Studio: international art (80.1920)

STUDIO-TALK

great amount of beautiful work submitted,
" showing much care, thought and in-
vention, combined with excellent colour
and craftsmanship." 0000

What one would like to see is a real
and concerted effort to impart a more
cheerful aspect to our large towns. A
writer in The Times not long ago called
attention to the external painting of
houses in the West End then in progress
as usual after the end of the London
season, and noted how rarely any attempt
was made to depart from a more or less
conventional range of colours. The
colours most in favour are those which
are commonly described as " neutral"
—that is, neither one thing nor the other,
and only occasionally are they relieved
by a lively patch of bright colour—red,
green or blue on the front door or else-
where. No doubt London smoke has
had much to do with the choice of tints
for the outsides of houses in the Metropolis
but London is now by no means the
smoky town it was thirty years ago, when
really " black fogs" turned day into
night in November, and it would be all
the better if a little less timidity were
shown in the external decoration of houses.
Mr. Kemp Prossor's experiments in in-
ternal decoration might well be emulated
externally, for any movement which is
productive of cheerfulness is a matter of
social importance. 0000

The Dorien Leigh Gallery, located until
recently in Bruton Street, has now been
transferred to South Kensington (Millais
House, Cromwell Place), where an interest-
ing Christmas exhibition of dolls and sil-
houettes is being held. We reproduce one
of the dolls made of coloured paper, which
are very attractive as decorations, and^also
(p. 193) two extraordinarily fine silhouettes
cut out of paper by Miss Zamboni. It is
difficult to imagine that scissors or any other
cutting implement could produce such
delicate work as that which we find in these
two examples. 0000

The two needlework panels which we
reproduce in colours have been selected
from a number of interesting examples
of direct designing with the needle by
pupils of Milton Mount College, near
Crawley. Miss Cockburn, their instructor,
tells us that this work grew out of design

188

lessons given to the lowest forms, children
from 10 to 13 in age—lessons intended
to arouse their interest in the broad
principles of design as they can be seen
in nature. Their attention was called to
the beautiful pattern made by woods and
forests, with the upright lines of tree
trunks often repeated with variations,
to the billowing rhythmic masses of
foliage above, and to the short growth
or long flat lines on the ground giving a
base for it all. They were asked to
paint a flower border direct with
the brush, bringing in any animal or
creature which might be found there, and
using any colours they liked, concerned
only to fill the space completely and . to
paint so delicately and accurately that
each flower should be recognized, while
keeping in mind Nature's fine laws of
design. The zest and enthusiasm with
which they entered into the subject

PAPER DOLL. FROM AN EXHIBI-
TION OF DOLLS AND SILHOUETTES
AT THE DORIEN LEIGH GALLERY
SOUTH KENSINGTON