DOI Heft:
No. 40 (July, 1896)
DOI Artikel:White, Gleeson: The Home Arts and Industries Association at the Albert Hall
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17297#0109
Home Arts and Industries Association
carved chest. SoiltflWOld
does ornament, which is
after all unessential, well,
how much more needful it
is to make the essential
construction not merely
good but perfect.
It is difficult to observe
any method in a notice.
One may begin with London,
—^■^sgg^^gg^^^^^^/^^ .....nniui ;j|i>—■ j||i|uu!'"- --_ whichchanced to be in the
^^^^m^JTI^--:; ^~ classes immediately pre-
ceded it, but among their
work nothing was peculiarly
worthy of special comment.
to a clumsy one with hand-cut; but all the same The interest of the London stalls, as in former
no added ornament, no " feeling " or " quaintness " years, centres in the inlaid wood-work from designs
can replace sturdy, capable mechanism. It would by the Hon. Mabel de Grey and Mr. Charles
be unfair to select a particular example, but one Voysey. In most of these, carried out by other
comes to mind—well proportioned, well designed, hands, the craft is hardly less good than the design,
and apparently well made; the present writer had Especial commendation must be given to those
nearly purchased it when closer inspection
revealed joinery that a rabbit-hutch builder
might have surpassed, and a "finish" of
parts not exposed to view as bad as it is
possible to imagine. In too many cases,
moreover, the " construction" was by an
outsider. Now you cannot separate art from
craft (so far as the industrial varieties are
concerned) without detriment. A workman
should be as proud of a good mortise and
tenon, or a good piece of plain forging, as
of a fine piece of carving, or a well wrought
repousse panel. The judges are keenly alive
to this particular danger. Their highest
awards, "gold " stars for each separate quality,
are arranged in the form of a cross, when
design, fitness, and good construction all
appear as the work of a single pair of hands.
Quite sufficient instances of entirely satisfac-
tory specimens were to be found to warrant
outsiders in applauding the judges for their
integrity and censuring the class-teachers for
their apathy. Throughout the exhibits this
year, the designs were better, the objects
chosen to adorn were infinitely more fit than
of a few years ago. But as a whole the
" lowlier" crafts had not shown the same
advance. This tendency to look on " carv-
ing " as something superior to carpentry, to
prize the bas-relief of repousse metal beyond chair designed by m. benson.
its soldering and riveting, is foolish. If one leatherwork by miss bassett. Ascott
94
carved chest. SoiltflWOld
does ornament, which is
after all unessential, well,
how much more needful it
is to make the essential
construction not merely
good but perfect.
It is difficult to observe
any method in a notice.
One may begin with London,
—^■^sgg^^gg^^^^^^/^^ .....nniui ;j|i>—■ j||i|uu!'"- --_ whichchanced to be in the
^^^^m^JTI^--:; ^~ classes immediately pre-
ceded it, but among their
work nothing was peculiarly
worthy of special comment.
to a clumsy one with hand-cut; but all the same The interest of the London stalls, as in former
no added ornament, no " feeling " or " quaintness " years, centres in the inlaid wood-work from designs
can replace sturdy, capable mechanism. It would by the Hon. Mabel de Grey and Mr. Charles
be unfair to select a particular example, but one Voysey. In most of these, carried out by other
comes to mind—well proportioned, well designed, hands, the craft is hardly less good than the design,
and apparently well made; the present writer had Especial commendation must be given to those
nearly purchased it when closer inspection
revealed joinery that a rabbit-hutch builder
might have surpassed, and a "finish" of
parts not exposed to view as bad as it is
possible to imagine. In too many cases,
moreover, the " construction" was by an
outsider. Now you cannot separate art from
craft (so far as the industrial varieties are
concerned) without detriment. A workman
should be as proud of a good mortise and
tenon, or a good piece of plain forging, as
of a fine piece of carving, or a well wrought
repousse panel. The judges are keenly alive
to this particular danger. Their highest
awards, "gold " stars for each separate quality,
are arranged in the form of a cross, when
design, fitness, and good construction all
appear as the work of a single pair of hands.
Quite sufficient instances of entirely satisfac-
tory specimens were to be found to warrant
outsiders in applauding the judges for their
integrity and censuring the class-teachers for
their apathy. Throughout the exhibits this
year, the designs were better, the objects
chosen to adorn were infinitely more fit than
of a few years ago. But as a whole the
" lowlier" crafts had not shown the same
advance. This tendency to look on " carv-
ing " as something superior to carpentry, to
prize the bas-relief of repousse metal beyond chair designed by m. benson.
its soldering and riveting, is foolish. If one leatherwork by miss bassett. Ascott
94