DOI issue:
No. 234 (September 1912)
DOI article:Whitley, William Thomas: The National Competition of Schools of Art, 1912
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21157#0323
The National Competition of Schools of Art, ig/2
The jewellery was on the whole less striking than
that of last year. The best piece was shown by
Dorothy V. C. Munro (Islington), whose cloak
clasp here reproduced is simpler in design than the
majority of the ornaments exhibited. Cornelius
W. Exton (Birmingham, Yittoria Street) showed a
charming enamelled silver necklet, the design con-
sisting of tiny green leaves of enamel with touches
of the palest blue, and lavender in the stones.
Another good necklet, with a pendant of more
elaborate design, by Bernard Instone, came from
the same school. The enamels, though better than
in 1911, were still below the average of some earlier
years. The smaller pieces of metalwork in the
exhibition worthy of notice included a circular tea-
caddy in silver with filigree decoration by Kate M.
Eadie, a bronze paper-weight by Bernard G. C.
Cohen, and a cast brass salver by Lewis Wright,
all of Birmingham, Margaret Street; a six-sided
box of copper with figures in relief by William G.
Bland, of Wolverhampton, a quaint little trinket
shrine by Mary D. Stiles, of Camberwell, a pot-
pourri jar of copper by Harold G. Alderton
(Battersea Polytechnic), and some capital designs
for a silver cruet by Cyril G. Tuxford, of Sheffield.
Stained wood is a material that has found in-
creasing favour of late years in the eyes of the
young designers who take part in the National Art
Competition, but it has rarely, if ever, been seen to
such advantage as in this year’s exhibition. A gold
medal was given to Esther N. F. Brown (Regent
Street Polytechnic) for a box for playing-cards ; and
another good piece of work in stained wood from
the same school was a chess-board by Margaret
Reed, the wide decorative border showing inci-
dents of the game “ Black and Red versus White
and Blue,” the colour
gay and diversified with a
judicious use of flat masses
of gold in the castles at the
corners of the board. The
work in embossed leather,
which has also figured
prominently in recent com-
petitions, was less success-
ful. A leather card-box by
Wallace E. Crowther (Bir-
mingham, Margaret Street)
was a creditable piece of
execution, and with it may
be mentioned an embossed
glove-box by Marjorie
Hudson (also of Birming-
ham, Margaret Street), and a
casket by Gertrude Morris
(Brighton).
The pottery sent in for
competition was not in any
way remarkable. In lustre
the best thing shown was a
vase of warm yellowish-buff
colour, by Joyce A. Red-
drop, of Lancaster. Two
sgraffitto blue pots by Alice
Newby, of Wimbledon
School of Art, were pleasant
in colour, and another at-
tractive piece of sgraffitto
work was a very small
brown and white vase by
Alice R. Lund, of Lancaster.
The tiles by Albert E.
301
esign for illustration '
RY NOEL LAURA NISBET (CLAPHAM SCHOOL OF ART)
The jewellery was on the whole less striking than
that of last year. The best piece was shown by
Dorothy V. C. Munro (Islington), whose cloak
clasp here reproduced is simpler in design than the
majority of the ornaments exhibited. Cornelius
W. Exton (Birmingham, Yittoria Street) showed a
charming enamelled silver necklet, the design con-
sisting of tiny green leaves of enamel with touches
of the palest blue, and lavender in the stones.
Another good necklet, with a pendant of more
elaborate design, by Bernard Instone, came from
the same school. The enamels, though better than
in 1911, were still below the average of some earlier
years. The smaller pieces of metalwork in the
exhibition worthy of notice included a circular tea-
caddy in silver with filigree decoration by Kate M.
Eadie, a bronze paper-weight by Bernard G. C.
Cohen, and a cast brass salver by Lewis Wright,
all of Birmingham, Margaret Street; a six-sided
box of copper with figures in relief by William G.
Bland, of Wolverhampton, a quaint little trinket
shrine by Mary D. Stiles, of Camberwell, a pot-
pourri jar of copper by Harold G. Alderton
(Battersea Polytechnic), and some capital designs
for a silver cruet by Cyril G. Tuxford, of Sheffield.
Stained wood is a material that has found in-
creasing favour of late years in the eyes of the
young designers who take part in the National Art
Competition, but it has rarely, if ever, been seen to
such advantage as in this year’s exhibition. A gold
medal was given to Esther N. F. Brown (Regent
Street Polytechnic) for a box for playing-cards ; and
another good piece of work in stained wood from
the same school was a chess-board by Margaret
Reed, the wide decorative border showing inci-
dents of the game “ Black and Red versus White
and Blue,” the colour
gay and diversified with a
judicious use of flat masses
of gold in the castles at the
corners of the board. The
work in embossed leather,
which has also figured
prominently in recent com-
petitions, was less success-
ful. A leather card-box by
Wallace E. Crowther (Bir-
mingham, Margaret Street)
was a creditable piece of
execution, and with it may
be mentioned an embossed
glove-box by Marjorie
Hudson (also of Birming-
ham, Margaret Street), and a
casket by Gertrude Morris
(Brighton).
The pottery sent in for
competition was not in any
way remarkable. In lustre
the best thing shown was a
vase of warm yellowish-buff
colour, by Joyce A. Red-
drop, of Lancaster. Two
sgraffitto blue pots by Alice
Newby, of Wimbledon
School of Art, were pleasant
in colour, and another at-
tractive piece of sgraffitto
work was a very small
brown and white vase by
Alice R. Lund, of Lancaster.
The tiles by Albert E.
301
esign for illustration '
RY NOEL LAURA NISBET (CLAPHAM SCHOOL OF ART)