DOI issue:
No. 164 (November, 1906)
DOI article:Vallance, Aymer: Of some recent plaster work by Mr. G. P. Bankart
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20716#0166
Mr. G. P. Bankarfs Plaster JVork
had so fine a perception of fitness and of the
legitimate sphere and conditions of their material
that they invariably kept its relief very low and
gently rounded off, making the pattern, so to
speak, undulate up out of the background and
melt away into it again, avoiding any approach to
harsh definition.
This is what Mr. Bankart means, I take it, when
he says that plaster decoration in ordinary rooms,
in which one has to live, should be, in its lines
and rhythm, restfully suggestive to eye and mind,
as distinct from deliberate or obtrusive. To pro-
duce such a result all the mouldings and other
lines of the pattern should alike be simple and
broad of contour, and concentrated into groupings
by way of contrast to the modelled work, since
their office is to act as intermediary between the
latter and the large plain spaces of the ceiling or
wall surface. It is highly desirable that these un-
occupied spaces should be levelled in the finishing
coat by the judgment of the eye and the free use
of the trowel and float; for it is as much an abuse
of the material to try to make it assume a mechanical
polish or smoothness that does not naturally belong
to it as it would be to give it, in the converse direc-
tion, an affected and exaggerated ruggedness or
unevenness of texture.
plaster decoration of billiard room at
harborne house, birmingham
designed and executed by g. p. bankart
observed, and which he endeavours to
reproduce, is that tenderness of delinea-
tion, modelling, and texture which is the
natural property of the soft material of
plaster of Paris. This quality is most
necessary as a precaution to enable the
plasterer to withdraw the product with
ease from the mould (itself alike consist-
ing of plaster), to withstand the usual ■flEfwHWlf'f ,
risks attendant on the handling, and,
lastly, to insure, as far as may be, con- ! ?/ • .
tinuance of durability. Plaster ornament.
that comprises projecting points, quite
apart from the questionableness of its
advantage aesthetically, is apt, in the *TrnflnrallKPP)fcPBlfc
ordinary course of things, to become gliftWWW■BlM gBpf HH
chipped and broken, and thus to acquire pPPPPPPPEEI I ElK Mm HH ''.^■fl
a defective and shabby appearance, the I I 1 11 j I J iBiB lllf I bIH^H '3
very opposite of agreeable lo the eye. ■■■■^■■■■BlHflAABBl^HHHUli^H
Genuine old plastering is free from this
. . plaster decoration in business room at coupar angus,
defect of wear, just because its authors Perthshire designed and executed by g. p. bankart
146
had so fine a perception of fitness and of the
legitimate sphere and conditions of their material
that they invariably kept its relief very low and
gently rounded off, making the pattern, so to
speak, undulate up out of the background and
melt away into it again, avoiding any approach to
harsh definition.
This is what Mr. Bankart means, I take it, when
he says that plaster decoration in ordinary rooms,
in which one has to live, should be, in its lines
and rhythm, restfully suggestive to eye and mind,
as distinct from deliberate or obtrusive. To pro-
duce such a result all the mouldings and other
lines of the pattern should alike be simple and
broad of contour, and concentrated into groupings
by way of contrast to the modelled work, since
their office is to act as intermediary between the
latter and the large plain spaces of the ceiling or
wall surface. It is highly desirable that these un-
occupied spaces should be levelled in the finishing
coat by the judgment of the eye and the free use
of the trowel and float; for it is as much an abuse
of the material to try to make it assume a mechanical
polish or smoothness that does not naturally belong
to it as it would be to give it, in the converse direc-
tion, an affected and exaggerated ruggedness or
unevenness of texture.
plaster decoration of billiard room at
harborne house, birmingham
designed and executed by g. p. bankart
observed, and which he endeavours to
reproduce, is that tenderness of delinea-
tion, modelling, and texture which is the
natural property of the soft material of
plaster of Paris. This quality is most
necessary as a precaution to enable the
plasterer to withdraw the product with
ease from the mould (itself alike consist-
ing of plaster), to withstand the usual ■flEfwHWlf'f ,
risks attendant on the handling, and,
lastly, to insure, as far as may be, con- ! ?/ • .
tinuance of durability. Plaster ornament.
that comprises projecting points, quite
apart from the questionableness of its
advantage aesthetically, is apt, in the *TrnflnrallKPP)fcPBlfc
ordinary course of things, to become gliftWWW■BlM gBpf HH
chipped and broken, and thus to acquire pPPPPPPPEEI I ElK Mm HH ''.^■fl
a defective and shabby appearance, the I I 1 11 j I J iBiB lllf I bIH^H '3
very opposite of agreeable lo the eye. ■■■■^■■■■BlHflAABBl^HHHUli^H
Genuine old plastering is free from this
. . plaster decoration in business room at coupar angus,
defect of wear, just because its authors Perthshire designed and executed by g. p. bankart
146