International studio (14.1901)

Shtdio-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
also the exhibition of the
finished object as well as the design is at last being
encouraged. A sgraffitto vase by Frances Baker
(Blackheath) is here very pleasantly conspicuous.
Among the designs for plates may be noticed a

BY HARRY WARD (TAUNTON)

familiar subjects with freshness of touch and
imaginative ardour is an art sometimes hid from
the wise and prudent and revealed to beginners, of
whom this exhibition discloses a very promising
band.

STENCILLED FRIEZE BORDER

SGRAFFITTO VASE BY FRANCES BAKER

(BLACKHEATH)

series by Thomas Dickinson (Lancaster), who has
made an original and pretty border with a decora-
tion of field-mice nibbling corn. To handle

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 ?

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
Professor Max Lauger, and the lustre glass by
Lotze are especially good. Both in Germany and
France a great advance has been made in recent

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