DOI Heft:
Nr. 44 (November 1896)
DOI Artikel:The Arts and Crafts Exhibition, 1896 (second notice)
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17298#0131
The Arts and Crafts
HAMMERED SILVER PLAQUE
DESIGNED BY SIR E. BURNE-JONES
EXECUTED BY R. CATTERSON SMITH
inventor, although that is an open question; but
in art, fine invention should always be held to be
the most important quality. It may be said, and
not untruly, that the Kelmscott Press books were
founded on previous models; but it would be safe
to offer the familiar ^"iooo challenge of the adver-
tiser, to any one who should unearth an early book
so precisely built upon the Kelmscott Press lines
as is this sumptuous quarto.
But to state the plain facts so openly does not
cast any reproach upon the artists. Mr. R. Anning
Bell, when he accepted the commission, was un-
aware that his drawings were to be enclosed within
heavy ornamental borders, and unless rumour is
inaccurate, several of his original designs had to be
re-drawn in bolder fashion to preserve the balance
between the frame and its picture. How good they
are, the two examples (pages 122 and 123), reduced
here by the necessity of the page, will prove.
They must needs be regarded as his most serious
efforts in illustration. As the reproductions will
convey a better idea than any description could
hope to impart, they may be left unconsidered.
The borders by Mr. Bertram G. Goodhue, with
some of their owls and other animate details, seem
a trifle incongruous, considered as modern decora-
tion to a missal. It is true that precedents still
more discordant could be found; but the naive
taste that employed grotesque adjuncts in connec-
tion with sacred themes jars upon us to-day when
it is a conscious effort that has been employed. In
themselves, considered solely as border designs,
they are full of vigour and display a really fine
sense of decoration. Mr. Goodhue, founder of the
short-lived Knight Errant, the most satisfactory
of all the magazines which sprang indirectly from
The Century Guild Hobby Horse, is one of those
in whose hands the decorative movement in
America upon the lines of our own Arts and Crafts,
may be shaped to worthy ends. Already he has
done no little ; and if his name be at present un-
familiar to many English artists, those who know
him best realise how fully he is in accord with the
principles they cherish.
In the same book the heraldic designs upon
copper, by Mr. C. W. Sherbourn, are masterpieces
of their sort, but fail to harmonise with the rest of
the book. The delicate precision of the graven
line is out of place among the bolder designs
HAMMERED SILVER PLAQUE
DESIGNED BY SIR E. BURNE-JONES
EXECUTED BY R. CATTERSON SMITH
119
HAMMERED SILVER PLAQUE
DESIGNED BY SIR E. BURNE-JONES
EXECUTED BY R. CATTERSON SMITH
inventor, although that is an open question; but
in art, fine invention should always be held to be
the most important quality. It may be said, and
not untruly, that the Kelmscott Press books were
founded on previous models; but it would be safe
to offer the familiar ^"iooo challenge of the adver-
tiser, to any one who should unearth an early book
so precisely built upon the Kelmscott Press lines
as is this sumptuous quarto.
But to state the plain facts so openly does not
cast any reproach upon the artists. Mr. R. Anning
Bell, when he accepted the commission, was un-
aware that his drawings were to be enclosed within
heavy ornamental borders, and unless rumour is
inaccurate, several of his original designs had to be
re-drawn in bolder fashion to preserve the balance
between the frame and its picture. How good they
are, the two examples (pages 122 and 123), reduced
here by the necessity of the page, will prove.
They must needs be regarded as his most serious
efforts in illustration. As the reproductions will
convey a better idea than any description could
hope to impart, they may be left unconsidered.
The borders by Mr. Bertram G. Goodhue, with
some of their owls and other animate details, seem
a trifle incongruous, considered as modern decora-
tion to a missal. It is true that precedents still
more discordant could be found; but the naive
taste that employed grotesque adjuncts in connec-
tion with sacred themes jars upon us to-day when
it is a conscious effort that has been employed. In
themselves, considered solely as border designs,
they are full of vigour and display a really fine
sense of decoration. Mr. Goodhue, founder of the
short-lived Knight Errant, the most satisfactory
of all the magazines which sprang indirectly from
The Century Guild Hobby Horse, is one of those
in whose hands the decorative movement in
America upon the lines of our own Arts and Crafts,
may be shaped to worthy ends. Already he has
done no little ; and if his name be at present un-
familiar to many English artists, those who know
him best realise how fully he is in accord with the
principles they cherish.
In the same book the heraldic designs upon
copper, by Mr. C. W. Sherbourn, are masterpieces
of their sort, but fail to harmonise with the rest of
the book. The delicate precision of the graven
line is out of place among the bolder designs
HAMMERED SILVER PLAQUE
DESIGNED BY SIR E. BURNE-JONES
EXECUTED BY R. CATTERSON SMITH
119