Studio: international art (2.1894)

The Birmingham Municipal School of Art

Nor is it merely on abstract
grounds that it is desirable to
widen one's sympathies ; for
economic reasons it is well that
the student should be equipped
to hold his own in the race for
life. The quality of book illus-
tration has not been maintained
in proportion to its enormous
development since the introduc-
tion of mechanical processes of
engraving. Mechanism and
technique, important as they
are, cannot hold the highest
place unless accompanied by
invention, vivid delineation of
character, and consummate
draughtmanship. The ideal of
Mr. Howard Pyle — to avoid
naming any English artist of this
school—is obviously unlike the
outline drawings by Randolph
Caldecott—the sketch of the Cat
in the House that Jack Built,
for example. In the one you
have a certain likeness to animals
and people, grace of line, and
pleasant conventional disposition
of the objects depicted, in the
other you have the veritable
living cat, as Hokosai might
have seen it, and in a few appa-
rently hasty lines made it im-
mortal for ever. This instance,
chosen at random, is intended

from a pen-drawing by florence rudland Olll)' tO pi'OVe that, even in OUt-

serious effort to make
a book beautiful must
lead to other attempts
in less archaic ways.
The danger that be-
sets Birmingham is
clearly visible. To
revive an old fashion,
even to equal its mas-
terpieces, is easier
than to evolve from
new conditions a new
standard of beauty.
Granted that a block
from the Hypneroto-
machia is, in its way,
a perfect work, yet the
complexity of modern
life will not be satis ■
fled with the simple
conventions it fol-
lows. The truest
friend of these clever
young students would
be the one who bade
them beware of ac-
cepting any school as

the only perfect one. from a pen-drawing by sidney heath

98