International studio (31.1907)

Practical Points on Wood-Carving

head is secured upon a neck that is like a locust
post deeply rooted in the knotted and well-
rounded trunk of a tight-bark hickory. This
work presents forcibly the nature of the man
who knows exactly where he is when he is in
battle and wouldn’t exchange his place for the
throne of Solomon.
There is a recent and very admirable bust of
Maxim, the man who has robbed the battle of its
only beauty by inventing smokeless powder.
There is also a brother who has made a perfect
death dealing gun. Between these two war may
be made so useless that their work will be a factor
in the bringing of universal peace.
The newr statue of Alexander Hamilton represents
him as in the midst of impassioned speech. The

expression of the face, the lowering eyes and the
enforcing gesture of the hand all combine to give
a vivid, a vital presentment. This statue goes to
Columbia College. For Yale is destined the
Nathan Hale, a heroic statue which shows him on
his way to the scaffold—that is, to the ladder and
the tree. This is a finely sympathetic work, strong
and full of feeling. It is the youthful patriot going
cheerfully to his shameful death, regretting that he
has but one life to give. No spectacle could be
more impressive, and this presentment of Hale in
his schoolmaster’s garb, with his wrists roughly
tied and with the light of his fearless spirit on his
face, tugs at the heart as one looks and remembers.
It is well that we should remember him and the
days in which he lived—and died.


WINDOW-BOX
CARVED IN MR. VON RYDINGSVARD’S CLASS

PRACTICAL POINTS ON THE ART
OF WOOD-CARVING.
BY KARL VON RYDINGSVARD.
Wood-carving is undoubtedly the
oldest of all the arts. The first glimmering of desire
for decoration seems to have found expression along
the same lines among all the primitive peoples.
Wood was the one medium easily procured by all,
and we see the same combinations of curved and
straight lines, in incised cutting, in the early work
of all races, from the South Sea Islanders to the
Alaskan Indians. Much of this work was coloured,
and was very decorative, and even to-day we use
many of the same designs in our chip-carving.
The gradual development of the Icelandic and
Scandinavian forms of decoration, from their early
hieroglyphics, has given us an extremely interesting
style of ornament, composed of grotesque animal
forms and entwining serpents.

BY MRS. MORSE
MANCHESTER INSTITUTE
The beautiful collections of wood-carving seen in
museums all through Europe testify to the high
esteem in which the art was held during the middle
ages, and now the revival of interest in the handi-
crafts everywhere has brought it once more from the
level of the factory to its proper place among the
applied arts. Women especially are beginning to
find that it is a most fascinating pastime, as well as
a desirable occupation for those who wish to go into
it seriously, either as teachers or producers.
The outfit is not expensive, the wood can be pro-
cured anywhere, and even the first work has a value,
if suitable designs and objects for decoration are
chosen—something that cannot be said for most
other lines of art work. Moreover, there is a con-
stant demand for teachers, as the art is now taught
in nearly all of the higher grade schools, both public
and private.
Those who are not so situated as to avail them-
selves of the services of a teacher can do a great deal

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