Studio: international art (30.1904)

J. E. C. Carr

imagining that he would make a goodp?xsident—
even of an East End boxing club—such person lives
in dense error. Dictator, writ large, and with full
powers to chastise the erring, would be more to
his measure. I should be very sorry to be under
such presidency, except to aid and abet him in
making it sultry for all and sundry who asserted
their right to object to anything from the rostrum.
And as to the behaviour—well, amusing as it was
at its best time—it was not always serious and
dignified enough for academic presidentship.
Fancy the President of a Royal Society sailing
about at large, knocking down and dragging
out, or " dusting the road," with the unfor-
tunate and gentle enemy ! There would be
troubled souls who would not pardon such
amusements, even in a widely proclaimed
genius. The world happens to be like that,
and it can't be helped. Little did I think,
when I reluctantly parted from my old friend
that was to be our very last meeting and parting.
He is gone, poor dear ! but the troubled air is
fuller of him than ever in his varied lifetime.
Many have expressed the hope that he is some-
where up aloft where he can enjoy the scrimmage.
Some of it he might smile at, but now and then
I fancy he would want a spirit fist to use on some
of the fond but foolish flock. Other masters,
more or less " great," may surge out on the scene,
but he can never be exactly reproduced ; the fraud
would be too patent. And his old mot, " Imita-
tion is the sincerest insult," would cover the wretch
with confusion.

HE METAL WORK OF JOHN
E. C. CARR. BY ESTHER WOOD
AND G. LL. MORRIS.

" New Design," says W. R. Lethaby, " must
ever be founded on a strict consideration of the
exact purpose to be fulfilled by the proposed
object, of how it will serve its purpose best, and
show perfect suitability to the end in view when
made in this or that material into forms which
have not before been used. This is the true basis
of beauty, and this to a certain extent is enough
without any ornamentation. Ornament is quite
another matter, it has no justification in service, it
can only justify itself."

With this principle as a starting point for work,
the designer and craftsman turns to his materials
to consider further in what form the object he has
conceived will be most beautiful. Every material
suggests to him not only its peculiar treatment,
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but they very shape into which it can be most
naturally and spontaneously wrought, forged, or
moulded. Further, the lines and general character-
istics of the object, suggested partially by the
material, will, if the craftsman be an artist, then
gradually assume under his hand a beauty quite
distinct from the work of an equally able designer.
Both fashion a beautiful and useful object, both
recognise the capabilities of the materials in which
they may be working, and yet each making his
medium yield as it were that beauty of form which
appeals especially to his own imagination. The
forms that please do not always come at his
bidding, they are sometimes hidden, and yet are
known directly they are found on paper or
realised in the actual material. A design almost
finished lacks some line or curve that he knows
would make it more beautiful, and until that
becomes a visible part of his conception his

I.ECTERN BY J. E. C CARR