Studio: international art (51.1911)

Reviews and Notices

DESIGN FOR SGRAFFITO TILES

BY ELIZABETH R. GILMORE
(Municipal School of Art, Belfast)

the standard of achievement. Mr. A. Dawson,
the Headmaster, and those who assist him,
fully recognise the importance of encouraging the
exercise of the imaginative faculty on the part of
students, and to this policy is undoubtedly due
that freshness and variety which distinguished this
exhibition from those of previous years. Even in
the drawing and painting section, where one gener-
ally expects to find a certain amount of sameness,
the manifestation of individuality was highly grati-
fying. The strength of the School, however, lies in
the section of Applied Art, and rightly so, having
regard to the important position which Belfast
occupies as a centre of industry. The needs of the
locality are kept in view in the prominence given
to textile design generally, and to the crafts of lace-
making and embroidery, and many excellent ex-
amples of this kind of work were displayed in the
exhibition. It is interesting to note that Celtic
motifs play a considerable part in the designs, and,
also that Irish point lace, Irish crochet, and Carrick-
macross lace, figure in the curriculum, special
teachers being appointed for these subjects. Stained
glass work is another subject which is being pursued
with marked success, and here, too, local interests
are considered. The best thing in this department
at the exhibition was Miss Elizabeth Ball’s cartoon
for a window representing Deirdre at the Height of
Willows, which is among the illustrations here given
of the students’ work (p. 340). Wood engraving
and poster designing are subjects which attract the
students, and among the exhibits were some
examples of posters printed from linoleum blocks.
In the pottery section the chief interest centred in
the tiles made from a clay found in the Lagan

Valley, with which experiments have been made
for some time past in the School. The jewellery,
metal-work, and enamelling classes contributed
their quota to the exhibition, and the work here
also testified to the wisdom of the policy of com-
bining craftsmanship with design. The School did
well at the last National Competition, when three
bronze medals, besides numerous minor awards,
fell to the students.

REVIEWS AND NOTICES.

Reminiscetues of Rosa Bonheur. Edited by
Theodore Stanton. (London: Andrew Mel-
rose.) 12s. 6d. net. Collected from a great

variety of sources, the journals and correspondence
of the artist herself, of her relations, friends, and
mere acquaintances, as well as public notices of her
and her work having been laid under contribution,
these Reminiscences give a very complete and, on
the whole, probably truthful picture of a unique
personality, of which virile force and warm-hearted
impetuosity were the dominant characteristics.
Few even of the many artists whose early careers
have been beset with difficulties have endured such
privations as did the famous animal painter, for as
a child she was often face to face with actual desti-
tution, and it was not until middle life was passed
that she knew what it was to be free from anxiety
on her own behalf and that of those most dear to
her. Bravely from the first she faced privation,
earning before she was in her teens a pittance at
all manner of uncongenial tasks, and sharing all

DESIGN FOR A TEACLOTH IN WHITE EMBROIDERY

BY JOHN JOHNSTON
(Municipal School of Art, Belfast)

339