for the purpose of improvement in making statuary. The arts declined
when Europe was overrun by barbarous tribes, but in the eleventh century
began to recover, and in 1350 several painters, sculptors, and
architects formed an academy of design at Florence. In Paris there are
seven schools of design for males, and two for females, supported by the
city. There are seventy schools of design in Great Britain, and there is
an annual exhibition of their work in London, where premiums are
awarded. It is about twenty years since the schools were commenced in
England. In 1854 nearly I,500 students had been educated in the School
of Arts in Edinburgh. There are schools of design in New York,
Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Boston. The object of these schools is to
give a knowledge of some industrial branches of the fine arts. "The
greater part of the higher order of designs are practically unavailable,
for want of knowledge, on the part of the designer, of the conditions of
the particular manufacture in question. The economic possibility and
aptitude are not studied; and hence, the manufacturers say, an enormous
waste of thought, skill, and industry. This want supplied, a field of
industry practically boundless would be opened to female artists, as
well as artisans; and it would be an enlightened policy to look to this
while the whole world seems to be opening its ports to our productions."
Mrs. Alice B. Havens writes of the school of design in Philadelphia:
"When novelty and jealousy shall have ceased to excite envy and
suspicion among those who would keep our sex from honest independence, a
wide sphere of employment will be opened by this and similar
institutions to educate intelligent women; for surely, if English
manufacturers are not content to be under the control of foreign
influence, our own countrymen can never be." The largest class of wood
engravers is in the school of New York; the largest for designing on
wall paper, in Philadelphia. More time has been devoted to instruction
in drawing in the New York than the Philadelphia school. Without some
practice in drawing, nothing can be accomplished in either wood
engraving or designing. Designing, in some of its branches, is taught in
all of the schools. Designs for paper hangings, calicoes, and wood
engraving receive most attention. Designs for carpets, silks, ribbons,
furniture, lace, plated ware, silver, jewelry, &c., have received but
little, if any attention--those for casts and moulds, no more. If women
of taste and cultivation attain superiority in designing, we doubt not
they will reap a very fair harvest for their work. Lithography, wood
engraving, drawing and painting, are also taught in schools of design.
There are now in the school of design, New York, between 200 and 300
pupils: some are wood engravers, some designers, and some painters. "The
earnings of the pupils in the classes of drawing and engraving are as
varied as their skill and experience, but are about the same as those of
men who have been at those branches of art the same length of time.
Engravers and designers are generally qualified to work on orders the
second year of their practice. With industry and the use of their _whole
time_ during school hours, pupils may expect an increase of about a $100
a year for several years. The income from the branches of art taught in
the school must always be proportioned to the talent, experience, habits
of application, and rapidity of hand shown by the artist. The engravers
in the school who best understand drawing have the best work, and even
the highest wages. The pupils have the entire benefit of their
earnings." "At Lyons, France, the manufacture of divers stuffs absorbs
the hands of thousands of men and women; but the men, only, enjoy the
privilege of inventing combinations of forms and colors destined to
inveigle the eyes of fashionable caprice." In the school of design,
Philadelphia, a charge of $9 per quarter is made to amateur pupils for
instruction, and a charge of $4 per quarter to professional pupils. In
the school of design, New York, a charge of $4 per quarter is made to
pupils who acquire instruction as an accomplishment: to those fitting
for a profession, no charge is made. A lady teacher in the New England
school of design had a salary of $400. We will copy an article placed at
our disposal on the artistic employments of women in America. It was
written by a former principal of the school of design in Boston: "The
artistic employments of women in this country may be divided into three
classes: 1st, those devoted to the fine arts; 2d, those engaged in
designing and the business departments of the arts; 3d, teachers of
drawing, painting, &c.--1. Under this head comparatively few will be
found; the number, however, is fast increasing, and as avenues of sale
for their works are found, I doubt not that there will be a marked
improvement both in the quality of their work and in the amount paid for
their labor. Most who pursue this department are confined to portrait
painting or crayon portraits. I have seen beautiful portraits in colored
crayons executed by ladies. I regret to say a comparatively small price
was given, varying from $10 to $25, while works executed by men not a
whit superior in any respect would command from $25 to $50, and even
more.--2. _Designing, and the Business Department of the Art._ This
admits of several divisions, and first we will take designing for
textile materials. When women are engaged in the mills, their labor is
very poorly paid for, compared with the payment made to the other sex. I
know of about twenty women who are so engaged. The prices paid for their
labor varies from $1 to $2 per day--men receiving from $800 to $1,200
and even $1,500 per annum. The difference here, however, is not so
great, when the time given by the two to the necessary study is
compared. Many of the male designers serve an apprenticeship varying
from three to seven years before they are supposed to be fitted to take
the situation of designer in a mill, and even this does not include the
preliminary instruction in the school. Women, on the contrary, after a
year or little more of study, enter the mill on equal terms with the
prepared designer, his pay at the commencement of his engagement usually
being from $1 to $1.50 per day. The employment of women at all in this
department is almost a new thing, and is not yet countenanced to any
great extent. Time, however, will remove all difficulties in the way,
and, by steady perseverance I think woman will be able to show herself
superior to man in this branch, because it is more in her own domain
than in that of man. When the designs of women are presented to
manufacturers and found acceptable, they will command a price equal to
the designs of men. This I speak from experience, having disposed of
designs for silver ware, printed coach linings, coach lace, paper for
walls, calicoes, delaines, and muslins, and other articles of like
nature. These have commanded the same price as the designs of men, but
it is difficult at times to find a market for them. I remember
presenting some designs to a manufacturer, about two years since, which
were very much praised; but when I stated they were made by ladies, at
first it was said to be impossible, and then they sunk in value, were
wrong in the mechanical detail, were not adapted to the purpose for
which they were intended; but, unfortunately for the truth of the latter
statement, they were disposed of to another manufacturer in the same
street, who had formed rather a different idea of the powers of women as
compared with men. A second branch of business art is drawing for
mechanical purposes and patent inventions. There are in this city many
ladies who earn quite a handsome income by drawing for the patent
office, patent agents, &c., the drawings chiefly linear mechanical ones,
the remuneration varying according to ability. Some are paid by the
piece, and others by the day. The day laborers earn from $1 to $2, and
in two instances $2.25 and $2.50 per day. The price of work varies
according to size, intricacy, finish, &c., the rate being nearly that
which men receive, in some instances the same. This requires mechanical
knowledge which is not very often possessed by women, but is a branch of
study that would be found both pleasant and profitable, especially if
they were prepared for it by an elementary course in the public schools.
It is not a branch that admits of much display, and is therefore almost
entirely neglected, or taught in such a way as to be utterly futile for
all practical purposes. A third branch is architectural drawing. I know
of but one instance of a woman pursuing this branch, which is both
delightful, useful, and very profitable. Perhaps there is not any
department of the fine arts to which woman might more successfully
devote herself than to this. Such a devotion of woman's power would tend
to abolish the gross deformities we so often see paraded before our eyes
in the streets, in the form of buildings presenting every possible
incongruity of shape and every perversion of the beauty of form. This
requires much study, but would eventually repay for all the time and
trouble that would be bestowed upon it. A fourth is wood and other
engraving. This commands as high a price as men's labor, when brought
into the market; but when women are employed in engraving
establishments, the grossest injustice is shown them in the inequality
of the payments made. A woman will receive, in the same place, for the
same amount of labor, a sum not exceeding half of that paid to the men
in the same employment. In England this department stands on a perfect
equality as regards sex. The quality of the work being the test of
price, it is the same to men as to women, if the quality is the
same.--3. _Teachers of Drawing and Painting._ This is always most
profitable when pursued independently of the schools. When it is so
pursued, the rate of payment varies from $5 to $25 per quarter, for each
pupil, excepting in the case of very small children, when the prices may
be a trifle lower, but the same would be the case with men as with
women. In most academies the service of teaching in this department is
given by preference to women, and at the same price. When they are
engaged simply as assistants, then a gross inequality begins. A man
would be paid say $200 or $300 per annum for one half day a week--a
woman $100 or $150 at most. The reason for this lies deeper than I can
divine, but in other instances when a lower price is paid, it is
generally the fault of the individual employed. There should, if
possible (and I conceive it to be so), be a fixed rate for teaching a
certain number of pupils, and so much more additional for every one
added: this would give a general rate for all to make their demands
upon. If more branches, or extended time, or any other demand was made
upon the individual teaching, then they would have some standard whereby
to regulate the extra charges. There is only one feature which requires
to be somewhat changed, and that is a tendency to superficiality. Women
oftentimes commence to teach before they themselves have taken more than
the most elementary steps for their own improvement. Time will, however,
regulate this deficiency; and as the resources of improvement open to
all, those who devote themselves to the honorable employment of teaching
will take all proper steps to fit themselves for the office.--There is
no department of the fine arts--painting, sculpture, architecture, or
manufacturing design--in which woman may not run an equal race with man,
if she takes the same trouble and care to fit herself for it, and, when
fitted, is faithful to her own interests and her profession. This will
never be accomplished by schools of design as at present instituted, for
they lose their character and become designing shops. This must be laid
aside, and culture, with a general or specific object, be alone attended
to for the time necessary to learn properly and thoroughly what they are
about to practise. Men and women both, now expect to learn the art of
designing fully in the course of six or twelve months. This can only be
done to a limited extent, depending on the powers of the pupil, the mode
of instruction, and the capacity of the teacher to win and to guide
those committed to his or her care. If the profession is entered upon
with unfitness and want of knowledge, then the prices of labor will be
necessarily reduced to a low scale; if with fitness, and a certainty of
our own capacity, we can demand 'a fair day's pay for a fair day's
work.' The interests of this nation demand the production of native
designs, and whenever her children are fully fitted to produce them, are
competent to put their designs side by side with those of other nations
and challenge a comparison, every other obstacle will dwindle into a
shadow, and every difficulty that now stands in the way of woman's
_natural_ place, in art at least, will be finally removed--to which end
'may God speed the plough.'"
=46. Miscellaneous Designers.= Designing is a peculiar, and more a
natural than a cultivated talent. A few years ago, Miss M. drew on stone
for the New England Glass Company. She received $10 a page, which she
could generally do in four days, working only four hours per day. Two
men had at different times done the work for the company, one receiving
less, and the other more than she. Misses L. and R. drew and designed in
the carpet factory at Lowell. They received $1.25 per day. A young lady
who designed at the Pacific Mills, in Lawrence, was said to receive $3
per day. Miss S., who had given but eighteen months' practice to
drawing, designed for ground and painted glass, and received $6 per
week. Designs for toys, dissected pictures, games, puzzles, &c., are an
appropriate filling up of spare moments for a designer. I was told by an
English seller of embroideries, that, in England, designing and making
patterns for embroideries is a distinct business. He has been at it many
years, and does not feel himself perfect yet. It is not made a distinct
branch in this country yet, because there is not enough of it done. Here
a few primary patterns can be arranged and rearranged so as to answer
all the demands of trade. A great deal of money is expended on
monuments, but there is a want of variety in the designs. A wide field
is here opened to operators in this department. Some designers in Boston
write me: "Only a few ladies are employed in our business, for there are
not many who are willing to devote the time necessary to become
proficient. Some are employed in Europe. The employment is not more
unhealthy than sewing. Women are paid according to their proficiency,
and earn from $3 to $15 per week. Women receive the same compensation as
men, if they do the work as well and as fast, but they ordinarily cannot
do either. They are not paid until they have spent two or three years
learning. A combination of artistic and mechanical talent is required.
The prospect for employment is good. There is not much variation in the
seasons for work. Ten hours is the average time required. There are now
as many in the business as can find lucrative or constant employment. It
requires not less than five years, generally more, to be a fair general
workman in this business. Boston, New York, and Philadelphia are about
the only places where there is a demand for designers. A first-class
education and cultivated taste are absolutely necessary to success."
=47. Designers for Calico Prints.= This employment is well adapted to
women. It requires taste and ingenuity. Its labors are light, but rather
confining. A person of lively fancy and nice powers of discrimination
succeeds best. The gay, rich, dark colors of winter clothing are not
suitable for summer; nor are the light, delicate ones of summer suitable
for winter clothing. This inviting field of labor, now that it is
unbarred to woman, we hope will be well improved. Let her enter, and she
will find sufficient to "reward a careful gleaner with a valuable sheaf
or two." We do not speak of inventing and preparing designs for calico
prints particularly, but of the general field for designers. Some
proprietors engage a designer (here and there a lady) to stay at their
establishments, and devote all their time to the preparing of
designs--paying a fixed salary for the month, year, or any time
specified. Some adopt the same plan in wall-paper establishments. The
price generally paid for a design pattern for calicoes is from $1 to $3.
=48. Designers for Wall Paper.= One of the most important branches of
designing is that of preparing patterns for wall paper, fire screens,
&c. In the report of the Philadelphia School of Design it is stated that
one of the ladies of that school received $60 for a design some time
ago. They seldom bring that much, and all designs prepared will not
sell. The usual price for a good hall design is from $12 to $20; and of
paper for a room, from $12 to $16. We fear it will be long before the
beautiful designs of the French are equalled by Americans. Their taste
must be more highly cultivated before such is the case. Mr. C., of New
York, employs a designer (Frenchman), paying him $1,000 a year, who
receives in another manufactory a salary of $3,000 a year. N. C. & Co.
get some of their patterns from the school of design in Paris, because
the French have more taste in designing, or, rather, that taste has been
more cultivated. Brande gives the merits of designing as follows: "Every
work of design is to be considered either in relation to the art that
produced it, to the nature of its adaptation to the end sought, or to
the nature of the end it is destined to serve; thus its beauty is
dependent on the wisdom or excellence displayed in the design, in the
fitness or propriety of the adaptation, and upon the utility of the
end."
=49. Draughtswomen.= There are several kinds of draughting, or drawing
on stone: architectural, mechanical, letter, figure, and landscape. Very
few women have undertaken draughting in any of its branches. But we do
not see why it should be confined to men. We suppose the minds of some
women are as well adapted to the business as those of some men. Our
ideas of the fitness of women for architectural drawing are given under
the article Architects.
=50. Employés in the United States Mint.= A very interesting description
of the employment of ladies in the United States Mint at Philadelphia
will be found in _Godey's Lady's Book_, of August, 1852. Col. Snowden,
Director of the Mint, writes to me as follows: "Women are employed to
adjust the weight of the blanks or planchets, preparatory to the
coinage--each piece for the gold coinage being separately weighed and
adjusted. So also are the larger coins of silver; namely, the dollar and
the half dollar. They are also employed in feeding the coining presses.
There are about fifty women at present employed. This force is amply
sufficient for our present operations, and for any additional amount of
work that the mint may be called on to perform. The employments in which
they are engaged are healthy and pleasant. Some years ago the women
received seventy-five cents a day in the adjusting room, and eighty-five
cents for those employed in the coining room. Since that time I have
increased their per diem compensation to $1.10 in both departments. They
are paid monthly. Men employed in labor of a similar character secure
about $2.20 per day. A day's work is about ten hours; ordinarily the
women do not work more than seven or eight hours; sometimes more,
sometimes less, but never beyond ten hours. There are no other
occupations in the mint, than where they are now employed, suitable for
women. I am greatly in favor of employing women, and I have extended the
employment of them as far as it is practicable. For adjusting the weight
of coins, and attending or feeding the coining presses, I consider women
as not inferior to men, except that they cannot endure work for as great
a number of hours." The adjusting room is kept very close, as even the
breath of a person may affect the gold dust. The windows are kept closed
on that account all the year. Visitors are not permitted to enter this
room. I have been told that the adjusters wear chamois dresses, which
they change before leaving the mint. They are required to wash their
hands and clean their nails before leaving the premises, lest gold dust
should be in them. A great many applications are made for situations in
the mint. None but a thoroughly honest person should occupy so
responsible a place."
=51. Engravers and Chasers of Gold and Silver.= I was told by a lady in
Philadelphia, that had been engaged with her husband for some years in
chasing the backs of gold watches, and had laid by quite a snug little
fortune, that from $5 to $6 is paid for engraving a watch case. It
requires many years to render one a competent gold or silver chaser--I
think about five years. A general engraver told me he thought women
could very well engrave jewelry, silver, and card plates. The superior
taste of women could be exercised to advantage. He thinks a woman of
good abilities could obtain sufficient practice to earn good wages at
the expiration of six months. It is a very confining business, but one
that pays well. It requires more skill in drawing than beauty of
penmanship, though the last is a desirable item. A good engraver
calculates to earn $1 an hour. The kinds most suitable for a lady are so
clean that she need not have her clothes soiled by her work. Mr. C. knew
a lady once in New York who was a beautiful engraver. She learned the
business with her father. A watchmaker can soon learn to engrave,
because he uses similar tools, and knows how to handle them. A person
that can engrave watches could easily engrave coarser work. Engravers,
when employed by the week, earn from $12 to $25; and $15 a week is a
fair average of an engraver's wages. An engraver cannot well work more
than nine hours a day. Ornamental engraving is done in some jewelry
manufactories by women. Engraving is done with gravers, but chasing is
executed with punches and a small hammer. Engraving is more on the
surface than chasing. An article chased is indented on the inner side,
one engraved is not. It requires some time to excel in chasing and
engraving. There are two kinds of watch engraving--that of landscape and
that of borders. I was told by an Englishman that some silver-plate
chasing is done in England by women. A jeweler writes: "We occasionally
employ women in engraving--on brass, and we do not find any difficulty.
In this branch of business, we believe, they are more suitable than
men." Mr. S., who engraves on gold, silver, and other bright metals,
told me that a long time back all the engraving in his branch was done
in England by women. It is light work. The designing is like a lawyer's
work--hard on the brain. Most engravers in this country do their own
designing. His father was the first engraver in New York. He takes
apprentices for five years, not paying anything the first year, the
second, $2 a week and clothing, and increases according to the
attainments of the learner. There are two kinds of engraving in his
branch: the line engraving can be done with one tool, the other kind
requires several. He can obtain foreigners who can do both kinds
(usually called mongrel engraving), and who would be glad to get work.
Chasing and polishing are about as good mechanical pursuits as a woman
can follow. Some silver chasing is done by filling the article with
sand, and striking with proper tools; some is pressed with heavy
machinery. Soft chasing is done on metals, but the chasing of plated
ware requires some strength in the wrists, and is done before being
plated. The patterns are placed before the workers. It requires a long
time and application to acquire proficiency. More women could find
employment as chasers, if they would apply themselves long and closely
enough. A chaser, who employs eight girls in Providence in making and
chasing jewelry, writes: "They earn from $4 to $5 per week, but men from
$15 to $18. Women cannot do their work as well as men. Men spend from
two to three years learning, women from one to two months. Spring and
fall are the best seasons. The prospect of employment for women in this
branch is good. There are other parts of the jewelry business in which
women could be employed, and I think they will be. I prefer to employ
women, because they are cheaper." A jewelry engraver writes: "In some
branches of our style of engraving, women are employed in France and
Germany. The occupation is sedentary. The average rate of workmen is
$12. I think women could command the same prices as men. It requires
about one year to learn. There are but few first-class engravers. A bold
and steady hand, a ready and quick ingenuity, which would qualify a
person to be a good draughtsman and designer, are the qualifications
most needed for an engraver. About fifteen years ago there was no demand
for engraving, but it is now on the increase, and considered a necessary
finish to jewelry. About the Christmas holidays are the best seasons for
work. Ten hours a day are required. In the Western and Southern States
are openings--in large cities a surplus. I think, women are peculiarly
adapted to engraving, but they would be likely to marry, and then we
would have our trouble to repeat in teaching new learners."