Studio: international art (82.1921)

THE ARTS AND CRAFTS SOCIETY OF IRELAND

There is little in this exhibition which
suggests mere imitation of the " Ardagh
Chalice " or " The Book of Kells," and
yet, as a whole, it conveys an undefinable
suggestion of being a product of the
temperament peculiar to the Irish race.
Their art—be it graphic, literary or
musical—has always been highly sophisti-
cated. The Irish artist loves intricacy
and brilliancy. The qualities which
delighted the scribes who produced " The
Book of Kells " are precisely those
which delight to-day such an intensely
modern artist as Mr. Harry Clarke. His
activities are turned into different channels,
but the impulse which animates them is
essentially the same as that which moved
his far-away precursors. 000

The honours of the exhibition lie with
Mr. Clarke, who contributes no fewer
than twenty-two works, exemplifying every

this exhibition proves to be the best
which the Society has ever organised, a
Earlier ones contained a large per-
centage of work which was frankly based
upon Celtic ornament. Both those who
practised and those who patronised art
in Ireland had a very apparent predilection
for any form of design or decoration
which savoured, however slightly, of
Celtic origin. A perverted patriotism
tended to poison taste. Now, however,
though Irishmen, individually and col-
lectively, are, perhaps, more race-conscious
than they have been at any time during
the past century, their outlook on this
question is more rational; and they have
come to realise that national art all over
the world has burst, long ago, the narrow
boundaries within which it was cradled,
and grows more cosmopolitan in spirit
with each succeeding generation. 0

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JEWEL CASKET—COPPER, SILVER, BRASS
AND ENAMEL. BY FRANCES BURROUGHS