DOI Heft:
No. 97 (April, 1901)
DOI Artikel:Strange, Edward F.: Some recent work by Nelson and Edith Dawson
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19787#0198
Nelson and Edith Dawson
knowledge of the trade for
which he drew, seems to
have faded out of existence;
and, in his place, was left a
mere artisan without imag-
ination, without enterprise,
without even an artistic
tradition worthy or the
name, who relied only on his
employers' stock pattern-
book, and had no personal
interest in the things he
made beyond the earning
of his weekly wage.
It would be an interest-
ing and worthy task to
trace the history of the
revival of craftsmanship
during the last fifty years,
but this is neither the
place for it nor the object
heraldic badge in cloisonne enamel by nelson and edith dawson °^ t'ie PreSent eSSay.
With the short statement
that the credit for the
of the Renaissance. Towards the end ot the personal initiative therein must be given to William
latter—the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it Morris and the first members of the Arts and
still persisted as far as their workmanship was con- Crafts Society ; and that no slight assistance has
cerned—the guilds of craftsmen took care of that been afforded by the collection and exhibition of
—but became modified in another direction by the examples of much of the best of the old work in
gradual development of the pattern-maker as a the Victoria and Albert Museum at South Kensing-
separate individual—we call him a designer now-a- ton, I must pass on to my immediate object, the
days. This movement was
felt earlier on the continent
than in England, and was
due perhaps to the influence
of that group of great
goldsmiths of the sixteenth
century, who were also
engravers, and who used
the latter art as an easy
means of multiplying their
patterns—perhaps for the
benefit of pupils. At all
events, the history or the
goldsmiths' and jewellers'
craft shows a large increase
in published designs up
to the middle of the
eighteenth century; and
an absolute decay of in-
vention from the end of
that period until our own
time. The old designer,
who also had a working "kipling posy casket'' by nelson and edith dawson
i 70
knowledge of the trade for
which he drew, seems to
have faded out of existence;
and, in his place, was left a
mere artisan without imag-
ination, without enterprise,
without even an artistic
tradition worthy or the
name, who relied only on his
employers' stock pattern-
book, and had no personal
interest in the things he
made beyond the earning
of his weekly wage.
It would be an interest-
ing and worthy task to
trace the history of the
revival of craftsmanship
during the last fifty years,
but this is neither the
place for it nor the object
heraldic badge in cloisonne enamel by nelson and edith dawson °^ t'ie PreSent eSSay.
With the short statement
that the credit for the
of the Renaissance. Towards the end ot the personal initiative therein must be given to William
latter—the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it Morris and the first members of the Arts and
still persisted as far as their workmanship was con- Crafts Society ; and that no slight assistance has
cerned—the guilds of craftsmen took care of that been afforded by the collection and exhibition of
—but became modified in another direction by the examples of much of the best of the old work in
gradual development of the pattern-maker as a the Victoria and Albert Museum at South Kensing-
separate individual—we call him a designer now-a- ton, I must pass on to my immediate object, the
days. This movement was
felt earlier on the continent
than in England, and was
due perhaps to the influence
of that group of great
goldsmiths of the sixteenth
century, who were also
engravers, and who used
the latter art as an easy
means of multiplying their
patterns—perhaps for the
benefit of pupils. At all
events, the history or the
goldsmiths' and jewellers'
craft shows a large increase
in published designs up
to the middle of the
eighteenth century; and
an absolute decay of in-
vention from the end of
that period until our own
time. The old designer,
who also had a working "kipling posy casket'' by nelson and edith dawson
i 70