Studio: international art (55.1912)

Art School Notes

of the head with very little direct imitation, and
that things done out of the head are likely to convey
a great deal more of the individuality of the artist
—and something more not easily defined—than
things done in the more imitative manner which
prevails.

Since writing this very brief sketch ot my ex-
periments 1 have had the pleasure of reading
“ Training of the Memory in Art,” by Lecoq de
Boisbaudran, translated into English by L. D.
Luard. Though Lecoq had the same object in view
as I have, that is, the cultivation of the faculty of
mind’s-eye picturing, he does not
appear to have made any distinction
between memory and visualisation,
and there are several other points on
which I differ from him. The chief
of these is that, while he allowed his
students to draw from a copy or
object first, and afterwards to make
a memory copy of that drawing, I
believe the memory drawing should
be made first, and afterwards, if at
all., the direct-from-the-object draw-
ing. In this connection may I point
out that the Board of Education’s
examination in drawing from the life
requires the candidate to draw from
the model first, and then to make a
drawing from memory. It is in-
evitable that the memory drawing
should be merely an echo of the
first drawing. I think it is obvious
that the reverse of this would be a
much better test of the student’s
training, observation, and power of
retention. R. Catterson-Smith.

UDAPEST.—De-
signing in cross-
stitch is a subject
which is as a rule
hardly considered worth at-
tention. Yet it offers great
possibilities and it is a marvel
how much life and movement
the students in the elementary
class at the Royal Hun-
garian Arts and Crafts School
in Budapest have managed
to infuse into this particular
branch of art. In some parts
of Hungary cross-stitch may
be said to be indigenous;
it is a lavourite means of expressing artistic
thoughts, and how beautiful some of the specimens
of old Hungarian cross-stitch are was shown in
the special number of The Studio on “ Peasant
Art in Austria and Hungary.”

The method of instruction follows rational prin-
ciples, for it is in relation to the everyday life of the
pupils. Every girl knows something of cross-stitch
embroidery, but she does not know all its possi-
bilities, nor does she know how to make her own
design. No set rules are laid down, and conse-
quently their imaginations are allowed full play.

CROSS-STITCH DESIGN BY A GIRL IN THE ELEMENTARY CLASS OF
THE ROYAL HUNGARIAN ARTS AND CRAFTS SCHOOL, BUDAPEST

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