DOI issue:
No. 79 (October, 1899)
DOI article:Vallance, Aymer: British decorative art in 1899 and the Arts And Crafts Exhibition, [1]
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19783#0062
Arts and Crafts
PORTION OF CARPET DESIGNED BY C. F. A. VOYSEY
(Messrs. Tomkinson Adam, Manufacturers)
subsequently, owing to pressure of other business,
had to abandon. Mr. Pegram then undertook to
carry out the work. It was originally intended to
form the finial of an oak newel, of which the
pedestal shown should represent the upper portion.
In his designs for furniture, Mr. Voysey evidently
aims at maintaining, in the leading structural lines,
extreme simplicity of form, relieved, in the secondary
parts only, by quaint ornamental detail. He also
relies very much on grace of proportion, a feature
to which reproductions on a reduced scale cannot,
of course, do adequate justice. Indeed, the rigidly
severe character of the joinery, accompanied by
plain though elaborately-studied mouldings, makes
it seem almost bald, unless the objects themselves,
completed full size, are examined ; in which event
the restraint and refinement of the whole can hardly
fail to be appreciated. This architectural quality is,
indeed, dominant in all Mr. Voysey's designs,whether
it be for a chair, a table, a cabinet, or a looking-
glass frame. It may be mentioned that the cabinet
here illustrated belongs to Mr. Ward Higgs, the
sympathetic owner of much of Mr. Voysey's work.
The specimen of furniture in question was designed
expressly to contain a richly-bound copy of the
famous Kelmscott edition of Chaucer. Executed in
46
oak, the case discovers, when the hinged doors are
opened, a vermilion enamelled interior in which
rests the beautiful volume, spread open and ready
that whoso runs may read and admire.
To the public at large Mr. Voysey is perhaps best
known by his characteristic designs for wall-papers
and textiles. His unzoological birds and fantastic
foliage are truly inimitable. Some of his more
recent woven stuffs are a combination of silk and
wool, the fabric in parts consisting of the two mate-
rials equally interwoven, in parts being twofold,
either the wool or the silk coming to the fore.
Wherever the latter occurs, the silk, being of more
pliable texture than the woollen backing, yields the
more readily to the tension of the web, and thus is
produced a rich and varied effect by reason of the
play of light upon the glossy, undulating surface of
the silk. The method was initiated years ago by
Mr. William Morris, in his " Dove and Rose"
tapestry. Only in the last named the pattern was
so evenly covered that there were not enough of
conspicuously large surfaces for displaying the beau-
tiful capabilities peculiar to the fabric. Mr. Voysey,
however, with more successful venture, intersperses
his design with some very bold masses, sometimes
accentuated by contrast with the fine intricacy of
other portions of the pattern. It should be noted
CARPET DESIGNED BY C F. A. VOYSEY
(Messrs. Tomkinson & Adam, Manufacturers)
PORTION OF CARPET DESIGNED BY C. F. A. VOYSEY
(Messrs. Tomkinson Adam, Manufacturers)
subsequently, owing to pressure of other business,
had to abandon. Mr. Pegram then undertook to
carry out the work. It was originally intended to
form the finial of an oak newel, of which the
pedestal shown should represent the upper portion.
In his designs for furniture, Mr. Voysey evidently
aims at maintaining, in the leading structural lines,
extreme simplicity of form, relieved, in the secondary
parts only, by quaint ornamental detail. He also
relies very much on grace of proportion, a feature
to which reproductions on a reduced scale cannot,
of course, do adequate justice. Indeed, the rigidly
severe character of the joinery, accompanied by
plain though elaborately-studied mouldings, makes
it seem almost bald, unless the objects themselves,
completed full size, are examined ; in which event
the restraint and refinement of the whole can hardly
fail to be appreciated. This architectural quality is,
indeed, dominant in all Mr. Voysey's designs,whether
it be for a chair, a table, a cabinet, or a looking-
glass frame. It may be mentioned that the cabinet
here illustrated belongs to Mr. Ward Higgs, the
sympathetic owner of much of Mr. Voysey's work.
The specimen of furniture in question was designed
expressly to contain a richly-bound copy of the
famous Kelmscott edition of Chaucer. Executed in
46
oak, the case discovers, when the hinged doors are
opened, a vermilion enamelled interior in which
rests the beautiful volume, spread open and ready
that whoso runs may read and admire.
To the public at large Mr. Voysey is perhaps best
known by his characteristic designs for wall-papers
and textiles. His unzoological birds and fantastic
foliage are truly inimitable. Some of his more
recent woven stuffs are a combination of silk and
wool, the fabric in parts consisting of the two mate-
rials equally interwoven, in parts being twofold,
either the wool or the silk coming to the fore.
Wherever the latter occurs, the silk, being of more
pliable texture than the woollen backing, yields the
more readily to the tension of the web, and thus is
produced a rich and varied effect by reason of the
play of light upon the glossy, undulating surface of
the silk. The method was initiated years ago by
Mr. William Morris, in his " Dove and Rose"
tapestry. Only in the last named the pattern was
so evenly covered that there were not enough of
conspicuously large surfaces for displaying the beau-
tiful capabilities peculiar to the fabric. Mr. Voysey,
however, with more successful venture, intersperses
his design with some very bold masses, sometimes
accentuated by contrast with the fine intricacy of
other portions of the pattern. It should be noted
CARPET DESIGNED BY C F. A. VOYSEY
(Messrs. Tomkinson & Adam, Manufacturers)