Studio: international art (23.1901)

Studio- Talk

Gill (Colchester); and the
finished set by Thomas
Hammond (Coalbrook-
dale), tastefully mounted
and hung with the working
drawings, is among the best
tiles of the year. Pottery
is a stronger feature than
usual, and it is good to

see that in this department stencilled frieze border by harry ward (taunton)

also the exhibition of the

finished object as well as the design is at last being familiar subjects with freshness ot touch and
encouraged. A sgraffitto vase by Frances Baker imaginative ardour is an art sometimes hid from
(Blackheath) is here very pleasantly conspicuous, the wise and prudent and revealed to beginners, of
Among the designs for plates may be noticed a whom this exhibition discloses a very promising

band.

STUDIO-TALK.

(From our own Correspondents.)

LONDON.—It is to be regretted that the
Victoria and Albert Museum at South
Kensington should have adopted the title
of "New Art" in describing the examples
of furniture, pottery and glass, purchased by Mr.
George Donaldson at the Paris Exhibition of last
year, and generously presented by him to the
Museum. It is true that the objects show more
individuality in design than is usually apparent in
modern work. But is individuality in art new ?
Is not all great art essentially individual ?

sgraffitto vase by frances baker

(blackheath)

The objects themselves should be criticised upon
their own merits. Some of the furniture is faulty
in constructive design, although certainly not more
so than many designs by Chippendale and other
acknowledged masters. The ornamental details are
in several cases decidedly weak, and show a lack of
decorative knowledge on the part of the designers.
The workmanship, however, in nearly all the exhibits
is entirely satisfactory, and may be studied with
advantage by many of our practical cabinet
makers. __

The most successful piece of furniture in point
of design is the table by M. Colonna, exhibited by
M. Bing, and already illustrated in The Studio.
It is entirely French in conception, restrained in
outline and decoration, though less severe in form
than the best British work.

The examples of pottery by Chaplet, Bigot and
series by Thomas Dickinson (Lancaster), who has Professor Max Lauger, and the lustre glass by
made an original and pretty border with a decora- Lotze are especially good. Both in Germany and
tion of field-mice nibbling corn. To handle France a great advance has been made in recent

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