DOI issue:
No. 68 (November 1898)
DOI article:The work of Christopher Dresser
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19230#0129
Christopher Dresser
have set up of the trade
designer, a poor slave to
commerce," and do not see
that the artist is there behind
the sham figure. It is true
that one whose influence is
most widely admitted—Wil-
liam Morris—is unlikely ever
to be deposed, and in claim-
ing that others, Mr. Dresser
included, helped nobly the
work he had at heart, one
casts no stone at his memory,
nor even at some of his in-
discreet satellites who think
design for a carpet by Christopher dresser £Q n0nour their hero by be-
(By permission of Messrs. Crossley &• Sons) nl -n . t,
K r r J ?• ' httling all others. But there
and all pattern find its prototype in certain re- is danger lest the work of many a good ally may be
cognised schools. forgotten if the cuckoo cry that Morris was not
In this age of publicity the unrecognised genius only the greatest but the only leader of the move-
is probably as frequent as ever. He may not ment is left without occasional protest. The most
starve in a garret, his name may be flaunted until loyal subjects of the many-sided leader are those
it is well-nigh a by-word; and yet all the same we who recognise that few movements are carried
keep our eyes steadfastly fixed on the "dummy we through single-handed, and that working apart, and
design for a carpet
108
{By permission of Messrs. Crossley & Sons)
by christopher dresser
have set up of the trade
designer, a poor slave to
commerce," and do not see
that the artist is there behind
the sham figure. It is true
that one whose influence is
most widely admitted—Wil-
liam Morris—is unlikely ever
to be deposed, and in claim-
ing that others, Mr. Dresser
included, helped nobly the
work he had at heart, one
casts no stone at his memory,
nor even at some of his in-
discreet satellites who think
design for a carpet by Christopher dresser £Q n0nour their hero by be-
(By permission of Messrs. Crossley &• Sons) nl -n . t,
K r r J ?• ' httling all others. But there
and all pattern find its prototype in certain re- is danger lest the work of many a good ally may be
cognised schools. forgotten if the cuckoo cry that Morris was not
In this age of publicity the unrecognised genius only the greatest but the only leader of the move-
is probably as frequent as ever. He may not ment is left without occasional protest. The most
starve in a garret, his name may be flaunted until loyal subjects of the many-sided leader are those
it is well-nigh a by-word; and yet all the same we who recognise that few movements are carried
keep our eyes steadfastly fixed on the "dummy we through single-handed, and that working apart, and
design for a carpet
108
{By permission of Messrs. Crossley & Sons)
by christopher dresser