Studio: international art (9.1897)

The Arts

PANEL OF PAINTED SCREEN BY AMY SAWYER

Ward, were the other contributions for which this
artist was responsible.

Reference must now be made to the four-fold
screen painted by Miss Amy Sawyer ; and with
every wish to do full justice to its merits, it seems
impossible to say more in praise of its panels than
the excellent reproductions (four sketches specially
made by the artist) will elicit from readers of The
Studio. Its harmony of colour is exceedingly
sumptuous; pitched in the key of jewels, enamels,
or stained glass, it almost succeeds in deluding you
into believing that oil-paint can rival crystals, or
the plumage of humming-birds. Yet despite its
really gorgeous colour, it is in no way garish or
obtrusive, but is a fine piece of decoration that,
pictorial as its treatment may appear, always ob-

and Crafts

serves the limits which separate the decorative from
the pictorial.

A few objects from across the water enjoyed the
courteous hospitality of the society. This was quite
right and in accord with the amity of nations. To
avoid discussing their faults is also polite. But
with no wish to be conceited in insular self-satisfac-
tion, truth forces one to admit that at present the
Continental designers, with one or two exceptions,
have not succeeded in distinguishing between novelty
and eccentricity, between beauty and the grotesque,
between first principles of decoration and very
mediocre practice. Visits to L'Art Nouveau, the
two Salons and other Exhibitions, prove that our
friends are awakening, and it would be strangely
discourteous to be censorious now. But, at the

PANEL OF PAINTED SCREEN BY AMY SAWYER

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