International studio (23.1904)

The National Competition



DINNER-PLATES

every branch of them. On the other hand, there
seems a tendency on the part of the examiners to
reward the elaboration of a decorative theme on
the ground that it is elaborate, rather than to look
for that finer quality of art which achieves the best
effects by the simplest means and with due regard
to the economy of material.
In the treatment of flat sur-
faces, for instance, a familiar
exercise for the competitor
is to “ fill a given space ” ;
and this is habitually inter-
preted, to get as much line
and form into that space as
possible. Thus is ignored
the rule that governs the
highest kinds of flat deco-
ration, and has been aptly
expressed as “ filling a
given space without cover-
ing it.”
A similar fault of over-
elaboration, and the load-
ing of a good scheme
with redundant ornament, furniture

is conspicuous in the section
of pottery. Even in the gold-
medal exhibit—a wall-foun-
tain in glazed pottery, by
Charles Vyse (Hanley)—
the folds of drapery, which
should be gently suggested,
are laboriously emphasised,
and the restless convolu-
tions seem to cry out to be
smoothed away by the
leisurely and reticent hand.
A tendency towards a hard-
ness of line, quite foreign to
the nature of pottery, is also
noticeable in many objects
in this group of work. It
is essential to pottery design
that it be conceived in rela-
tion to a smooth and roundly
modelled surface, in which
sharp edges have no place,
and attempts at high and
sharp relief should be dis-
countenanced. There
should be a clear distinction
between a pattern laid on
the surface of pottery and an
ornament modelled out of it,
and the latter should never fail to give the sugges-
tion of roundness and mass.
The schools to which one looks particularly for
pottery exhibits—Burslem and Hanley—are not
prolific in good work; but the dinner-plates by
Arthur Scott (Burslem), especially the fish-plates

BY EDWARD LUTZ (HANLEY)

BY RALPH HENDERSON (MOUNT STREET, LIVERPOOL)
323