International studio (57.1915/1916)

Studio-Talk

SHEFFIELD.—The present-day difficulties
which beset those who have in hand the
organisation" of art exhibitions—notably
the difficulty of transit and uncertainty of
sales—make any successful enterprise in the art
world a thing of note just now ; the more so when
new ground is broken or local difficulties present
themselves only to be successfully overcome. Such
circumstances as these—the war, the impossibility
of securing a suitable hall, and the fact that the
projected scheme was something of a novelty to
the district—faced the organisers of an Arts and
Crafts exhibition recently held at the Howard
Street Club, Sheffield, which brought together not
merely a comprehensive display of many phases of
modern arts and crafts, but also a daily crowd
of visitors not likely to be excelled even in times
of peace. The exhibition had a three-fold objective :
to familiarise the public with British craftwork as
opposed to foreign productions, to
preach the aesthetics of Plato in regard
to the educational value of beautiful
things, and lastly, to assist the funds
of the Work-girls’ Club, the existence
of the premises of which made the
venture possible.
Paintings, drawings, sculpture,
jewellery, embroidery, examples of old
Sheffield plate, writing and illuminat-
ing and bookbinding, made up the
principal items of the catalogue. The
promoters of the exhibition were par-
ticularly fortunate in being able to
secure a portion of the collection of
Indian drawings, which was shown at
South Kensington last year. These
delicately handled works, along with
jade scent-bottles, Japanese ivory
carvings and Chinese red lacquer
work, helped to form a collection of
Eastern work which was in its small
way remarkable. The embroidery
section could hardly have been more
comprehensive, containing as it did
both modern and ancient work of all
kinds. Several cases of jewellery
showed that, as in all the other de-
partments of the exhibition, an artis-
tically keen and discerning judgment
had been at work in the process of
selecting.
The section devoted to bookbinding,
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writing, and illuminating was a particularly strong
one, and the examples of writing and printing by Mr.
W. F. Northend—who is now on active service—
claim special attention. His complete production
of Lord Dunsany’s “The Fortress Unvanquishable,
save for Sacnoth,” shows excellence alike in
typographical arrangement, border design, and
pictorial interpretation. Miss Madelyn Walker’s
exhibits of quill-penmanship may also be highly
appraised, and a small and chaste item from the
hand of the guide of so many of our present-day
exponents of the writer’s craft—Mr. Edward
Johnson— must also be acknowledged as some-
thing quite above the ordinary level.
These, however, are but a few of the exhibits, the
large number of which, perhaps, suggests a word of
criticism of the exhibition as a whole. For whilst
one cannot complain of quality, the quantity so


ILLUSTRATION TO LORD DUNSANY’S “ THE FORTRESS UNVANQUISH-
ABLE, SAVE FOR SACNOTH.” BY W. F. NORTHEND, A.R.C.A.