International studio (60.1916/1917)

National Society of Craftsmen

In the Spring of 1911 the American Woman’s
League sent an exhibition of fifty-five porcelains
to the International Exhibition at Turin, Italy.
This exhibit was the work of one woman, Ade-
laide Alsop Robineau, and was awarded the grand
prize, the highest award that could be given—
against the work of the best porcelain manufac-
tories of the world!
This collection represented years of hard, per-
severing work and marked the accomplishment
of two of the most difficult feats in the history of
porcelain making; the use of high-fired porcelain
glazes and carving. The former is done now in
Europe only in factories with government support
and the latter is not being done anywhere to-day
and is only found in a few of the rare old Chinese
pieces. The carving in the thin paste of a por-
celain body before it is fired, is a work which it
was supposed only the infinite patience of a
Chinese could accomplish.
While the process of old Chinese porcelains has
only been rediscovered within the last forty years,
the secrets of the beautiful old Persian, Italian
and Egyptian pottery glazes seemed doomed to
oblivion. Several years ago an American woman,
Jeanne Durant Rice, began experiment with the
fascinating and elusive Persian blue, with such
interesting results that it led to the establish-
ment of the Durant Kilns in which Mr. Leon
Volkmar is now an associate. One of the most
distinguished European authorities lately said of
some examples of Durant pottery: “This is un-
doubtedly the best work being done in any
country. The Persian blue is a triumph; the
French have for years been trying to obtain it,
but without success.”
Japan has also paid tribute to an American
woman ceramist. Two of the charming and in-
dividual porcelains decorated in brilliant enamels
by Dorothea Warren O’Hara are now gracing the
museum at Tokio. As a relief from both the
naturalistic and stiffly conventional design, her
motifs flow with a rhythm and balance which is
natural and free. The beauty and freshness of
her masterly blending of colour gives one the
feeling of youth and those qualities of hope and
aspiration which are surging beneath the hardened
strata of American life. It is high time that
America awoke to an appreciation of the valuable
artistic resources existing in this country and util-
ized them to lay the foundations of a national art
for which she has so long been seeking vainly!

ATIONAL SOCIETY OF
CRAFTSMEN
Frankly utilitarian in purpose were
most of the small bronzes grouped to-
gether, in one of the rooms of the National
Society of Craftsmen, during the summer months.
Though many of these pieces have been seen
before, they were so suitably placed, as to acquire
fresh interest. Only in an intimate exhibition
like this, can table fountains, andirons, seals and
all the various objects of household use, to which
happily most of our sculptors give some time, be
well shown.
An incense burner by Katharyn Du Bois is
novel in subject. Dancing sketches in relief, by
Katherine B. Stetson, are potent in possibilities
for mural panels for a music room. Daphne, by
Neilson Stearns, seen last winter at the Academy,
is graceful, but the subtle charm about the
upper part of the figure fails to reach the feet.
Through the courtesy of the Gorham Company,
a number of pieces were included in the exhibition,
not the work of members. Notably, works by
Edith Barretto Parsons and Louis J. Urich, two
of the most joyous exponents of their art in dec-
oration. In her andirons, Mrs. Parsons has
achieved something very fine. Her table fountain
of two children laughing is characteristic and
pleasing, but lacks the unusual interest aroused
by Urich’s uniquely posed figure for a table
fountain. Urich’s originality and technique
never fail to raise the simplest decorative prob-
lem to the truest form of sculpture.
Quite the most delightful surprise of the exhibi-
tion, was a conscientious and sensitive study of
a Mouse Eating, by Elsa Knauth. Life size, tins
little bronze on close examination melts most
marvellously into a bit of tremulous mousehood.
Rather retrospective was a table bell, by J. Q.
A. Ward. There were no other bells there. Pos-
sibly no one ever uses table bells any more, but
surely the convenient little electric button is not
universal. A bell that it is a pleasure to handle
is as much of a satisfaction as the door knocker,
original in conception, and of architectural con-
formation. And there were not any door knock-
ers. The exhibition was far from complete.
Some of the other works of interest shown were
by Sarah Morris Greene, Anna V. Hyatt, C. Hill,
Victor Brenner, A. P. Proctor, Louisa Eyre, Eli
Harvey, Caroline Peddle Ball, and Carl Tefft.