Studio: international art (11.1897)

Some Glasgow Designers

allegory, but that is merely
the view of one unsympa-
thetic realist.

It should not be neces-
sary to disclaim on behalf
of Mr. McNair and the
other artists a charge of
conscious affectation ; but
if those who know only the
published results think it
is suggested by their work,
a very short time spent in
the company of this group
of workers would quite
efface such an impression.
They, one and all, choose
the particular mode of ex-
pression because they pre-
fer it, and after all, that is
the only consistent method
for any designer; unless he
pleases himself, what hope
is there of pleasing others ?
And if he satisfies his own
taste, there is a fair cer-
tainty that out of a world fireplace decoration by talwin morris
of men some few at least

will find he has expressed their own inchoate thought,

and given shape to ideas
they were powerless to
utter.

The work of Mr. Talwin
Morris is probably not un-
familiar to many who have
never heard his name. The
covers to Messrs. Cassell's
"Portrait Gallery," and
several very original and
delightful head-pieces to the
same publishers' " Battles
of the Nineteenth Century,"
a very successful wrapper
for the serial parts of
Messrs. Blackie's " Natural
History of Plants," and a
large number of decorated
cloth bindings for books
issued by the same firm, are
among examples of his de-
signs, familiar enough to all
who are interested in modern
decoration. These being
either anonymous, or merely
cabinet by j. hkkbert mcnair initialed, have not so far

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