Studio: international art (72.1918)

The Recent IVork

common in the recent past. In the future
artists will be more necessary than ever ; but,
except from the dealer’s point of view, which is
essentially anti-social, there will be less need
for the artist who merely paints pictures to hang
anywhere, or carves or models pieces of sculp-
ture with, in the struc-
tural sense, no visible
means of support. It
does not follow that
all future art must
be “ applied ” art,
but if art is to play
its proper part in the
work of reconstruc-
tion there will have
to be. a much closer
connexion between it
and the material cir-
cumstances of life as
it is lived. In prac-
tice this amounts to
nothing more than
renewed recognition
of the dependence of
all the arts on archi-
tecture ; and there-
fore one speaks of it
as a “ revival ” and
not as a new inven-
tion ; and Mr. Bayes
will help it on because
he belongs to the
comparatively small
class of artists who
have never lost sight
of the dependence.

In everything that
he designs, useful or
ornamental, there is a
tacit recognition of the
house; using the word
“ house ” to include
every sort of building,
sacred or secular,
public or private, and
regarding the garden as an architectural feature.

Some such preliminary is needed in order to
place the work of an artist like Mr. Bayes.
He is a sculptor not merely in the sense of
making “ statues and busts,” but in the sense
of working in plastic materials with some
definite relation to the useful or ornamental

of Gilbert Bayes

purposes of contemporary life in view. When
you go into his studio you are struck by the
variety of materials and the wide range in scale,
from the miniature to the colossal; in conversa-
tion with him by the number of factors he takes
into account in considering the artistic problem.

This last is impor-
tant, particularly in
England and in view
of the future. English
art has never been
lacking in imagina-
tion, invention, or
technical skill; where
it has done itself less
than justice is in the
nice application of
means to end. In
this, of course, it has
only shared in the
general English neg-
lect of organization;
but beyond that there
seems to be an idea
in England that in
art as in morals you
ought not to consider
the question of prac-
tical advantage to the
community.

The virtue that dis-
tinguishes the work of
Mr. Bayes in general
might very well be
called that of artistic
organization. Every-
thing is considered ;
not only the nature
of the material and
the character of the
architectural back-
ground or surround-
ings, but climate, con-
ditions of life, and
even the artistic per-
ceptions of the people
who are most likely to be brought into imme-
diate contact with the work. This last raises
the much debated question whether or not an
artist ought to consider his public, and Mr.
Bayes is to be congratulated on his courage in
answering it in the affirmative. It would be
a good thing for both art and literature7" if

“ THE SEA-KING’S DAUGHTER.” MARBLE
GROUP ON RED STONE STEM. BY GILBERT
BAYES

(.Purchased by the National Art Gallery,
Sydney, N..S'. W.)

102