Studio: international art (17.1899)

William De Morgan

But if this use of the potter’s art in architecture
is to become general in England, as Mr. De
Morgan desires, then good effective tiles must be
produced cheaply; and we—we who live under
the curse of a soot-cloud—should look at the whole
matter from a utilitarian point of view. What we
want is a much cheaper process than Mr. De
Morgan’s—say a process of stencilling ; and we
may be sure that, by encouraging a general taste
for good inexpensive tiles, we shall foster at the
same time in many quarters a taste for much
higher kinds of workmanship in decorative earthen-

ware. The art of ornamenting tiles and vases
attained its maturity in Persia just because it was
a truly national art in that country; and those
who visit Persia to-day speak with joy of the flash-
ing blue dome of the Mosque at Ispahan, and
of other architectural relics of ancient pottery.
The more exquisite ware within the mosques cannot
be seen by unbelievers, but there is enough else-
where to cause English travellers to wish that at
home, in our grim towns and cities, the ugliness
of the streets could be charmed away by the great
and inspiriting effects which are still left open to
the potter’s art in a more
extended application to ar-
chitecture.

Among the methods re-
commended by Mr. De
Morgan there is one that
comes in suggestively at
this point. He describes it
as a system of brick-facing.
He takes a glazed and
coloured tile equal in area
to a brick and half the sur-
rounding joint,and attaches
it to the brick’s outer sur-
face before it is built into
the wall. The object of
this practice is to obtain a
firmer attachment, to cover
the brick-joint as well as
the brick itself, and to com-
plete a glazed wall-facing
without employing addi-
tional skilled labour. The
last end can be obtained
by the use of ordinary
glazed bricks; but their
range of colour is limited,
and great care is needed to
avoid coarse joints. More-
over, pattern work is easier
of achievement when tiles
are employed in the way
just described. No oppor-
tunity has yet arisen of
showing to the general
public the effects to be ob-
tained by this method of
facing bricks with coloured
tiles ; but Mr. De Morgan
believes that his experi-
ments prove it to be a
method that is very favour-

PANEL DESIGNED BY W. DE MORGAN

EXECUTED BY B. AND K. SIROCCHI

23O