Studio: international art (85.1923)

DECORATIVE ART AT THE ROYAL ACADEMY

" THE ANCIENT ARTS.” LUNETTE
(PAINTED IN WAX MEDIUM)
BY GEORGE CLAUSEN, R.A.

sphere ; there are too many contrasts of
style and method in the things exhibited
for the general impression to be one of
unity or settled belief. But although among
these things there are many which are
wholly futile, and, as decorations, entirely
indefensible, and although there is much
that asserts the modern slovenliness in the
practical details of the artist's work, the
solid remainder of sincere achievement—•
serious in purpose and intelligent in its
interpretation of decorative principles—is
so considerable that the exhibition is
worthy of the closest study. Indeed, if art
were regarded as an essential in the public
education, instead of a mere matter for
popular gossip, such a collection would
attract a larger crowd than is ordinarily
ready to swarm to the conventional picture
show. Its variety of aim and intention,
its ingenuities of invention, its illustrations
of the adaptability of art to all sorts of
purposes, its very lack of formality and
systematic arrangement would ensure its
acceptance as a special manifestation of
the manifold capacities of independent
and personal workers in art. There is a
very great deal to be learned from it, and
it is eloquent in its insistence upon the
power of art to enter intimately into the

surroundings of daily life and to play a
part of supreme importance in human
existence. 00000
To select from so large a gathering more
than a tithe of the things which are worthy
of mention is scarcely possible, and it
would be difficult to attempt even a
rough classification of the contents of the
galleries because the headings under which
they would have to be set would be so
numerous. But there are certain examples
which can be quoted to give an idea of the
scope and character of the show. For
instance, among the designs for wall
paintings and other forms of mural decora-
tion, Mr. Connard's effective Panel for
over Fireplace, Mr. E. R. Frampton's
serious and well-considered compositions
The Crucifixion and Navigation, Mr. Colin
Gill's design for a mural painting in true
fresco, the tempera panel Snow-White,
by Mrs. Stokes, the monumental lunette
The Ancient Arts, by Mr. Clausen ; Mr.
Southall's Memorial to 92 Civilians who
died of Poison Gas, the Replica of Mural
Painting, by Mr. S. I. Hitchens, the
Decorative Panel over a Mantelpiece, by
Mr. V. Polunin, Mr. Cayley Robinson’s
scholarly triptych for the Heanor Second-
ary School, and the panel The Vale of

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