DOI issue:
No. 154 (January, 1906)
DOI article:Studio-talk
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20713#0376
Studio-Talk
Newcastle - on - tyne.—
In 1899 a wood-carving class
was started in the little
hamlet of Lucker, with the
object of providing recreative employ-
ment for the villagers in the winter
evenings. In course of time sufficient
progress was made for the class to be
entrusted with the carving of oak choir-
stalls for the village church, and the
results were considered so satisfactory
that the class was commissioned to
execute the carving of the oak pulpit
shown on the preceding page, with the
exception of the three figures of saints,
which were done by Mr. Ralph Hedley,
of Newcastle. The design is by Mr. C.
S. Errington, A.R.I.B.A., of Newcastle.
Birmingham.—We have on
more than one occasion re-
ferred in these pages to the
great progress made by Mr.
BY N. GROPEANO
Howson Taylor in his manufacture of ornamental
pottery. Some examples we have recently seen
are, in our opinion, of surpassing excellence in all
the varied processes connected with the potting,
glazing, and firing of the ware. Mr. Howson
Taylor’s work now bears favourable comparison
with that of any other European or American
maker of ornamental glazed ware.
PARIS.—One of the chief attractions of the
Autumn Salon this year was the retro-
spective exhibition of a selection of the
works of Ingres and Manet—two artists
in appearance most diverse, but in reality united by
a common conscientiousness, a common love of
their art. The conjunction of these masters was
a particularly happy thought, by reason of the
preponderating influence they exercised. There
could be nothing more beneficial in an exhibition
such as this, where one sees plenty of young and
hesitating ability, than the sight of these two talents,
each so personal and of such powerful individuality.
that more than ordinary interest was attached
to his drawings exhibited, with Mr. William
Orpen’s, at the recently-opened Chenil Gallery,
Chelsea. This exhibition should prove that
too much has not been claimed for Mr. John
when he is at his best. Often he parades his
courage at the expense of his art, courting ugliness
whereby to prove his hatred of the merely pretty.
He shows, however, that he keeps his sense of
beauty in the presence of ugliness, and, indeed,
deliberately retains the ugliness to show us its
relationship to beauty. Drawing always with an
impulse for actual life, no momentary transition in
the pose of his figures escapes him. He suggests
just those elusive, but partly-expressed, gestures
which arrest the presence of life
In the quite remarkable beauty of such a
drawing as The Convalescent, Mr. John showed
to what heights his art can ascend; but his best
instincts seemed violated over and over again in
the sordidness of others, and with a trivial Victorian
convention. Mr. Orpen’s work was scholarly
and precise in the extreme, and exhibited
much insight into character and know-
ledge of facial expression. While his
drawings are not quite of the brilliant
order of Mr. John’s, they indicate that
they are the work of an artist of unusual
powers.
358
Newcastle - on - tyne.—
In 1899 a wood-carving class
was started in the little
hamlet of Lucker, with the
object of providing recreative employ-
ment for the villagers in the winter
evenings. In course of time sufficient
progress was made for the class to be
entrusted with the carving of oak choir-
stalls for the village church, and the
results were considered so satisfactory
that the class was commissioned to
execute the carving of the oak pulpit
shown on the preceding page, with the
exception of the three figures of saints,
which were done by Mr. Ralph Hedley,
of Newcastle. The design is by Mr. C.
S. Errington, A.R.I.B.A., of Newcastle.
Birmingham.—We have on
more than one occasion re-
ferred in these pages to the
great progress made by Mr.
BY N. GROPEANO
Howson Taylor in his manufacture of ornamental
pottery. Some examples we have recently seen
are, in our opinion, of surpassing excellence in all
the varied processes connected with the potting,
glazing, and firing of the ware. Mr. Howson
Taylor’s work now bears favourable comparison
with that of any other European or American
maker of ornamental glazed ware.
PARIS.—One of the chief attractions of the
Autumn Salon this year was the retro-
spective exhibition of a selection of the
works of Ingres and Manet—two artists
in appearance most diverse, but in reality united by
a common conscientiousness, a common love of
their art. The conjunction of these masters was
a particularly happy thought, by reason of the
preponderating influence they exercised. There
could be nothing more beneficial in an exhibition
such as this, where one sees plenty of young and
hesitating ability, than the sight of these two talents,
each so personal and of such powerful individuality.
that more than ordinary interest was attached
to his drawings exhibited, with Mr. William
Orpen’s, at the recently-opened Chenil Gallery,
Chelsea. This exhibition should prove that
too much has not been claimed for Mr. John
when he is at his best. Often he parades his
courage at the expense of his art, courting ugliness
whereby to prove his hatred of the merely pretty.
He shows, however, that he keeps his sense of
beauty in the presence of ugliness, and, indeed,
deliberately retains the ugliness to show us its
relationship to beauty. Drawing always with an
impulse for actual life, no momentary transition in
the pose of his figures escapes him. He suggests
just those elusive, but partly-expressed, gestures
which arrest the presence of life
In the quite remarkable beauty of such a
drawing as The Convalescent, Mr. John showed
to what heights his art can ascend; but his best
instincts seemed violated over and over again in
the sordidness of others, and with a trivial Victorian
convention. Mr. Orpen’s work was scholarly
and precise in the extreme, and exhibited
much insight into character and know-
ledge of facial expression. While his
drawings are not quite of the brilliant
order of Mr. John’s, they indicate that
they are the work of an artist of unusual
powers.
358