International studio (23.1904)

Arts and Crafts at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition

of the ancient glaziers, modified by the great advances
made in the methods of producing glass in a thousand
more gradations of colour than were known in the
day of Albrecht Durer, but still solid and imperish-
able, always translucent and certain in their effect, he
is working in line with the great artists of the past.
With all this he is not obliged to adhere slavishly
to the often clumsy leading of ancient days when
the metal had to be poured out by hand over flat
stones—though that method may even now have
its use and legitimate effect—or when the glass-
maker was unable to exceed a certain size of pane.
The great workers in so-called “opalescent glass”
have shown what may be done with that material.
It has been much in vogue, but the metropolis
which gave it birth and at first encouraged it the
most, is to-day returning largely to the legitimate
antique glass for its new temples and public build-
ings, and the artists that have excited remark and
admiration by putting their beautiful designs into
the opalescent medium are obliged to seek new
fields where the growth of taste has not as yet
begun to suspect its limitations. Opalescent
glass, unless used by mere imitators, may indeed
have its legitimate function and place, but it should
be rarely used and never where the destructive
hand of Time is likely to cause deterioration. In
most cases every effect required may be obtained
by fashing and eating away by means of acids,
by carefully selecting from among the myriads of
rich and varied hues which modern chemistry has
invented, all truly translucent and therefore well
adapted to mitigate the light of our brilliant
Northern sky.
There are still an infinite variety of subjects on
which the genius of such creative artists as Mr.
Willet has shown himself to be, may be exercised.
The field of draughtmanship is inexhaustible and
when the artist in stained glass works in intelligent
co-operation with the architect, the result is cer-
tain to be a creation that shall awaken the admira-
tion of all lovers of the beautiful till the end of time.
Such is the work that Mr. Willet is producing!
Modest, self-sacrificing, earnest, deeply religious,
he is destined to enrich his native land with
memorials that shall never perish.
The arts and crafts at the
LOUISIANA PURCHASE EXPO-
SITION. BY FREDERIC ALLEN
WHITING.
When the first Arts and Crafts exhibitions of
importance in this country were held in Boston in

1897 and 1899, many of the critical followers of
art events, as well as the sceptics, were of the
opinion that, while the exhibits in themselves were
interesting, valuable and to a creditable extent
varied, they were nevertheless expressions of a
temporary and fleeting phase of our changing art
conditions.
There have been many interesting exhibits of
handicraft work in Chicago, New York and other
cities, not to mention those held by the Deerfield,
Hingham and similar local societies, but it is gen-
erally recognized that there have been no exhibits
since to compare in importance with that held in
1899 when Copley Hall was most attractively
filled with the work of modern craftsmen, while,
for the sake of comparison, in adjoining Allston
Hall was shown a truly remarkable loan exhibit
of the work of many old masters in the various
artistic crafts.
The smaller exhibitions in other cities and towns
have been constant and valuable reminders of the
growth of the movement and of the spread of
general interest in the revival of the older standards
of workmanship. A perusal of the catalogues of
the Arts and Crafts exhibits held during the past
five years shows a surprisingly steady increase in
the scope and variety of work entered—new crafts
and new uses of old materials appearing constantly.
This awakened interest among both craftsmen
and the public is a tremendous lever in safe hands,
but, as in all such matters where untrained but
well meant enthusiasm has to be dealt with, it can
easily become an element of danger, if given too
free a rein.
This is particularly true as regards the question
of standards, wherein lies the greatest weakness
in the arts and crafts movement to-day; for unfor-
tunately there has been no recognized and uniform
standard among the various societies; for instance,
work accepted by the jury of the Chicago society
has been rejected by the Boston jury and vice versa.
This is, of course, confusing to the craftsman
who tries to learn by the decision of the juries to
whom he submits his work. It also has a tendency
to lower his standard, since a worker will usually
think that the jury which accepts his work (thereby
confirming his own opinion of its value) shows a
higher intelligence than the jury which rejects.
He can understand the favourable verdict; the un-
favorable judgment often confuses him.
The decisions of the various juries of selection
for the St. Louis Exposition have in a measure set
a standard which comes nearer to being national
in its judgment than any which has heretofore

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