Studio: international art (9.1897)

The Arts and Crafts

may-tree " frieze by walter crane

(By permission of Messrs. Jeffrey &• Co.)

taste of the moment in decorative art
would be unjust; yet it would be equally
so to look upon it as a medium for pub-
licity restricted to members and their
friends. Three years' interval may be
trifling as regards art, but it is long
enough to let many facts slip from people's
minds. It is eight years since Mr. Walter
S^^v^'S • ;* ? ' Crane, in the preface to his first Cata-

ih!«v;.'•„.. '','h .> i !'/v V logue, explained that "the decorative

<s!1 'u'h'k t '' '.....? ' «% t. 7\% artist and the handicraftsman have hitherto

had very little opportunity of displaying
'!tV??,F V ' % their work to the public eye, or rather of
' L V appealing to it on strictly artistic grounds
MR'"** .tyW • "t^^P^^^^i^iBfcffi^l3*llll in tht: same sense as the pictorial artist.
<• J*'H M] tU ' -l^StiW^?^ It is with the object of giving some visible

expression to these views that the present
Exhibition has been organised."

In 1896 the same principles are ob-
served, and the display of really fine work
justifies the promoters, and the policy
which they have maintained in the teeth
/»f ;.i^p5^^:H^^^f^MMHS of opposition and 11 attery alike.

' ' ''^Kt^Si*', • i'-^^mX(^Hi)\kf^> •■■ In picking almost at random the work

.\ ''!;lS '0 ^^''^fi/W^^ of a few notable exhibitors it would have

been natural in any case to think of Mr.
William Morris first; and how much more
so when one remembers that as the crowd
ffi.lF^H/^S^''W^A'^VW^' of visitors was pouring into the private

ft, ' view °f the society that owed its existence
,* .i. h'V' to him, each one was startled by the
X'% ^/^''^0\'v'i S%!%,t \ '< news on the contents bills of the evening

§ papers—" Death of William Morris."

And yet apart from the inevitable regret
it was a splendid moment for a hero to
die. The battle had been long, and the
the meadow" wall-paper by Walter crane victory for many years by no means as-

(By permission of Messrs. Jeffrey &■ Co.) sured. Thus at the very hour—officially

54

'W,;--; • v, w'JiW-t - 4f*!V(.v!«' "•"",'',M v,

■ —..... r