Studio: international art (2.1894)

The Arts and Crafts Exhibition, 1893

the steps, the Screen, by Amy Sawyer (page 25) is
a good example of harmonious colour and pleasant
grouping. A coloured bust, Beatrix Bella, by
Ella Casella, and a dozen other interesting objects,
here must be left unnoticed.

In the North Room, many of the furnitures,
tapestries, embroideries, and various woven fabrics
are noticed elsewhere, so that the Morris embroi-
deries, Mrs. Walter Crane's superbly worked panel,
and many another item must be passed over ; but,
without trenching on another paper, we may note
here the practical side of the crafts that confronts
one in the various stages of blocks for wall-paper
printing. Popular art is shown in the admirable
Fitzroy Picture Society's publications, which have
been fully noticed in a former issue. Two painted
fans by Mary Sargent Florence must not be over-
looked. In New York, where she won the " Dodge "
prize at the Academy, the work of this English
artist is well known ; here she comes as a
distinctly welcome recruit, as these exquisite fans
show an unusual virility and a large conception
of design and colour, absent as a rule on a fan,
although present in Mr. Walter Crane's dignified
treatment of another placed near. A Stole (245b),
by Mr. Aymer Vallance, executed by Miss B.
Hugget, is good in design and very pleasant in
colour; a Portiere, designed by the same artist,
and worked in part by the same embroiderer, is
severely simple, but quite good. The Stencilled
Sack-cloth, by Francis Heron, is a capital example
of a free treatment of the wash, which, although
decried by some purists, is after all the essential
feature of the Japanese stencils which are the
masterpieces of the neglected craft. We shall
return to Mr. Heron's work later.

The Piano (p. 18), designed by W. F. Cave, which
We reproduce, shows that Messrs. Bechstein are
setting a good example to our native makers by their
attempt to break into the tame monotony of the
very unsatisfactory average cottage pianoforte. Three
gilded frames by Margaret Hussey (p. 25) are good
models for such things, and show carving applied
to every-day objects in a wholly satisfactory way.

The West Room is dominated by the tapestry for
Stanmore Hall, the cartoon for which was repro-
duced in our last number. The well-known
intensity of expression of Mr. Burne-Jones' ideal
faces is preserved in a way that, executed by a
loom, is little short of a miracle. The Hammer-
smith carpet, designed by Mr. Morris, which covers
the centre of the floor, is a superb example of his
work. It is a good carpet first, and admirable as
a design for its own sake and for its purpose.

On the walls are groups of designs for stained
glass. A series, " The Story of St. George," drawn by
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, about 1862, is peculiarly
attractive, and would alone repay a visit to the
Gallery. The stained-glass designs by Mr. Ford
Madox Brown are even more remarkable, because
they show the very first development of the school
which bears the name of Pre-Raphaelite. The
drawings for St. Uriel and St. Michael, and two
from The Story of St. Oswald, are illustrated (on
pages 4 and 5) by the artist's special permission.
There are six of the latter—the Baptism, the Coro-

THE ANNUNCIATION. PANEL IN PASTEL.
R. ANNING BELL

nation, St. Oswald Sending off the Pilgrims to
Scotland, St. Oswald Slaying Cadwallader, the
Martyrdom of the Saint, and St. Oswald Enshrined.
The delicacy and beauty of the original studies
cannot be appreciated from the reduced blocks
which were alone possible under the circumstances,
but the vigour and splendid composition are

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