International studio (20.1903)

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placing and balance. Indeed, Whistler very rarely
placed his butterfly on a picture without first
saying to me, " Now, Menpes, where do you think
the butterfly is going this time ? " It used to be a
little joke between us, and after some months of
habit I was invariably able to put my finger on
the spot where the butterfly should be placed to
create the balance of the picture. I worshipped
Whistler in those days, and I worship him still.
The greatest regret of my life is that there should
have been a little rift within the lute. But that
blemish on an otherwise perfect friendship is
quite forgotten now, and I remember only the old
days, the glorious days when we lived together,
worked together, and thought together. And the
name of Whistler conjures up in my mind a host
of pleasant memories which, as time goes on, will
never fade or grow less.
HE NATIONAL COMPETITION
OF SCHOOLS OF ART, 1903.
BY ESTHER WOOD.
IT is cheering to be able to record a distinct
improvement in the standard of the work exhibited
as the result of the National Competition of 1903.
The drawings and designs on view at South
Kensington in July and August displayed on the
whole a high average of merit on the
part of the students represented through-
out the kingdom, though the awards
were not uniformly creditable to the
judgment of the examining board-
Perhaps the distractions of "coronation
year" may account for the low-water
mark which this really important ex-
hibition, in spite of memorable excel-
lences, seemed to touch in 1902. It is
an annual exhibition deserving wider
recognition from the public, who know
and care very little about the progress
of young students from the various art-
schools into the ranks of professional
designers of furniture, textiles, pottery,
decorative metal-work, and illustrated
books.
Schools that have already established
a reputation, either for all-round excel-
lence, such as Liverpool (Mount Street),
or for one particular branch of applied
art, such as Battersea for textiles, New
Cross for metal-work, or Lambeth for
black-and-white, fully maintained their

good name by this year's work. Contrary to THE
STUDio's custom, illustrations have been included of
some of the ordinary time-studies of the Liverpool
School, drawn by Gilbert Rogers—admirable ex-
amples of such sound and vital draughtsmanship as
cannot fail to have a wholesome influence on design.
The Liverpool students seem to be encouraged to
draw the figure boldly from unconventional poses,
and to create difficulties of a proper and stimulating
kind. There was also a fine piece of still-life
painting in oils, from Lincoln, by Arthur Mackinder,
which deserves special notice. Another Liverpool
student—Violet E. Brunton—whose work we have
noted before, sent a pleasing little modelled
design for a sundial. Among other good designs
in plaster were an original little model for an
over-door by Ernest G. Webb (Plymouth), a design
for a wall fountain by Maggie Richardson (New
Cross), and a series of models for hinges and
escutcheons by W. H. O. Tennant (Birmingham).
The exhibitors of tile and pottery designs were
distinguished—like most of the textile designers—
by the care and thoroughness with which their
working drawings are prepared. The use of
pottery panels as decorative insertions into wooden
furniture may be open to question, except as it
may be convenient in wash-stands and dressers ;
but several intelligent students essayed it with
very fair results. The wardrobe panel by Charles

ENAMELLED PANEL
BY GERTRUDE M. HART (BIRMINGHAM)

DESIGN FOR AN

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