International studio (30.1906/1907(1907))

Mr. G. P. Bankart's Plaster Work


OF SOME RECENT
PLASTER WORK BY
MR. G. P. BANKART.
BY AYMER VALLANCE.

“GREYSTOKE,” NEAR WARWICK: P. MORLEY HORDER, ARCHITECT

April nth, 1907. A number of eminent men,
representing the artistic, literary, and scientific
organisations and institutions of the world, will
be present at the dedication of the building,
and the international exhibition will be an im-
portant feature of the occasion, and an event
of commanding distinction in the year’s history
of art. -

As recently as January, 1903, Mr.
Ernest Radford contributed to the pages
of The Studio so excellent an article
on the subject of Mr. Bankart’s plaster
decoration that it might be thought there
was left no more to say about it worth the
saying. However, a continuance of work
on the artist’s part implies also an increase
of experience, and perhaps a wider out-
look too, and therefore may well call for
some further notice. Now, for the sake
of any readers who happen not to have
had the advantage of reading Mr. Radford’s
paper, it may be useful just to repeat, at
the outset, that of the two methods, the
Italian, known as stucco duro, and the
other, the English, which deals with soft
plaster pure and simple, the latter is the
one practised by Mr. Bankart.
In plastering, as in every other craft, the
one essential test and condition of good
work is a sympathetic appreciation of the material,
with all its limitations and capabilities. And this
knowledge can be gained in two ways only : firstly,
by reference to original documents, whereby I mean
not so much the perusal of treatises of authorities,
living or dead, as I mean diligent observation of
every available specimen of old work that the
student can manage to encounter; and, secondly,


“GREYSTOKE,” NEAR WARWICK: THE STABLES

P. MORLEY HORDER, ARCHITECT