DOI Artikel:
Baldry, Alfred Lys: Some new decorative panels and fans by George Sheringham
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43455#0190
Decorative Panels and Fans by George Sheringham
SOME NEW DECORATIVE
PANELS AND FANS BY
GEORGE SHERINGHAM.
It would be a rather interesting subject for
speculation whether the comparative dearth of
really able decorators in this country is due to a
lack of the right kind of instinct among our
artists or simply to a want of opportunities. It is
obvious that if there are no opportunities for the
development of the decorative sense, the men who
possess it will never be able to use their capacities
in the correct way and will be prevented from
doing themselves justice. The powers they are
naturally endowed with will inevitably become
enfeebled by disuse, and will ultimately decay
because they are not exercised in the sort of pro-
duction for which they are best fitted. Without
encouragement and without the chance to practise
the type of art to which he is temperamentally in-
clined, the artist only too often degenerates and drops
out of his proper place in his profession, only too
often descends to devices for making a living which
can be excused only on the ground of sheer necessity.
So it is quite possible that the rarity of decorators
of the first rank is a consequence of the popular
attitude towards decorative art. Not many people
understand what decoration means, fewer people
appreciate its aesthetic value or realise the import-
ance of the function it has to fulfil; and therefore
it is treated as something which is of small account
among the many forms of artistic expression. This
disheartening indifference to its claims has persisted
far too long in this country, so long, indeed, that
we are in much danger of being left behind in the
race for artistic supremacy by other peoples whose
judgment is more sound and whose taste is better
balanced. If we are to hold our own in the com-
petition between nations, if we are not to drop
out finally and to become of no account in the
artistic world, we must pay more attention than we
do at present to the development of the art of
decoration and we must accord to it the fullest
measure of the respect to which it is entitled.
There is no art with greater traditions ; there is
none which affects more intimately the lives of all
civilised beings ; there is none which is connected
so closely with the progress and prosperity of
“THE COSTUME ball’" (WATER-COLOUR) BY GEORGE SHERINGHAM
LU. No. 207.—May 1914 17 S
SOME NEW DECORATIVE
PANELS AND FANS BY
GEORGE SHERINGHAM.
It would be a rather interesting subject for
speculation whether the comparative dearth of
really able decorators in this country is due to a
lack of the right kind of instinct among our
artists or simply to a want of opportunities. It is
obvious that if there are no opportunities for the
development of the decorative sense, the men who
possess it will never be able to use their capacities
in the correct way and will be prevented from
doing themselves justice. The powers they are
naturally endowed with will inevitably become
enfeebled by disuse, and will ultimately decay
because they are not exercised in the sort of pro-
duction for which they are best fitted. Without
encouragement and without the chance to practise
the type of art to which he is temperamentally in-
clined, the artist only too often degenerates and drops
out of his proper place in his profession, only too
often descends to devices for making a living which
can be excused only on the ground of sheer necessity.
So it is quite possible that the rarity of decorators
of the first rank is a consequence of the popular
attitude towards decorative art. Not many people
understand what decoration means, fewer people
appreciate its aesthetic value or realise the import-
ance of the function it has to fulfil; and therefore
it is treated as something which is of small account
among the many forms of artistic expression. This
disheartening indifference to its claims has persisted
far too long in this country, so long, indeed, that
we are in much danger of being left behind in the
race for artistic supremacy by other peoples whose
judgment is more sound and whose taste is better
balanced. If we are to hold our own in the com-
petition between nations, if we are not to drop
out finally and to become of no account in the
artistic world, we must pay more attention than we
do at present to the development of the art of
decoration and we must accord to it the fullest
measure of the respect to which it is entitled.
There is no art with greater traditions ; there is
none which affects more intimately the lives of all
civilised beings ; there is none which is connected
so closely with the progress and prosperity of
“THE COSTUME ball’" (WATER-COLOUR) BY GEORGE SHERINGHAM
LU. No. 207.—May 1914 17 S