Studio: international art (2.1894)

The Arts and Crafts Exhibition, 1893

balcony, and strike no discordant note, but, on the
contrary, repeat the pleasant effect they con-
veyed when temporarily affixed in their intended
position. On the wall to the right, a group of
Mr. George Frampton's work arrests attention by
its bold colour, and detains it by its admirable
invention and execution. The experiment is
one worth making; it proves that Mr. Frampton
can think in colour no less than in form. The
two Angels, a sketch in coloured plaster for
the covered ceiling of a chancel, show an admir-
able instance of the feeling of Gothic art
expressed in to-day's idiom. It is because
Mr. George Frampton, Mr. R. Anning Bell,
Mr. F. W. Pomeroy, Mr. H. Wilson, Mr. C. F. A.
Voysey, to instance but a few names from the
present catalogue, are attempting—as the present
writer thinks successfully—to evolve an English
style from past tradition that one welcomes their
work. Nor need the marvellous re-creation of
actual medieval work, such as Mr. William Morris
has often produced, be measured against this
newer scheme. Should an Englishman arise to
write Latin elegiacs as perfectly as the finest
examples that survive in classic literature, one might
yet wish such genius had found the idiom of its
own day sufficient for its utterance ; and acknow-
ledging freely the felicity and vigour of Mr.
William Morris' design, the strength of its inven-
tion, and his command of colour, one feels that he
is in truth an accidental re-embodiment of an artist
of centuries ago, who thinks and works in the
atmosphere and the environment of days gone by,
like a Tannhauser awakening to earth fresh and
vigorous, ignorant of the lapse of years that had
passed unconsciously. The immense service to
decorative art rendered by the President of the
Arts and Crafts, his unswerving devotion to working
ideals, his mastery of acknowledged crafts, and his
re-discovery of forgotten ones, cannot be ignored.
On the contrary, his name must always stand as a
synonym for the best influence in the new search
for beauty in common life ; but just because he is
so unique as an artist, it is fatal to attempt to
work in his ways. A store of erudite tradition in
complete accord with a mode of thought that is
not so much out of touch with nineteenth-century
philosophy as unsuspected by it, equips him for
success where a lesser man would fail; and since
the dominant influence of the Arts and Crafts can
hardly be other than his, it is pleasant to recognise
that loyalty and discipleship have not produced
mere imitators, but that many of the younger men
are trying to keep the broad principles of English
10

art in their mind, and work them out each in his
own particular way.

In the Altar Cross tor Welbeck Abbey, designed
by H. Wilson and executed by Longden & Co.,
one finds traces of Byzantine influence, no little
reflection of modern taste, generous admixture of
metals and enamels, and an ornate form, distinctly
the reverse of " correct," according to the most
orthodox handbooks of ecclesiastical English
Gothic ; yet in a sumptuous sanctuary would it
not be more admirable than the most faithful
replica of genuine thirteenth or fourteenth century
work ? The font, by the same artist, with sculp-
ture by F. W. Pomeroy, has a brass-lined chalice-
shaped bowl of alabaster, set on a marble pillar,
ornate undoubtedly, and again not " correct " ; but
is it not a worthy type ?

Other numbers in the Central Hall especially
worthy of notice include a delightfully modelled
andiron, with a Pasht-like cat, by J. H. M. Furse,
and a low relief panel in colour gesso ; La Ghir-
landata, by R. Anning Bell (through whose kind-
ness we are enabled to reproduce a sketch
here) : a lamp-post, Night Giving up her Torch
to Day, by F. M. Taubman, and a combined lamp
and finger-post, by Margaret Giles, which would be
a welcome relief from such objects as the groups
opposite the Criterion, or defacing the centres of
most of our cross-roads. A Mother and Child, in
plaster, by Mary Sargent Florence, has virtues
unusual in the work of a lady sculptor. A gesso
panel, by Matthew Webb, from a design by
E. Burne-Jones, bears a figure in light blue on a
burnished gold background, which in its present
light is not entirely pleasing.

Sir Frederic Leighton's charmingly modelled
studies, which are familiar to readers of The
Studio, lend distinction to the exhibition. A
Fountain in marble and bronze, by George Wilson,
manufactured by Messrs. Dawson & Co. (page 16),
is set in the middle of the hall, in working order.
Good as it is, this may cause it to be regarded merely
as a permanent fixture, and therefore one held un-
worthy a glance from a visitor. The often misapplied
adjective " quaint " fits a description of some tiles—
Sabine Farm and Troy Town, designed by Halsey
Ricardo, and painted by C. and F. Passenger.
Other items to commend are an electric light by
Esther W. Moore (page 18), Memorial Tablet to
J. D. Sedding: Plaster Frieze, by W. H. Cowlin-
shaw (page 19); H. Pegram's Peace; the finely
modelled Altar-piece for St. John's, Cardiff, by
W.GoscombeJohn; and apai7ited Vase, designed by
W. l)e Morgan, and painted by F. Passenger. On