Studio: international art (11.1897)

The National Competition

DESIGN BASED ON FLOWERING
FLANI". BY ALICE M. APPLETON

proves that he has pleased

those quite willing to be

lenient or benevolently im-
partial, not that he has

revealed himself a genius

who henceforward may

disdain his tutor's advice,

and bask in the sunshine of

profitable popularity. For

in the nature of things

praise can be bestowed

more generously upon a

beginner than upon an
older hand, and the works
here illustrated and held up
for approval have only
others of the same kind as
their rivals. A master-
piece at South Kensington
might seem a very mild
effort at the " Arts and
Crafts," nor even conspicu-
ously meritorious in the
windows of one of our best
lurnishing warehouses. A panel
250

designer who is recog-
nised becomes at once
his own deadliest rival;
every new work he pro-
duces is compared with
his past efforts, and the
tendency is to condemn
him for not excelling all
he has done hitherto.
But the work of a neo-
phyte lias no past to be
set in competition, its
merits plead for approval,
its faults crave to be
ignored. So the written
word which condemns
the master may applaud
the apprentice for exactly
similar efforts; and yet
if the approval of such
work is always under-
stood as qualified by the
circumstance, no harm is
done in either case.
It so happens that the

BY G. MON r VGUE El LWOOD