Studio: international art (89.1925)

LEEDS—LEICESTER—GLOUCESTER

LEEDS.—We reproduce an example of
the work of Mrs. E. R. Cotterill, a
student at the Leeds School of Art. Mrs.
Cotterill has been at the School for five
years, and has been the holder of a Senior
Art Scholarship. Our illustration shows
a sketch model, in plaster of Paris, of a
fountain, to be executed in bronze, 18ft.
high. The complete design includes an
octagonal basin 21ft. wide, with a stone
curb 6in. high, and the whole is to be
placed in the centre of a lawn. 0 0
This work was one of four submitted in
competition for the British Institute's
Scholarship in Sculpture, value £150, and
carried off the award. 000

LEICESTER.—An artist lecturer, sad-
dened by the lack of rudeness in life
generally and in art journals in particular.

SKETCH MODEL (PLASTER OF
PARIS) FOR FOUNTAIN. BY
MRS. E. R. COTTERILL

222

recently drew a harrowing word picture of
driven critics bestowing, at the bidding of
dire editors, insincere praise upon unloved
works. Neither the possibility of catholic
appreciation on the part of editors (and
even critics), nor the fact that some artists
are not written about, disturbed this
generous but imaginative mourner. 0

Pity is a beautiful gift, but quite wasted
when applied to the present writer dealing
with Mr. John Piatt's colour woodcuts, for
example. 00000

Works which, done in a medium
eminently suited to modern requirements,
both of decoration and of artistic outlook,
contain those qualities of considered design
and vital drawing which modern art most
desires—such works are not at all hard to
praise. 000000

The Jetty, Sennen Cove, is essentially a
colour woodcut—a thing apart from work
done in any other medium. The clear
brilliance of its colour—especially the
colour of the water—indicates the direct
strength of the medium, and simplification,
(carried, with the utmost nicety, to a suffi-
cient degree, but never overstepping it),
is skilfully made to subserve a decorative
purpose. Mr. Piatt, Principal of the
Leicester College of Arts and Crafts,
displays, both in his own work and in
his influence seen in the productions of
his students, a grip of the essentials of
beauty quite outstanding. 000

The hunger felt by lovers of art for this
" essentialness " accounts for the eagerness
with which work from Leicester, and
especially the work of Mr. Piatt himself, is
regarded. To be fed with beauty is pleas-
anter even than the exercise of being
artistically rude to someone. And, when
fed, some of us wish to offer thanks. 0

J. W. S.

GLOUCESTER.—A decided flair for
illumination is manifest in the page
from the " Life of St. Francis," written
out and decorated by Walter E. Ford,
which we illustrate in photogravure. Mr.
Ford is a student of the Gloucester School
of Art, and was successful in passing with
distinction the Board of Education examin-
ation in Industrial Design held in June
1924. The work shown is the testimony
of study sent up for that examination. 0