Studio: international art (14.1898)

Studio-Talk

for all as a serious conflict between the men
who have at heart the best interests of our national
art education and the official ring that is chiefly
concerned in maintaining a condition of affairs
that is in every way undesirable.

Although the report as a whole deserves the
closest study by every one who wishes to understand
why it is that such an institution as the South Ken-
sington Museum, with all its advantages, has done
so little to fulfil its obvious mission, the recom-
mendations alone are enough to explain what are
the deficiencies which the committee has discovered.

COPPER PANEL WITH LIMOGES PLAQUE

BY R. HILTON
[See Manchester Studio- Talk)

Last year, by prompt plain speaking, it saved the
Museum from imminent danger of destruction by
fire, and now, by pronouncements equally plain, it
points the way by which efficiency in the internal
administration may be substituted for ridiculous
bungling and inexcusable mistakes. None of these
suggestions can be dismissed as superfluous or un-
necessary, and e\ery one of them marks an exist-
ing weak point. One of the Parliamentary heads
of the Department should visit the Museum at
least once a week; the Directors of both the
Science and Art sections should be men of approved
technical knowledge, and they should be allowed
more discretion in purchasing objects for the
Museum ; outside advisers should be consulted on
questions of importance; the higher staff of the
Museum should be increased; a more liberal
grant should be made for the enlargement of the
collections; the Science and Art sections should
be separately housed; and an Education Minister
with Cabinet rank should be created. This is a
fairly comprehensive array of recommendations,
yet it by no means represents the full extent of
the endorsement of the outside criticisms on
South Kensington which the committee has pro-
vided.

The appointment of Mr. Walter Crane to suc-
ceed Mr. Sparkes as Principal of the Royal
College of Art at South Kensington is in every
way satisfactory. It would scarcely have been
possible to find a more suitable man for a post
which requires in its occupant a peculiar combina-
tion of qualities. Mr. Crane is an artist whose
all-round knowledge of decorative art has placed
him in a position among modern workers which no
one can be said to share with him. His influence
has been for many years extremely valuable, and
he has done more, single-handed, to guide the
practice of our younger designers than the whole
organisation of the Science and Art Department.
Now that he has become the official head of the
Department’s teaching staff, and has been chosen
to supervise and direct the training of the men to
whom the schools throughout the country are
entrusted, we may expect very notable results
from the wider extension of his influence. He
is distinctly the right man in the right place; and
we may fairly hope that this fact will be fully
recognised, and that no vexatious official inter-
ference will be permitted to hamper him in his
efforts for the good of art education.

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