International studio (59.1916)

Arts and Crafts in Church Ornamentation


HIGH ALTAR, CHAPEL OF THE INTERCESSION, NEW YORK

BERTRAM G. GOODHUE, ARCHITECT

Arts and crafts in church
ORNAMENTATION
BY THOMAS RAYMOND BALL
In the coming exhibition of the National
Society of Craftsmen in the galleries of the
National Arts Club next December, there will be
a special section devoted to the Arts of the


LOCK FOR FIRST BAPTIST
CHURCH, PITTSBURGH

EXECUTED BY
SAMUEL YELLIN

Church; and it is intended in this article to call
the attention of the art-worker and craftsman to
some of the opportunities that await him in the
ornamentation of the fabric of the church. From
the earliest days the church and the arts and
crafts have been inseparable, for it is only natural
that the finest work, the most difficult as well as
the most beautiful, should be lavished on the
House of God, and that therefore the most expert
workman and the most gifted designer must be
employed. He, in his turn, must give not only
his time, his labour, and his knowledge of his
craft, but he must put his whole heart and soul
into his work. Because of this those fragments
of the glories of the ages of faith that have come
down to us are so incomparably beautiful. The
necessity for well-designed and finely executed
work is even more apparent at the present time.
A great cathedral is slowly rising to crown the
heights of the greatest city in the new world. A
massive church takes its place nobly among the
high buildings and magnificent shops of that city’s
finest avenue. Other great churches are being

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