International studio (60.1916/1917)

The Arts and Crafts Exhibition


LANCASTRIAN LUSTRE PLAQUE. DESIGNED BY WALTER CRANE.
PAINTED BY C. CUNDALL (PILKINGTONS)

than once, most definitely seven years ago before
the exhibition of the Arts and Crafts Society held
in 1910. In each case it was opposed successfully,
but this year what had hitherto been impossible
was accomplished easily. It so happens that on
the present Council of the Royal Academy there
is a majority of men of advanced views, and in a
conversation between one of

scheme, which was soon after
accepted by the Royal Academy
Council, and its acceptance
ratified, though not without some
slight opposition, by the General
Assembly.
Mr. Wilson’s plan for the exhibi-
tion is larger and bolder than any-
thing that has been carried out
before. In none of the preceding
exhibitions was there any general
scheme. The exhibits were
arranged to the best advantage in
the galleries and the whole was a
collection of contributions by indi-
vidual workers, of great interest
occasionally but with no more co-
hesion or combination of effort
than is to be seen at an exhibition
of the Royal Academy or the New
English Art Club. Mr. Wilson’s idea
is to show the individual contribu-
tions as usual, and in addition to
remodel the Academy galleries by
building up inside them a great
scheme of planning and decoration
in which the united efforts of the architect, painter,
and sculptor are displayed.
It is a fine idea, and Mr. Wilson, who is himself
responsible for the architectural arrangement and
much of the decoration, has received the loyal
support and active assistance of numbers of artists,
some of whom must have devoted months of

these and Mr. Henry Wilson,
who has succeeded Walter
Crane as President of the
Arts and Crafts Society, the
question was raised of
holding an exhibition at Bur-
lington House.
The Academician suggested
that Mr. Wilson should
approach Sir Edward Poynter
on the subject, and accord-
ingly a meeting between the
two Presidents was arranged.
Sir Edward, a painter intensely
interested in decorative art
and its application, and
possessed of far broader views
on art generally than his critics
credit him with, fell in at
once with Mr. Wilson’s


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LANCASTRIAN ROSE BOWL. DESIGNED BY WALTER CRANE.
PAINTED BY W. S. MYCOCK (PILKINGTONS)