Studio: international art (27.1903)

The Work of Ann Macbeth

"TOWEL" DESIGNED BY ANN MACBETH

EMBROIDERED BY CLARA BENTLEY

is as lifeless as a body without a soul. Like the
old Italian masters she arrived at a knowledge ol
ornament through the practice of drawing from the
figure : and when at length she turned her attention
to traditional ornament, she found herself in a
position to ignore it, and to start where the
mediaeval ornament ists did—namely, at and with
Nature. By her education she had placed herself
in the position of being a creative artist, instead ot
a follower of tradition, and this gave her a distinct
advantage over the old sampler worker. For
unless tradition in art be added to, be made
to live, and be brought up to date as a living
entity, there is a fear that it must die of
sheer inanition, and history repeats this lesson.
Ornament, to be worthy of the name, must
be more than an aggregation of conventional
forms to be used on occasion, like recipes taken
from a cookery book. It must be a personal
belonging, and have a distinct relation not only to
the ego of the creator, but also to the period in
which it was created. But this presupposes power
to transform, talent to adapt, and, above all, genius
to create; and herein comes the good of a sound
education, such as Miss Macbeth possesses. To be
original in any sense of the word is, first, to find
°ut what has been done, and then to learn the
further possibilities both of material and of treat-
ment. Otherwise originality becomes a travesty,
and creation (so-called) merely a borrowing. But
the instinct that can trace the hieroglyphical forms
°n a Persian carpet back to the nature from which
they were adapted can start again with that nature,
and end at a point beyond that, it may be, which
the Persian reached. And, what is more, the worker
uiay finish with that touch of nature which the
Oriental never had, and thus make a deeper appeal
to our senses, because of the added comparison we

are able to make between means and ends. But
with the possession of such power comes the
application, and Miss Macbeth, instead of pro-
ducing work which, though beautiful in itself,
should, like the painted picture, be unrelated to
ordinary surroundings, set herself steadfastly from
the very first to execute work which should enter
into daily life and have an interest because it was a
part of our everyday surroundings. And in this
endeavour she is rfiuch helped by her own very
practical outlook on things. Thus, how dress and
personal adornment could be simplified and at
the same time beautified, early made a strong
appeal to her. How stuffs, plain, yet of sound
quality and of good colour, could be beautified
by the addition of embroidery or other aids to

"AM I LUCKY?" BY ANN MACBETH

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