International studio (57.1915/1916)

The National Society of Craftsmen


THE NATIONAL SOCIETY OF CRAFTSMEN, IN THE GALLERIES OF THE NATIONAL ARTS CLUB,
GRAMERCY PARK, N. Y., DECEMBER, I915

The national society of
CRAFTSMEN. NINTH ANNUAL
EXHIBITION
BY J. CHARLES BURDICK
You may recall these significant and ap-
propriate words written by Russell Sturgis in
one of his important works, “Dedicated with
admiration and undying gratitude to the many
artists and skilled artisans—to the sculptors and
carvers, painters and draughtsmen, silversmiths
and blacksmiths, potters and glassmakers, masons
and joiners, printers and engravers, architects
and decorative designers, who during forty
years have been my teachers in Fine Art.” There
too he defines decorative art as “fine art applied
to the making beautiful and interesting that which
is made for utilitarian purposes.”
Does one feel this and to what extent when
one visits even casually the present exhibition
in the galleries of the National Arts Club? Is
one impressed with the feeling that here beauty
and utility together reign in perfect accord? Do
these works intended mostly for daily use in our
homes reflect a refinement in form and colour and
decoration capable of fulfilling an aesthetic and
intellectual requirement?
All art appreciation is relative and comparative,
and unless we know something of what has been
accomplished in the past, unless we are acquainted

with the nature of the materials used—their
appropriateness, their possibilities and limita-
tions—unless we know to some extent the bases
and principles of design and consider the whole
matter in the light of feeling and logic, we cannot
grasp the meaning of any art object.
If we demand that our art objects in them-
selves satisfy our thirst for beauty, sincerity and
truth, we will insist that, shown collectively,
they be so hung and arranged as to present one
harmonious unit of colour and form. The
essential qualities in those entrusted with this
grouping are—a capacity to formulate and exe-
cute a definite, consistent and balanced plan
which shall cover the whole exhibit, an intuitive
sense of the interrelation and interdependence
of all the arts, a quick perception of the relative
importance of things, the knowledge above all
to deal in masses of colour and form and the cour-
age to subordinate the individual to the whole.
Only by the exercise of these functions may
cosmos control and the beauties inherent in each
piece and in each group count to its true value.
The members of this Exhibition Committee
have assumed for themselves no easy task, for it is
proposed to rearrange the grouping of the work
from day to day, presenting an entirely new
aspect at stated periods and undertaking to show
prominently and suitably at one time or another
every piece of work worthy of an important place.

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