DOI issue:
No. 265 (April 1915)
DOI article:Art school notes
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21212#0225
Art School Notes
admit of precise calcula-
tion — on the general
artistic culture of the
nation, and this itself
goes far towards justifying
their existence.
MODELLED BY T. \Y. PAEFITT
( Central School of Arts and Crafts)
schools is that they are largely responsible for
swelling the ranks of an already overcrowded pro-
fession with a multitude of immature artists. In
so far as it applies to the painters of pictures this
complaint is not without justification, for there can
hardly be any doubt that the number or
pictures painted year after year is vastly
in excess of the demand. This state
of affairs is of course not peculiar to
our own country. Year by year when
the big exhibitions are held in Paris,
the question invariably asked is : What
becomes of the thousands of pictures
hung upon the walls ? So, too, in Ger-
many, whose census returns show that
the number of persons who follow paint-
ing as a profession has enormously in-
creased since the beginning of the
century, the result, according to Dr.
Paul Drey, who recently published an
elaborate study of the economic aspects
of the profession, is that the overpro-
duction of pictures has become terribly
great (“ erschreckend gross ”). That this
multiplication of artists with the conse-
quent overproduction of pictures is due
largely to the abundant facilities offered
by innumerable art schools is hardly
open to question, but it is difficult to
suggest a remedy. It is well to bear in
mind that even if the schools are pro-
ductive of comparatively few artists of
undoubted talent, they must be credited
with exercising a considerable influence
—though an influence which does not
The majority of our own
art schools—those more
especially which are under
public control—were not
established for the pur-
pose of training picture
painters, but for the ex-
press or implied purpose
of bringing the influence
of art to bear on the
national industries and
manufactures. This aspect
of the question is of especial importance at the
present time, and already it has given rise to
discussion in various quarters. It was touched
upon quite recently in a lecture on “ The Decora-
tive Textile Industries and the Designers’ Relation
GROUP IN BRONZED PLASTER MODELLED BY A. BUTTNER
( Central School of Arts and Crafts)
219
admit of precise calcula-
tion — on the general
artistic culture of the
nation, and this itself
goes far towards justifying
their existence.
MODELLED BY T. \Y. PAEFITT
( Central School of Arts and Crafts)
schools is that they are largely responsible for
swelling the ranks of an already overcrowded pro-
fession with a multitude of immature artists. In
so far as it applies to the painters of pictures this
complaint is not without justification, for there can
hardly be any doubt that the number or
pictures painted year after year is vastly
in excess of the demand. This state
of affairs is of course not peculiar to
our own country. Year by year when
the big exhibitions are held in Paris,
the question invariably asked is : What
becomes of the thousands of pictures
hung upon the walls ? So, too, in Ger-
many, whose census returns show that
the number of persons who follow paint-
ing as a profession has enormously in-
creased since the beginning of the
century, the result, according to Dr.
Paul Drey, who recently published an
elaborate study of the economic aspects
of the profession, is that the overpro-
duction of pictures has become terribly
great (“ erschreckend gross ”). That this
multiplication of artists with the conse-
quent overproduction of pictures is due
largely to the abundant facilities offered
by innumerable art schools is hardly
open to question, but it is difficult to
suggest a remedy. It is well to bear in
mind that even if the schools are pro-
ductive of comparatively few artists of
undoubted talent, they must be credited
with exercising a considerable influence
—though an influence which does not
The majority of our own
art schools—those more
especially which are under
public control—were not
established for the pur-
pose of training picture
painters, but for the ex-
press or implied purpose
of bringing the influence
of art to bear on the
national industries and
manufactures. This aspect
of the question is of especial importance at the
present time, and already it has given rise to
discussion in various quarters. It was touched
upon quite recently in a lecture on “ The Decora-
tive Textile Industries and the Designers’ Relation
GROUP IN BRONZED PLASTER MODELLED BY A. BUTTNER
( Central School of Arts and Crafts)
219