DOI Heft:
No. 374 (May 1924)
DOI Artikel:The Manchester municipal school of art
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21399#0283
THE MANCHESTER MUNICIPAL
SCHOOL OF ART 000
TO many worthy inhabitants of the
British Isles art is a vague subject
which, whilst it causes excitement in a
minority of peculiar minds, seems to have
but slight bearing on the practical world.
It is possible to have education in litera-
ture, science, or even aesthetic, and remain
blind to the essential importances and
potentialities of graphic or plastic art as it
is known to those who have lived with it,
handled it, and — most important — been
handled by it. By such blindness national
prestige is endangered and may be lost.
The only way in which a nation can be
internationally important in art is by the
study of art itself. The school of art
HAIR PRONG WITH PLIQUE-
A-JOUR ENAMEL. DESIGNED
AND MADE BY E. MARY S HEPHERD
(Manchester School of Art)
DRESSING - GOWN IN BLACK MARO-
CAIN, EMBROIDERED IN COLOURED
SILKS AND GOLD THREAD. DE-
SIGNED AND MADE BY NANCY ROBINSON
(Manchester School of Art)
should be a heart in every city and
town, from which fresh blood of artistic
output flows constantly into every limb of
the civic body. It should produce and dis-
tribute makers of art in every object which
a city contains, that from the scullery door
of the poorest inhabitant to the planning
of the city itself ugliness and vulgarity may
be defeated and excluded. It should in-
spire, and so help to create, the greater
artists of the realm of mind and spirit.
Most important of all—it should implant
in the national mind a consciousness of
the shocking indiscretion of indifference,
and some practicality in art. 0 0
A casual observer of the “ face value ”
effect of Manchester might consider that
its School of Art is the first civic need.
When we remember that, for better or
worse, Manchester goods go to the earth's
ends, the school’s responsibility becomes
much greater. The school which has in its
charge the civilisation of the Asiatic savage
and the Manchester worthy who calls art
a “ nice hobby ” is a large and well-
equipped Nucleus school—a University of
264
SCHOOL OF ART 000
TO many worthy inhabitants of the
British Isles art is a vague subject
which, whilst it causes excitement in a
minority of peculiar minds, seems to have
but slight bearing on the practical world.
It is possible to have education in litera-
ture, science, or even aesthetic, and remain
blind to the essential importances and
potentialities of graphic or plastic art as it
is known to those who have lived with it,
handled it, and — most important — been
handled by it. By such blindness national
prestige is endangered and may be lost.
The only way in which a nation can be
internationally important in art is by the
study of art itself. The school of art
HAIR PRONG WITH PLIQUE-
A-JOUR ENAMEL. DESIGNED
AND MADE BY E. MARY S HEPHERD
(Manchester School of Art)
DRESSING - GOWN IN BLACK MARO-
CAIN, EMBROIDERED IN COLOURED
SILKS AND GOLD THREAD. DE-
SIGNED AND MADE BY NANCY ROBINSON
(Manchester School of Art)
should be a heart in every city and
town, from which fresh blood of artistic
output flows constantly into every limb of
the civic body. It should produce and dis-
tribute makers of art in every object which
a city contains, that from the scullery door
of the poorest inhabitant to the planning
of the city itself ugliness and vulgarity may
be defeated and excluded. It should in-
spire, and so help to create, the greater
artists of the realm of mind and spirit.
Most important of all—it should implant
in the national mind a consciousness of
the shocking indiscretion of indifference,
and some practicality in art. 0 0
A casual observer of the “ face value ”
effect of Manchester might consider that
its School of Art is the first civic need.
When we remember that, for better or
worse, Manchester goods go to the earth's
ends, the school’s responsibility becomes
much greater. The school which has in its
charge the civilisation of the Asiatic savage
and the Manchester worthy who calls art
a “ nice hobby ” is a large and well-
equipped Nucleus school—a University of
264