Studio: international art (82.1921)

STUDIO-TALK

CARVED AND PAINTED WALL
CUPBOARD. MADE BY THE
RUSSIAN REFUGEES IN
SWITZERLAND

The problem has been to find suitable
employment to enable them to become
self-supporting, and to this end work-
shops have been established in various
parts of Europe under the auspices of the
Russian Zemstvos and Towns Committee'
for the Relief of Refugees, which has its
headquarters in Paris under the chairman-
ship of Prince Lvoff, Prime Minister of the
first Provisional Government formed after
the abdication of the late Czar. The
various objects here illustrated were made
in the workshop established at Lausanne,
mainly through the exertions of Dr.
Nicholas Kassianov, a naturalist who has
long taken a keen interest in the native
arts and crafts, and was fortunate in
finding instructors competent to train the
refugees in the traditional methods of
work. How excellent are the results of
this training can be seen by anyone who
pays a visit to " the Russian Shop,"
recently opened by the London Committee
at 194, Brompton Road (close to the Tube
Station). Here, besides carved and painted
woodwork of the kind seen in our illustra-
tions, a great variety of work executed by
refugees in the numerous workshops may
34

be seen, including children's garments
and toys, embroideries, blouses, etc. 0

LIVERPOOL. —The Walker Art
Gallery is Liverpool's most active
art centre, and until its recent rearrange-
ment the city has hardly realised how
many treasures she possesses. Under
the vigorous handling of the present
curator, Mr. A. G. Quigley, the whole
building has taken on a new aspect.
The Roscoe Collection has created more
debate and contradiction among critics
than almost any other collection in the
country. Now well and suitably hung
it leads the student of art history from
Byzantine days through the Italian and
Flemish periods to the eighteenth century
masterpieces at present in the Art Gallery.
Sir Foster Cunliffe's fine collection has
been loaned to the city, as has also Sir
Richard Brooke's magnificent Romney—
a portrait of a former Lady Brooke and
the daughter of a Cunliffe. In the Cunliffe
Collection are works of many masters,
including Nicholas Maes, Reynolds,
Gainsborough, Hoppner, Wilson and

CARVED AND PAINTED
WOODEN TEA CADDY
MADE BY RUSSIAN REFU-
GEES IN SWITZERLAND