International studio (20.1903)

71/fg



STENCILLED HANGING
E. E. Connor (Hanley) had grace and dignity of
composition, and its quiet bronze-green colouring
blended agreeably with the wood. He also sent
another good design in the same style and material
for a music cabinet. Herbert Budd (Hanley)
showed some tiles for a fire-place, of which the
scheme is carefully drawn out. The design is
interesting and well proportioned, and the glazed
decoration begun in the tiles is carried on in a
cupboard at the top, shut in by bull's-
eye glass squares. The pair of tile-panels
by John Currie (Newcastle-under-Lyme)
were singularly dainty and pearly in
character, like the best kind of china-
painting. Painted wall-tiles were also sent
by David Hodge (Plymouth), who has
done good work in other directions.
The design of Thomas Cook (West
Ham) for a pavement in mosaic was a
successful combination of colour, rather
than a pattern-study, and made a rest-
ful surface in thin purples, blues, and
greens. The frieze by the same student
for Venetian glass mosaic was, on the
contrary, restless and unsatisfying by
reason of its attempt to convey sweeping
lines and vigorous motions of the human
figure in a medium not very suitable for
such expression. A composition in
mosaic is essentially a thing built up in
slow and patient touches; it may have
the breadth and dignity of repose, but
not of movement. Some strong orna-
mental plaques were shown by Janet
Simpson (Hanley), James J. Purdey (Ply-
mouth), Arthur Kidd (Sunderland), and
258

Eugenie M. K. Richards
(Nottingham)—one of the
chief and most deserving
prize-winners of the year.
What Cecil Aldin does
for nursery friezes this
student has done for
nursery plates, treating
them very much in the
spirit of her poster-work,
which we shall note else-
where, and with distinct
success both in drawing
and colour. Janet Simp-
son's rich and well-con-
ceived design loses a little
in its translation to pottery,
but the working drawing
was exceptionally good. Another Hanley student,
Gertrude Malkin, showed a sgraffito vase with
excellent figure composition and colouring, and a
decorative plaque which was more interesting and
unconventional; but the arrangement of the three
geese at the knees of the blue maiden was not quite
satisfactory, and their disposition in the border was
a problem not fully solved. One of the best pieces
of sgraffito work, however, was a green rose-bowl

BY GEORGE MASON (BRADFORD)

BY CHARLES H. SMITH (BRADFORD)

DESIGN FOR PRINTED SILK