DOI issue:
No. 41 (August, 1896)
DOI article:Studio-talk
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17297#0188
Studio- Talk
the excellent work, the actual forging and shaping,
is due to Mr. W. B. Reynolds, a master-craftsman
in metal. If one doubts how far these designs are
ahead of previous attempts to employ the electric
light, he has but to compare them with others—in
what may be called not unfairly "the brass bed-
stead style," which are also temporally fixed in the
same streets. The examples illustrated are to
ELECTRIC LIGHT BRACKET, FIXED IN BOW LAXE
be gilded all over, the cost of gold used in this
way being proved to be economic, as it requires
renewal far less frequently than paint. Those in-
terested in such matters should not be content
with a hasty verdict upon a bold and well-con-
sidered experiment, but should see the originals
several times. The final verdict of approval can
then be considered certain, from all people of
taste.
SHEFFIELD.—Even during the wildest
flights of imagination it would be im-
possible to write down Sheffield as a
city devoted to art, but to assert that
it is void of such an element would be
adding blackness to the night and rendering
auxiliary aid to those manufacturers who vie with
each other in their endeavour to make their city
one of eternal darkness. To outward appearance
all that was beautiful has foundered in a sea of
manufacturing requirements, and all the instru-
ments of production would appear to pour forth
their poisonous fumes with a hissing determination
to blot the heart out of Nature itself. This is what
the stranger must feel on entering Sheffield, and
such is the vision carried away to the quarters of
the earth and upon which the reputation of the
city—as a city—has been built. Certainly the
mind which has not sojourned sufficiently long
to find how much of beauty is left may be for-
given for spreading so erroneous a view; but, deep
down in the heart of man, there is still the old
hereditary love of beauty, of excellence in work-
manship, and pride in production, which has, and
ever will place them in the foremost rank as art
craftsmen.
In these days of fierce competition, when price
is held to be the great consideration, when manu-
facturers boldly proclaim their sympathy with art
so long as their pockets remain unaffected, it is
small wonder that a great percentage of the manu-
factures should be such as to damage a reputation
so hardly earned; but there is consolation in the
fact that there is a distinct movement to encourage
art in manufacture, and to produce work which
may hold its own with that of the past generation,
which is now so highly prized.
CABINET BY T. PETERS. METAL-WORK BY W. BULLAS
171
the excellent work, the actual forging and shaping,
is due to Mr. W. B. Reynolds, a master-craftsman
in metal. If one doubts how far these designs are
ahead of previous attempts to employ the electric
light, he has but to compare them with others—in
what may be called not unfairly "the brass bed-
stead style," which are also temporally fixed in the
same streets. The examples illustrated are to
ELECTRIC LIGHT BRACKET, FIXED IN BOW LAXE
be gilded all over, the cost of gold used in this
way being proved to be economic, as it requires
renewal far less frequently than paint. Those in-
terested in such matters should not be content
with a hasty verdict upon a bold and well-con-
sidered experiment, but should see the originals
several times. The final verdict of approval can
then be considered certain, from all people of
taste.
SHEFFIELD.—Even during the wildest
flights of imagination it would be im-
possible to write down Sheffield as a
city devoted to art, but to assert that
it is void of such an element would be
adding blackness to the night and rendering
auxiliary aid to those manufacturers who vie with
each other in their endeavour to make their city
one of eternal darkness. To outward appearance
all that was beautiful has foundered in a sea of
manufacturing requirements, and all the instru-
ments of production would appear to pour forth
their poisonous fumes with a hissing determination
to blot the heart out of Nature itself. This is what
the stranger must feel on entering Sheffield, and
such is the vision carried away to the quarters of
the earth and upon which the reputation of the
city—as a city—has been built. Certainly the
mind which has not sojourned sufficiently long
to find how much of beauty is left may be for-
given for spreading so erroneous a view; but, deep
down in the heart of man, there is still the old
hereditary love of beauty, of excellence in work-
manship, and pride in production, which has, and
ever will place them in the foremost rank as art
craftsmen.
In these days of fierce competition, when price
is held to be the great consideration, when manu-
facturers boldly proclaim their sympathy with art
so long as their pockets remain unaffected, it is
small wonder that a great percentage of the manu-
factures should be such as to damage a reputation
so hardly earned; but there is consolation in the
fact that there is a distinct movement to encourage
art in manufacture, and to produce work which
may hold its own with that of the past generation,
which is now so highly prized.
CABINET BY T. PETERS. METAL-WORK BY W. BULLAS
171