International studio (19.1903)

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never intended to adorn, shouid be distastefui to
many excellent craftsmen is the best proof of the
sincerity of their work ; for obviously such dispiays
fall even farther short of doing justice to their
subject matter than when the exhibits are pictures
on a wall. On the other hand, the temptation to
work primariiy for exhibition, secondarily for sale,
and iastiy or incidentaliy for one's own personal
inspiration and belief, is apt to beset the most
conscientious artist at some point in his career,
whether or no he try his fortune with the averagely
faHible and capricious judging committee in Regent
Street. It is always well to be reminded that the
object of the Sodiety is to enable designers and
craftsmen to show a few examples of the kind of
work they are doing every day, and the exhibition
is successful in proportion as it quickens a sense of
dissatisfaction at its own limited scope, and an
eagerness to see and apply
in the right surroundings
every new suggestion of beauty
in the house, the furniture,
and all things for use and for
wear.
Recognising these limita-
tions, the committee have
sought to overcome them as
far as may be in the arrange-
ment of the rooms, by allotting
cubicles to certain designers
whom they believed wiiling to
exhibit individually or together.
This system, though to the
ardent democrat it may savour
of collusion, secures to these
at least a favourable setting,
and still leaves room for the
ordinary member and for the
gifted new-comer ior whom
we only too often wait in
vain. In its seventh exhi-
bition, and after nearly twenty
years of life, the society may
perhapsclaim to knowits most
reliableexhibitors; andthough
under present conditions in-
justices are bound to occur,
grievances to arise, and much
good work to be ignored, yet
to make these incidents the
ground for refusing to exhibit
would be a violation of the
"guild-spirit," of which no one
has talked more enthusiastically METAL-woRK BY c. F. A. vovsEY
28

than Arts and Crafts Society workers themselves.
Moreover the adoption of the cubicle systern,
together with the excellent new rule that each
member may exhibit at least one object (with due
reservations as to size, etc.), is quite likely to have
the practical result that men of established repute
will be content to have one or two things effec-
tively shown than many scattered in a maze difBcuIt
to reconnoitre.
In the exhibition which opened on the 16th
of January, the futnishing of the cubicles has been
shared by the President, Mr. Walter Crane, and
the following members : Messrs. W. A. S. Benson,
W. R. Lethaby, S. Barnsley, Lewis F. Day,
H. Longden, Charles Spooner, Metford Warner
(representing Messrs. Jeffrey & Co.), C. F. A.
Voysey, H. Dearle (representingthe hrm of Morris
& Co.), H. Wilson, C. R. Ashbee, and Ambrose