Studio: international art (28.1903)

Studio- Talk

made an attempt to introduce an innovation in ■ ~""V ELHI.—The increasing depression in

the last century. Dancing was indulged in, and m the artistic condition of the Indian

comparisons were made between the ladies wearing craftsman have been for years the

the " artistic reform dress" and those attired lament of the despairing archaeologist, the text of
in ordinary ball dresses (the latter were consider- the dogmatist, and the puzzle of the authorities,
ably in the minority), the general opinion being Apologists explain the falling away in taste and
in favour of the former. It would be wrong to say technique partly to the demand of the globe-trotter
that every design displayed at this novel fete was for quantity rather than quality, and partly to the
an absolute success, but in most cases the followers child-like belief of the native of every degree that
of the movement were artistically gowned. Even because the "Sahib" is great in government,
if the highest ideal has not been reached, the industry, and commerce, his fellow-countryman at
present " art reform dress" is graceful and on home, even in the cheapest products of the latter,
artistic lines; and the ultimate adoption or rejec- must be equally great in design. It is asserted, on
tion by the public of the principles supported by the other hand, that the economic depression at
the Society for the Improvement of Women's Dress least is due to the fact that rapid transit by sea and
probably depends chiefly upon the persistency with land has brought the Indian art worker, for the
which the members carry on their campaign. first time in his national existence, into competition

A. H. with the more vital and ingenious forms of design

and more scientific mechanism of
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Europe and the Far East, and

that, being unfit, he must inevitably
H succumb; while iconoclasts have
been known to deny the existence
of Indian art at all, declaring that
whatever there is of art in Indian
work has been imported. The
present Viceroy, His Excellency
V Lord Curzon, despatched, a year

B^JHH ago, a special commission to en-

V quire into the economic condition

■jmr . J of the handicraftsmen throughout

India, and to consult with local
BP-"^ ^*lM authorities regarding the possibilities

of improving it. further, he took
EfHHSV mm VlWH advantage of the presence at Delhi

j ^| of all the principal native chiefs and

notables of India, together with that
of the large numbers of wealthy and
influential Europeans and Americans
^ V visiting the country for the Durbar

V ceremonies, to show the world, by

« means of an exhibition, what artistic

III ^ capacity there is in the Indian crafts-

^B^^B \ I X man ol to-day, when encouraged to

W 1% ' ^BMM^^^fflBfi do his best and made to work

within the boundaries of certain
traditional lines.

mmt I 1 . . ~—

I his Exhibition was not a huge

B^^^^SIhiRPrii mini nilm^hmartm m> iii ftit caravanserie of competing trades-

" *•'• .;. ' ' p'i-' "'i^f^sSS^^^m men, with art thrown in as one

of the attractive side-shows, such as

EVENING DRESS DESIGNED BY ELIZABETH WINTERWERBER IS SO often the Case with the

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