactory in their results, yet as
educational in their effects, and as creating a wider public interested
in the handicraft movement, and therefore as adding impetus to that
movement, which in 1888--the year of our own society’s foundation--even
rose to the height of--or extended to the length of--a “National
Association for the Advancement of Art in Relation to Industry” (such
was its title) which actually held congresses in successive years in
Liverpool, Edinburgh, and Birmingham--as if they were scientists or
sectarians. Members of our society were more or less connected with
these developments.
All this time we had, as we still have, a Royal Academy of Arts. But
somewhere in the early eighties arose certain bold, bad men who--not
satisfied with an annual picture-show of some two thousand works or
so, always fresh--desired to see a national exhibition of art which
should comprise not only paintings, sculpture, and architectural
water-colours, but some representation of the arts and handicrafts of
design.
Another plank in this artistic platform was the annual election of
a selection and hanging committee out of and by the whole body of
artists in the kingdom. This movement attracted a considerable number
of adherents, largely among the rising school of painting, until it
was discovered that several of the leaders desired to belong to the
garrison of the fortress they proposed to attack.
The Arts and Crafts section of this movement, mostly members of the
Guild aforesaid, seeing their vision look hopeless in that direction,
then withdrew, and formed themselves into the present Arts and Crafts
Exhibition Society, with power to add to their number. And I think they
gathered to themselves all the artists and craftsmen of standing who
were sympathetic and willing to subscribe to their aims.
We may note here that since the directors of the Grosvenor Gallery in
its Winter Exhibition of 1881 arranged a collection of designs for
decoration, including cartoons for mosaic, tapestry, and glass, no
attempt to show contemporary work of the kind had been made.
We were, however, but few at first, and but few of us widely known, and
with limited influence. William Morris and Burne-Jones did not join
us until we had fairly organized ourselves and defined our programme,
though their works from the first have enriched our exhibitions.
The initial steps were laborious and difficult and the process of
organization slow, each step being carefully debated. Suitable premises
seemed at one time impossible to procure, the demands of an ordinary
picture-gallery being by no means suited to the mixed displays of an
arts and crafts exhibition, so little so, indeed, that it was proposed
to hire a large old-fashioned London mansion in order to group our
exhibits in better relation.
Time, however, seemed to help us somewhat, as, during the period of our
formation the New Gallery was opened--emerging in marble and gilding
from its whilom dusty chrysalis as an abandoned meat market--and here,
in the autumn of 1888, as may be remembered, supported by a courageous
list of guarantors we opened our first exhibition.
I think we were fully conscious that an exhibition is at the best
necessarily a very imperfect thing, and should probably even agree
that it was a necessary evil. An exhibition of such various elements
as an arts and crafts show brings together has its own particular
difficulties.
One cannot place fragmentary pieces of decorative art in their proper
relation, and relation is of the essence of good decorative art.
We are driven to a sort of compromise, finding practical difficulties
in the way of logical systems--such as the grouping according to
_kind_, or the grouping according to _authorship_--and have resorted
to a mixed method with a view to the best decorative ensemble with the
materials at hand--with the result, I fear, of hurting the feelings of
nearly everybody concerned--but that is the common fate of exhibition
committees.
Having had the honour of being president during the first three years
of the society’s existence I had occasion to state its objects and
principles as far as I understood them, and as these are set forth in
our Book of Essays it does not seem necessary to repeat what is there
written, but a short re-statement of the chief points may not be out of
place here.
We desired first of all to give opportunity to the designer and
craftsman to exhibit their work to the public for its artistic interest
and thus to assert the claims of decorative art and handicraft to
attention equally with the painter of easel pictures, hitherto almost
exclusively associated with the term art in the public mind.
Ignoring the artificial distinction between Fine and Decorative art,
we felt that the real distinction was what we conceived to be between
good and bad art, or false and true taste and methods in handicraft,
considering it of little value to endeavour to classify art according
to its commercial value or social importance, while everything
depended upon the spirit as well as the skill and fidelity with which
the conception was expressed, in whatever material, seeing that a
worker earned the title of artist by the sympathy with and treatment
of his material, by due recognition of its capacity, and its natural
limitations, as well as of the relation of the work to use and life.
We sought to trace back ornament to its organic source in constructive
necessity.
We asserted the principle that the Designer and Craftsman should be
hand in hand, and work _head_ with hand in both cases, so that mere
redundancy of ingenious surface ornament on the one hand, or mechanical
ingenuity in executive skill on the other, should not be considered as
ends in themselves, but only as means to ends, neither the one nor the
other being tolerable without controlling taste.
But how assign artistic credit to nameless workers? One can
hardly expect artistic judgement and distinction without artistic
responsibility, and, according to the usual methods of industrial
exhibitions, individual designers and craftsmen were concealed under
the general designation of a firm.
We therefore asked for names of responsible executants--those who had
contributed in any way to the artistic character of the work.
This seemed a simple and obvious request, but there has probably
been more difficulty over this one point than over any other of our
programme.
But here we encounter the sharp corner of an economic question, as
is so often the case in pursuing a question of principle in art--a
question touching the position and artistic freedom of the workman.
A workman, one perhaps of many who contribute to the production of
a piece of modern craftsmanship, is in the hands of the firm that
exhibits the work. It is to the commercial interest of the firm to be
known as the producer of the work, and it must be therefore out of good
nature or sense of fairness, or desire to conform to our conditions,
when the name of the actual workman is given, who so long as he is in
the employ of a firm is supposed to work exclusively in that firm’s
interest. Complaints have been made that the workman whose name is
given on an exhibited work may be tempted away to work for a rival
firm,--an interesting illustration of the working of our system of
commercial competition.
Yet, if a workman is worthy of his hire, the good craftsman is surely
worthy of due personal credit for his skill, and if superior skill
has a tendency to increase in market value, we need not be surprised,
either as employers or private artists, seeing that in either case _we_
should consider it fair to avail _ourselves_ of such increase.
I think the question must be honestly faced. As it is, owing to
accidents, intentional omissions, or inadvertencies, our cataloguing
in this respect has not been so complete as one could wish, and we
are necessarily dependent in respect to these particulars upon our
exhibitors.
Our exhibition for the first three years was _annual_. With the
election of William Morris as President a change of policy came in,
and it was considered advisable to limit ourselves to triennial
exhibitions. This was partly because the organization of a yearly
exhibition put a considerable strain and responsibility upon a
voluntary executive, and consumed a considerable amount of the thought
and time of working artists; partly also from the consideration that
more interesting shows would result if held after a three years’
interval, giving time for the production of important work. It must be
said, however, that artistic production of constructive and decorative
work was then in fewer hands, and it was impossible to foresee the
increase of activity in the arts and crafts, or the steady support of
an interested, if comparatively limited, public which we have enjoyed.
Looking back at the general character of our exhibitions, it is
interesting to note certain lines of evolution in the development of
design and the persistence of certain types of design. Now even in
the work of a single artist, the character of his design is seen to
undergo many changes in the course of his career, as he comes under
various different influences. Some are more, some are less variable,
but a man’s youthful work differs considerably from his mature work, as
his later work will again differ from his mature work. While there is
life there must be movement, growth, and change, let us tie ourselves
down as narrowly as we will. But even apart from this, the process of
evolution may be seen and felt in the conception and construction of
a design before it finally leaves our hands. We get the germ of an
idea, and in adapting it to its material and purpose it is necessarily
modified. Even in the character and quality of its line and mass it is
added to or taken away from in obedience to our sense of what is fit
and harmonious.
If, then, this process takes place with the individual, how much more
with many individuals developing either on one line or many? How much
more shall we discern this trend of evolution in the sum and mass of
work after the passage of years?
To the superficial observer the work of a group of men more or less in
sympathy in general aim is apt to be labelled all alike, whereas among
that very group we may discern tendencies and sympathies in reality
most diverse.
Now it seems as regards general tendencies in design in our movement
that, after a period of a rich and luxuriant development of ornament, a
certain reaction has taken place in favour of simplicity and reserve.
It is probably a perfectly natural desire for repose after a period of
excitement. And even where pattern is used the character of the form is
much more restricted and formal as a rule. There is a tendency to build
upon rectangular or vertical lines and to allow larger intermediary
spaces.
The same desire for severity and simplicity in a more marked degree
is to be observed in furniture design and construction. In fact,
throughout all the recent work in the larger kinds of decoration
and craftsmanship, this aim at simplicity and severity of line and
general treatment is pronounced. This probably reflects the same
feeling observable in recent domestic architecture, wherein a search
for proportion and style, with simplicity of line and mass seem to
influence the designer, and an appropriate use of materials rather
than ornamental detail. But in one direction richness and artistic
fancy seems to have found a new field, and it is a province which in
our earlier exhibitions had hardly any representation at all, I mean
jewellery and gold and silversmith’s work and the art of enamelling,
which show an extraordinary development, and may be claimed as a
distinct and direct result of the new artistic impulse in the
handicrafts. In these arts there is obviously very great scope for
individuality of treatment, for invention, for fancy, and taste.
It was in the year 1887 that, at the invitation of Mr. Armstrong (the
then Director for Art at the Science and Art Department) a French
artist-craftsman (the late M. Louis Dalpeyrat of Limoges[1]) gave a
series of demonstrations in enamelling at the South Kensington schools.
Among the band of interested students was Mr. Alexander Fisher, who
took up the work seriously; his accomplishment is so well known and
so many workers in enamelling owe their first instruction to him that
he has been called the father of the recent English revival in this
beautiful craft.
[1] I am indebted to Mr. Armstrong for some interesting
particulars as to this. It appears that M. Louis Dalpeyrat
was employed to make copies of some of the pieces of
enamel in the South Kensington Museum, which he did very
skilfully, and these copies were used for circulation
among provincial museums and schools of art. Mr. Armstrong
obtained sanction for M. Dalpeyrat to give a series of
demonstrations in enamelling to a class of twelve students
from the National Art Training School (now the Royal
College of Art), and these were given in the metallurgical
laboratory in the College of Science, where the plaques
were fired, Prof. Roberts Austen having given permission.
There was no grant at that time for technical instruction.
I ventured to say on some occasion in the early days of our movement
that “We must turn our artists into craftsmen, and our craftsmen into
artists.”
Well, certainly the first part of the sentence has been fulfilled
in a remarkable way, since the movement is chiefly notable for the
number of artists who have become craftsmen in a variety of different
materials.
In the second, transformation has not taken place to the same extent,
which may, perhaps, be more or less accounted for by the consideration
of those economic questions before spoken of, in so far as they apply
to the workman.
As a rule the workman has been specialized for a particular branch of
work, or a particular subdivision of a branch of workmanship; he seldom
can acquire an all-round knowledge of a craft, and is seldom able to
take a complete or artistic view of his work, as a whole, as he never
produces a complete whole under the conditions of the modern workshop
or factory.
Then, too, English workmen have been trained to look upon mechanical
perfection and mechanical finish as the ideal, and it is impossible to
set up a different ideal in a short time.
It must be remembered, also, that, as a class, the modern workman is
engaged in a great economic struggle--an industrial war, quite as
real, and often as terrible in its results as a military one--to raise
his standard of life, or even to maintain it amid the fluctuations of
trade, and, as a rule, he is not in a position to cultivate his taste
in art.
Let us hope that the new schools of design under the Technical
Education Board will have their effect, as they undoubtedly offer new
and better practical opportunities to young craftsmen than have been
available before.
Such schools as the Central School of Arts and Crafts, under the
London County Council, may be regarded as a direct outcome of the
movement, and it is a remarkable fact that its teachers are composed
principally of members of our society and committee, to whom the
organization of the classes was due.
Besides, if the artist has learned of the craftsman, there must be a
good deal of education going on quietly in the studios and workshops of
those aforesaid artist-craftsmen, wherein the craftsman learns in his
turn of the artist, and here again must spring good results.
Sound traditions of design and workmanship should be of enormous help
in starting students on safe paths, and preventing that painful process
of _un_learning from which so many earnest students and artists have
suffered in our days. Such traditions, however, should never be allowed
to crystallize or hinder new thought and freedom of invention within
the limits of the material in which the designer works, for living art
exhibits a constant growth and evolution; and though in some cases the
process of evolution in an artistic life may appear to take rather the
form of degeneration, the important thing is to preserve life with its
principle of growth, without losing balance, and above all, sense of
fitness and beauty.
If beauty and utility are our guides in all design and handicraft, we
can hardly go wrong. If our design is organic both in itself and in
its incorporation with constructive necessity--if it, springing out of
that necessity, expresses the joy of the artist, and is truly the crown
of the work, making the dumb material vocal with expressive line and
form, or colour, it must at least be a thing having life, character,
sincerity, and these are important elements in the expression of new
beauty.
Along with the formation of discussion clubs and societies of designers
and craftsmen, the tendency to form Guilds of Handicraft, whether they
are a new form of commercial enterprise, or consist, as they frequently
do, in the first place, of a group of artists and craftsmen in genuine
sympathy working together with assistants, must be noted as another
sign of the influence of the movement; as also the influence of certain
types of design upon ordinary trade production.
It is even asserted that--I quote from a trade journal on a recent
Arts and Crafts exhibition--“the arts and crafts movement has been the
best influence upon machine industry during the past ten years”--that
“while we have sought to develop handicrafts beside it on sound and
independent lines, we have succeeded in imparting something of the
spirit of craftsmanship to the best kind of machine-work bridging
over the former gulf between machinery and tools, and quickening
machine-industry with a new sense of the artistic possibilities that
lie within its own proper sphere.”
Let us hope so, indeed.
Certainly we cannot hope that the world, just yet, will beat its swords
into ploughshares, or its spears into pruning-hooks, still less that
it will return to local industry and handicraft for all the wants
of life, or look solely to the independent artist and craftsman to
make its house beautiful. The organized factory and the great machine
industries will continue to work for the million, as well as for the
millionaire, under the present system of production; but, at any rate,
they can be influenced by ideas of design, and it must be said that
some manufacturers have shown themselves fully alive to the value of
the co-operation of artists in this direction. Those who desire and can
command the personal work of artists in design and handicraft are now
able to enlist it, and this demand is likely to increase, and therefore
industrial groups or guilds of this kind may increase.