Studio: international art (65.1915)

Studio-Talk

was only at the outbreak of war that Mr. Preston,
forsaking his easel, took up the designing of toys
and models, and he has proved that in inventive-
ness, craftsmanship, and skill, British artists can
hold their own in this field. Besides a number of
toys and hair ornaments, the exhibition contained
some excellent decorative pieces, such as the Djin,
Europa and the Bull, and two dragons; various
symbolic pieces, the best of which were Heligoland,
with a golden British Lion at grips with the Prussian
Eagle; and a majestic figure, “ Who is this that
cometh from Edom,” fine both in colour and design.
Amongst the studies in portraiture the best were
Jojfre and the Gallic Cock, The Grand Duke
Nicholas, his lean alertness admirably expressed,
and Mr. Asquith as a Grceco-Roman Orator, “ Wait
and See,” notable for the dexterous management of
the richly-coloured toga and the expressive features ;

“a gr^co-roman orator ‘wait and see’”

BY E. CARTER PRESTON
(Fine Art Society.—Photo, Malcolm Arbuthnot)

203

At the Fine Art Society’s galleries Mr. E. Carter
Preston, a Liverpool artist, has been showing a
number of “ Plychrome ” models and statuettes,
three of which we illustrate. Many of the press
notices have quoted the word as “ Polychrome,”
and polychrome these amusing little figurines un-
questionably are ; but in the word the artist creates
to describe his productions, we get a hint of the
method of construction of these models. He
works with a saw only, and the figures are built up
out of a number of slices which are fastened
together. This engenders a certain facility in
repeating the design. There is an architectural
solidity about these little wood figures which invests
them with a distinct dignity and forcefulness, and
their rich colouring is reminiscent, somewhat, of
the sumptuousness and Oriental splendour of the
Bakst designs for the Russian ballet costumes. It

“THE GRAND DUKE NICHOLAS”

BY E. CARTER PRESTON
(Fine Art Society.—Photo, Malcolm Arbuthnot)