Studio: international art (57.1913)

EMBROIDERED SILK CUSHIONS

principles of artistic handiwork, of introducing them
to the discreet use of colour and form, and training
them to perceive the value of a beautiful colour-
scheme and the rhythmical interaction of line and
surface. But the chief point of concern here was
that the decorative designs elaborated in the
drawing-class from the study of natural forms could
be easily put into practice, and if a good deal of
work that originated in this way failed to gain a
lasting foothold in practical life and soon became
out of date, the influence which the schools

exercised on this sphere ol
work, and still continue to
exercise at the present day,
when the embroidery sec-
tions are almost everywhere
under the direction of well-
trained women artists who
are thoroughly familiar with
every kind of technique,
helped greatly to bring
about that success at
which we are now able to
rejoice.

Here, too, the initiative of Hermann Obrist had
a decisive influence. He was convinced that our
Schools of Industrial Art (Kunstgewerbe-Schulen)
ought no longer to be for the most part drawing-
schools in the academic sense, but ought to be
transformed into places where an essentially prac-
tical training in applied art should be given. Some
ten years ago in conjunction with Wilhelm von
Debschitz he founded an institution on these lines
in Munich, the “ Lehr- und Versuch-Ateliers fiir
freie und angewandte Kunst,” which soon became a

Modern German Embroidery

BY GERTRUD ^LORENZ

HELI.ERAU EMBROIDERIES. DESIGNED BY ALEXANDER VON SALZMANN AND CHARLOTTE KRAUSE, EXECUTED BY
THE DEUTSCHE WERKSTATTEN FUR HANDWERKSKUNST, DRESDEN-HELLERAU

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