The Studio yearbook of decorative art (1911)

DECORATIVE AND APPLIED ART IN
GREAT BRITAIN.

TO obtain a definite idea of the present position of decorative
and applied art in Great Britain is not an easy matter. In
the case of the sister arts of painting and sculpture, the
numerous exhibitions which are held offer abundant oppor-
tunities for surveying contemporary work. But with the exception
of the exhibitions of the Arts and Crafts Society, which take place
in London every third year, the layman has but few chances of
studying the productions of present-day designers and craftsmen.
As regards domestic architecture, however, he is more favour-
ably situated ; for on all sides he can, if he wishes, find evidence of
contemporary work. And it is gratifying to note that during the
last decade there has been a decided and welcome advance in this
important branch of art. The days of the jerry-builder are, we hope,
numbered, and the Englishman of moderate means is at last waking
up to the fact that it is wiser—and cheaper in the end—to employ
the services of a good architect rather than to trust to the speculative
builder. The demand for better constructed and more artistic
homes has given British architects an opportunity of which they
have not been slow to take advantage, with the result that we find
in all parts of the country large and small modern houses which,
both as regards design and construction, should satisfy the most
exacting critic. In the planning of the house, too, more attention
is being given to the requirements of modern conditions and
customs, to the general comfort and health of the occupier, and to
the economy of space, while in architectural decoration there has
been a decided improvement, a striving after simpler and more
artistic effects than those which satisfied the public taste a few
years ago. Architects are also giving more thought to the planning
of the garden in its relation to the house, so that it may form an
integral part of the whole scheme.
It is not our intention, however, to deal in this article with
the condition of British domestic architecture. The subject was
adequately treated in the previous issue of The Studio Year Book,
while the numerous illustrations given here of exteriors and interiors
of houses, designed by some of the most prominent British architects,
testify to the excellent work which is being done. We shall
concern ourselves primarily with the present condition of the other
branches of the decorative and applied arts, more especially with
those which bear on the equipment and decoration of the home.
In surveying the work which has been produced during the last
few years one cannot fail to be impressed by the prevailing lack of
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