International studio (54.1914/1915)

Studio- Talk

CHRISTIANIA.—How much of our
modern applied art has not its root
in styles and traditions handed down
from days long gone by ? However
independent the lines which development in many
instancesappears to have followed, however personal
and spontaneous the evolution, the fructifying and
sustaining forces in manifold cases will be found
to spring from old, often long forgotten sources.
In some of the special numbers of The Studio,
much excellent work has been done in the way of
collecting and bringing to light old arts and crafts
which have evolved among the peasantry of diverse
countries and have been there treasured and pre-
served, the more unaffected by the flow of
centuries the further away from the world’s high-
ways have been their home. One
wonders whence these crude, old
peasant craftsmen drew their in-
spiration, whence came their im-
pulses sb beautiful and true in all
their simplicity; what kind fairy
endowed them with that singu-
larly sure and susceptible eye for
the fitness of things, for lines and
proportion, for the proper relation
between fundamental essentials
and what after all were but orna¬
mental accessories. What ad-
mirable effects their naive love
of gay and festive colours quite
instinctively brought about, and
how well suited for the intended
purpose was the outcome of their
skilful and patient crafts 1
The indebtedness of the present
day to these old craftsmen and
craftswomen has of late years be¬
come more and more manifest,
thanks to a movement now on
foot almost everywhere for the
encouragement and furtherance
of what with its Swedish and now
almost cosmopolitan name is
called j7rW, although this term
does not by any means cover all
its issues. Excellent societies have
been formed for the advancement
of good homework, good not only
in the way of its usefulness and
the desirable employment it gives,
but also in its reforming and
chastening influence in the
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domain of taste. I have on more than one occa-
sion had the pleasure of referring to such institu-
tions in Sweden, and am now enabled to say a few
words about and give some illustrations of the
work of the Norwegian Home Industry Association
(Den Norske Husflidsforening).
The recent Jubilee Exhibition in Christiania
afforded a welcome opportunity for this society to
muster its forces and bring home to a larger public
the success which attends and from the very outset
has attended its work. Its aim is twofold, inas-
much as it renders a much needed assistance in
turning to good and remunerative account the
spare time of hundreds of men and women, thereby
swelling their often slender incomes and relieving


“BUILDING THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE, DUBLIN”
ORIGINAL ETCHING BY GEORGE ATKINSON, A. R H.A.
(Black and White Artists' Society of Ireland)