DOI issue:
No. 163 (October, 1906)
DOI article:Studio-talk
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20716#0085
Studio-Talk
which so much botanical and scholarly sym-
pathy is shown, are well known. In the illu-
mination of the printed page—an art to which
Mr. Vigers has devoted much thought and
time—we find all his knowledge of design and
nature transferred to a miniature scale, and
worked out in a way which is personal to the
designer and makes, perhaps, one of the most
interesting contributions to the history of the
art of illumination provided by modern times.
His designs here, as in every kind of work in
the case of so refined a designer, are strictly
BOOK ILLUMINATION FOR WILLIAM MORRIS'S "ARCHI-
TECTURE AND HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER ABBEY "
BY ALLAN VIGERS
subservient to the purpose in hand. They
embellish, but do not interfere with the text,
and in character they have that attractive
spontaneity which proves that they are con-
ceived from the spirit of the text, and that
they are designed after the manner of all the
best decoration of this kind, viz., piece by
piece, with the slight differences in the repeated
forms which distinguish such work from the
mechanical perfection of the traced design.
The daintiness and perfection of Mr. Vigers'
colouring in this work are in accord with their
delicate drawing, and pertain as much to their
BOOK ILLUMINATION FOR BY ALLAN VIGERS
"THE BEAUTY OF THE EARTH"
true character. His colour is not devoid of
the element of symbolism, upon which the
true character of this kind of work rests—
as, for instance, the somewhat brighter colours
chosen in the case of heraldic motifs and the
quietness of colour chosen sometimes to ac-
cord with the mood inspired by certain books.
BOOK ILLUMINATION FOR "SOME HINTS ON PATTERN
DESIGNING" BY WILLIAM MORRIS
BY ALLAN VIGERS
65
which so much botanical and scholarly sym-
pathy is shown, are well known. In the illu-
mination of the printed page—an art to which
Mr. Vigers has devoted much thought and
time—we find all his knowledge of design and
nature transferred to a miniature scale, and
worked out in a way which is personal to the
designer and makes, perhaps, one of the most
interesting contributions to the history of the
art of illumination provided by modern times.
His designs here, as in every kind of work in
the case of so refined a designer, are strictly
BOOK ILLUMINATION FOR WILLIAM MORRIS'S "ARCHI-
TECTURE AND HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER ABBEY "
BY ALLAN VIGERS
subservient to the purpose in hand. They
embellish, but do not interfere with the text,
and in character they have that attractive
spontaneity which proves that they are con-
ceived from the spirit of the text, and that
they are designed after the manner of all the
best decoration of this kind, viz., piece by
piece, with the slight differences in the repeated
forms which distinguish such work from the
mechanical perfection of the traced design.
The daintiness and perfection of Mr. Vigers'
colouring in this work are in accord with their
delicate drawing, and pertain as much to their
BOOK ILLUMINATION FOR BY ALLAN VIGERS
"THE BEAUTY OF THE EARTH"
true character. His colour is not devoid of
the element of symbolism, upon which the
true character of this kind of work rests—
as, for instance, the somewhat brighter colours
chosen in the case of heraldic motifs and the
quietness of colour chosen sometimes to ac-
cord with the mood inspired by certain books.
BOOK ILLUMINATION FOR "SOME HINTS ON PATTERN
DESIGNING" BY WILLIAM MORRIS
BY ALLAN VIGERS
65