Studio: international art (26.1902)

Turin Exhibition

distributed among the paintings and sculptures, are
—carpets, by Eckmann and Leistikow ; silks, by
Eckmann, Van der Velde and others; weavings,
from Scherrkeck; metal-work, by R. Bosselt,
Eckmann, Hiede, and Thallmayr of Munich, by
Steenaerts and Witte of Aix-la-Chapelle ; pottery,
by Langer, R. v. Heyder, C. Massier, de Feure;
china, from the Berlin and Copenhagen manu-
factories ; leather-work, by Collin, Otto Weitz,
Attenkofer, and Tonnar; furniture, by Th.
Cossman; and fireplaces, by Houben.

HE INTERNATIONAL EXHI-
BITION OF MODERN DECO-
RATIVE ART AT TURIN.—

THE SCOTTISH SECTION.

Madame de Stael describes architecture as
frozen music, and the simile will bear a further
extension. To hang an exhibition properly is to
create one of those songs which, though unheard,
may be sweeter than those heard. To use mate-
rial rightly, to scheme the rooms to a definite
idea, to have their proportions and spacings and
colours complete in themselves, and yet ready to
bear the added burden which their use entails, is
to create a harmony which appeals to that inner
sense where fitness for purpose and beauty in pro-
duction unite to form that quality we call art.

It is true there still exists the tradition that
all that is wanted for an Exhibition are spaces and
material, or, to be more definite, walls and pictures,
and the more of the latter the better! One of
the most popular picture shows in England
appears to be hung on this principle. The base
of the structure on each wall is official, the
superstructure is carpentry and a judicious use
of the foot rule.

Whether art gains or not by the result is not a
matter of dubiety, and another row added to the
already sky-reaching top line may mean a further
accession of shillings at the turnstile. And the
public likes pictures, and plenty of them. But
imagine the feelings of the great majority of picture-
gallery visitors, were their shillings demanded and
they were shown into that room in the "Secession,"
now open in Vienna, where, in a gallery spaced
and decorated for the purpose, sits solitary and
alone the statue of Beethoven, by Klinger ! Better
for them the theatrical opportunities of Bond
Street, where the dealers only ruin the right idea
by their inability to carry it out. But their instincts
are not at fault. For no exhibition of works of art
can be a success which treats walls as spaces to be
covered up, and in which there is no attempt to
realise the condition that art means the setting as
much as the work.

The only time when Londoners were told what

VIEW OF ROOM CONTAINING THE GENERAL SCOTTISH EXHIBITS

DESIGNED BY CHARLES R.

MACKINTOSH
9*