Studio: international art (2.1894)

Art School News

The Department of Science and Art of the Com-
mittee of Council on Education, London, S.W.,
says the Daily News, have issued the following list
of successful candidates for Royal Exhibitions and
Local Scholarships (Art), 1893. Royal Exhibi-
tions : G. Murray, Edinburgh Royal Institute S.
of A.; W. Shackleton, Bradford Tech. College S.
•of A. j S. Thorogood, Brighton S. of A.; J. Knight,
Manchester Grammar School S. of A.; Lizzie Jacobs,
National Art Training School; Wilson Jagger,
Bradford Technical College S. of A.; W. Meikle,
National Art Training School; H. C. Oakley,
Southampton Hartley Inst. S. of A.; Percy Angelo
Staynes, Manchester Technical School S. of A.;
Archibald Campbell Cross, Sheffield S. of A.

The Local Scholarships included—A. A. Dixon,
Camden S. of A., Holloway; H. E. Bulmer,
Bradford Tech. College S. of A.; F. H. Simpson,
Leeds S. of A.; A. Maude, Leeds S. of A.; H.
Knight, Nottingham S. of A.; F. W. C. Gregory,
Nottingham S. of A.: Ethel Isabel Cook, Birming-
ham Municipal S. of A. ; R. J. S. Bertram, New-
castle-on-Tyne, Durham College of Science S. of A.;
William Newnham Montague Orpen, Dublin Me-
tropolitan S. of A. ; Florence May Rudland,
Birmingham Municipal S. of A.; Jessie Sarah
Burnett, Royal Female S. of A., Bloomsbury;
Florence Rushton, Macclesfield S. of A.; O. M.
Pittman, National Art Training School; W. Earley,
Dublin Metropolitan S. of A.; E. J. B. Taylor,
Birmingham Municipal S. of A.; W. R. S. Scott,
Aberdeen Gray's S. of A. ; Lydia Powell, South-
ampton Hartley Inst. S. of A.; Jessie Beatrice
Atkins Jones, Richmond S. of A.; Violet Mary
Holden, Birmingham Municipal S. of A. j G. H.
Hooper, National Art Training School.

A Royal Exhibition is tenable for three years,
and entitles the holder to free admission to the
National Art Training School at South Kensing-
ton or the Metropolitan School of Art, Dublin, and
during that time with a maintenance allowance of
25^. a week for the session of about 42 weeks each
year, with third-class railway fare for one journey
to and fro each session between the home of the
scholar and London or Dublin. The Royal Ex-
hibitions are held on the condition that the
exhibitioner attends the course of instruction laid
down for him regularly, complies with the rules
laid down for his guidance, and makes satisfactory
progress. A local scholarship is tenable for three
years, with a maintenance allowance of ^20 a
year, at any school of art which is open at least
three days and five nights a week, and which will
remit the fees for instruction of the holder. The
scholar must attend a school of art during at least
40 weeks in the year for 30 hours each week, of
which 18 hours at least must be in the day. The
scholarship commences on the date on which the
school where the scholarship is tenable re-opens
after the summer vacation in each year. The
maintenance allowance is paid quarterly on the
receipt of a certificate from the master and secre-
tary of the school of art that the scholar has attended
regularly and pursued his studies satisfactorily.

The Glasgow School of Art shows the accom-

plished direction of its head-master has resulted in
a very large increase of passes and awards in the
National Competition, when 33 prizes fell to its
students. These included six medals for design,
two for life studies, two for architecture, and two
for modelling. In addition to these, there is a list
of honours too long to quote.

In a digest of the official Blue-book of the
Science and Art Department, the St. James's
Gazette gives some depressing statistics which, as
London evening papers do not reach many to
whom such facts are of vital interest, we may
quote in full:—

" The figures concerning instruction under the
direction of the department during 1892 far ex-
ceed in dimensions any that have been previously
reached. The elementary schools in which it has
now obtained a foothold have advanced from 6oco
to 18,000, and the scholars taught from i,ioo,oco
to 1,900,000. The payment for this has been
about eighteenpence a head, or a total grant of
,£133,000, against ,£85,000. The art schools
have also increased from 1300 to 1600, and the
scholars from 100,000 to 115,000.

" It is popularly supposed that these hundred
and fifteen thousand are engaged in learning design
and being trained to assist in developing the
industrial art of the kingdom, but nothing is
further from being the case. It is not difficult to
test this statement from the table which gives the
statistics of examinations in art schools and classes.
In this we find that of the number instructed
73,000 came up for examination and handed in
126,000 papers. Out of this enormous number
those who attempted the elementary stage of
ornament were 372, and the advanced stage 141 !
'Design ornament' attracted 814 only, modelling
ornament but 87, and historic ornament 84!
These figures, supplied by the department, show
that the whole system is conducted upon a wrong
basis, and that it will require a radical reformation
to make the half a million or more which is spent
upon it of any use at all for the purpose for which
it was originally intended.

" The Report of the National Art Training School
is not much more satisfactory reading. It is still
on the decline. The numbers attending are 64
less than last year, and the fees .£212 less. The
females still largely preponderate over the males,
and the total number of students produced as
teachers of schools of art was five only ! This
considerable number were all men too, not a
single one of the 330 females having found a
place. There is little to show how many of the
students at headquarters took up industrial arts,
the only record being of attendances at the courses
of lectures upon ornament and decorative arts ; at
the former of which an average of 18, and at the
latter 40, attended. This out of 572 students ! "

The daily average attendance of readers at the
National Art Library, South Kensington Museum,
is 73. The evening visitors to the British Museum
average 130. The cost per head for these patrons'
entertainments would be instructive.

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