Studio: international art (65.1915)

Reviews and Notices

CIVIC BANNER OF BELFAST (CENTRE PANEL). EXECUTED IN PATCH- ~]
WORK-APPLIQUE BY EMBROIDERY STUDENTS OF THE SCHOOL OF '
ART, MUNICIPAL TECHNICAL INSTITUTE, BELFAST, AND DESIGNED ’
BY THE HEADMASTER, R. A. DAWSON, A. R.C.A.LOND.

thousands of years, to a period when an Egyptian
Queen was provided with a funeral canopy com-
posed of the skins of gazelles dyed and sewn
together in various shapes to form a pattern. The
Belfast banner is composed of numerous pieces of
coloured silks cut to the necessary shape, stitched
down on a fine Irish linen back-cloth, and sur-
rounded with a plain border of velvet. In sewing
down the pieces or patches of silk an outline of
filoselle silk and cord has been added, and this is
stitched by the method known as “ couching.”
The entire process is a combination of patch-
work and applique embroidery. It is like patch-
work in having the coloured sections of the entire
surface cut out and fitted together after the manner
of a stained-glass window. It is like applique
embroidery in having the pieces applied to a
back-cloth; none of the linen back-cloth, however,
is exposed to view. Many of the silks used are of
the kind known as “shot silks,” so that not only
has a rich decorative colour arrangement been
possible by this method, but a chameleon-like effect
has been produced, varying with the lighting and
with the point of view from which the work is
72

seen. The banner is intended to decorate
the wall of the Council Chamber or the
Banqueting Hall as occasion may require.
The Arms of Belfast form the subject
of the centre panel, here illustrated.
Belfast has from an early period borne
arms; but certain modifications be-
came necessary when in 1888 the
borough was made a city, and in 1890
a new grant (or confirmation) of arms
was assigned by the Ulster King of Arms
and Principal Herald of all Ireland to
the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Citizens.
The work in its entirety measures seven
feet six inches wide by ten feet six inches
high. The design and working drawings
were made by Mr. R. A. Dawson, the
Headmaster of the School, who also
developed the process and generally
supervised the working, which was
carried out by Miss Emily Bass, the
teacher of embroidery, and some of her
students.

REVIEWS AND NOTICES.

American Masters of Painting. By
Charles H. Caffin. (London : Grant
Richards; New York : Doubleday, Page
and Co.) 4s. 6d. net. — The essays
comprised in this volume are re-issued by courtesy
of the “New York Sun” with the addition of a
number of reproductions of works by all but one
of the artists whose achievements are reviewed
— Inness, La Farge, Whistler, Sargent, Winslow
Homer, Abbey, George Fuller, Homer Martin, de
Forest Brush, Wyant, Tryon, Horatio Walker and
Gilbert Stuart. Though he calls them “appre-
ciations,” Mr. Caffin’s essays are commendably free
from those eulogistic excesses which often mar
writings so designated. The following forecast of
Mr. Sargent’s position may serve as a sample of the
author’s tone generally. Speaking of him as a por-
trait painter, he says : “ Among the masters we may
feel certain that Sargent will be reckoned as having
been one of the most conspicuous figures of his
age, but his vogue will rise and dwindle according
to the amount of interest felt for the time being in
the age which he represented; it will scarcely have
that inevitableness of conviction, which, when once
recognised, must abide. If this forecast is correct,
the reason is that Sargent, though raised above his
time, scarcely reveals in his portraits elevation of
mind; he has the clear eye of the philosopher