Studio: international art (6.1896)

Interview with George Fram fit on, A.R.A.

FTERNOONS IN STUDIOS ^ be Mr' FramPton's first essay m tne material.

A CHAT WITH MR. GEORGE "KN,°'" *% rfp!ies' "J f f d for •

„ „ while, and did much actual work in stone upon

FR AMPTON ARA ■

buildings, and upon marble and woodwork in them.

The studio of a sculptor usually A church at Bethnal Green has a pulpit and stalls

strikes one as being pre-eminently a workshop. carved by me. I worked at regular commissions for

Nor therein do you find that profusion of tapes- architectural carving even while I was a student at

tries and rugs, old china and bric-a-brac, with the Royal Academy schools—some of the students

which many painters delight to surround themselves. thought it infra dig.; but it seems to me that all

Its floor-space is unencumbered, save by works in ornament applied to a building should be as finely

actual progress; its walls are bare, excepting for a wrought as you can accomplish. It is surely a

drawing temporarily pinned up, or possibly a mistake to lavish merely mechanical decoration

framed etching or two. For the art of sculpture, over a building, often enough in positions where it

which necessarily includes preliminary modelling is practically wasted. I remember, myself, carving

in clay, is not a peculiarly cleanly craft. An im- fifty pounds' worth of ornament high up on a city
palpable white powder penetrates every nook, so that warehouse where it can never be properly seen,
scrupulously well-swept and dusted as it may be, The secret is to leave plenty of broad, plain sur-
there is a haunting suggestion of a flour-mill, and faces, to give effect to certain portions, which may
the white blouses of the artist and his assistants then be treated as elaborately as you like. The
have a distinct suggestion of the miller and his first essential is the balance of the masses, and the
men. All this points to the fact that sculpture is absence of reiterated commonplace ornament. As
a craft as well as an art. No matter how poetic you will see, I do not shrink from using most
the idea, how ethereal the finished bas-relief or elaborate decoration where it is effective and justi-
statue, its fashioning implies much hard work, and fied by its surroundings; but to give the parts thus
no little severe manual labour. Not that one need enriched due importance, it is essential that other
run away with an idea based, on the more or less parts should be broadly treated."
apocryphal story of Michael Angelo hewing
his statue of David straight away from the
huge, rough block of marble; various
mechanical processes to-day may be called
into play to lighten the mere stonemason's
share in the performance. Still, minimise
it as we may, the art of the sculptor in its
noblest form demands strenuous labour, so
that you may regard it as being tolerably
secure from invasion by the new woman, or
the mere dilettante ; for it is a most perfect
instance of fine art inextricably allied with
fine craft.

The studio of Mr. George Frampton dis-
tinctly fulfils the purpose of a workshop, and
as he comes forward to meet you, in pic-
turesque blouse, you are certain that the
costume, effective though it be, was not
chosen for show, but is in keeping with the
simplicity of the whole place—a simplicity
still further intensified by the gorgeous objects
that are in various stages of completion
therein.

First, and most striking, is a four-fold
screen, a rhapsody of gold and mother-of-
pearl, ivory and enamel, of which more later ;
and on the walls a no less important example

of wood-carving, which prompts you to ask mr. frampton at work ox hts bust " mother and child
VI. No. 34.—January, 1896. 205