DOI Artikel:
British decoration. Notes on the illustrations
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.41879#0139
BRITISH DECORATION. NOTES ON
THE ILLUSTRATIONS
M
UCH has been said and written regarding the desirability of
adapting old models to modern ideas and requirements, as
opposed to slavish copying. While it is generally admitted
that the close study and right appreciation of the splendid
work of the past is a necessary adjunct to the equipment of a successful
designer, the true artist and craftsman is he who can apply the know-
ledge obtained thereby to work out his individuality, so that all he pro-
duces shall bear the stamp of his own artistic personality. As an example
of this desirable attainment we cannot do better than refer to the plaster-
work of Mr. G. P. Bankart, who, while upholding the finest traditions
of the craft, has developed it on individual lines. And even in cases
where he has obviously received inspiration from sixteenth-century
work, his skilful, sympathetic touch and quiet reticence are obvious.
The moulded plaster ceilings seen in our illustrations on pages 132 and
13 3 are characteristic of his art, the soft graduating effects, free from all
discordant lines and corners, being particularly pleasing and restful.
The cement panelsfor the front elevation of the Council Offices at Lewes
(p. 131) are interesting, but do not possess the dignity and refinement
of the artist’s work in plaster. A notable achievement in the latter
medium is the frieze by Mr. George Rushton (principal of the Ipswich
School of Art) a portion of which is shown on page 134. It is five feet
high, and the complete work, which has been executed for a mansion in
Kent, is sixty feet in length. It is coloured in tempera, and while the
design is formal in treatment it is decidedly modern in feeling. The same
may be said of the lunette decoration in tempera by Miss Jessie Bayes,
reproduced in colours (p. 135). Here is a well-balanced composition,
somewhat delicate and entirely harmonious in colour, and reminiscent of
certain masterpieces of Puvis de Chavanne, whose influence on mural
painting of the present day, both in his own country and elsewhere, is
becoming gradually more pronounced. The pencil study for a mural
panel, by Mr. R. Morton Nance, is characteristic of this artist’s work in
a style which he has made peculiarly his own. His draughtsmanship is
always sound and he possesses a keen sense of decorative picturesqueness.
That versatile artist Mr. E. A. Taylor is here represented by three
designs for stained glass (pp. 138 to 140), all of which were carried out
by Mr. George Rhind for a country residence inFrance. Unfortunately
these three beautiful windows were destroyed when the house was demol-
ished during the early part of the present war. Rich in colour, pleasing in
design, and conceived in the spirit of the old work, though obviously
modern in treatment,these windows were entirely satisfactory. Similarly
suited to their purpose are the two windows designed by Mr. Harold
Fenton (pp. 141 and 143), whose simple but effective massing of colours
127
THE ILLUSTRATIONS
M
UCH has been said and written regarding the desirability of
adapting old models to modern ideas and requirements, as
opposed to slavish copying. While it is generally admitted
that the close study and right appreciation of the splendid
work of the past is a necessary adjunct to the equipment of a successful
designer, the true artist and craftsman is he who can apply the know-
ledge obtained thereby to work out his individuality, so that all he pro-
duces shall bear the stamp of his own artistic personality. As an example
of this desirable attainment we cannot do better than refer to the plaster-
work of Mr. G. P. Bankart, who, while upholding the finest traditions
of the craft, has developed it on individual lines. And even in cases
where he has obviously received inspiration from sixteenth-century
work, his skilful, sympathetic touch and quiet reticence are obvious.
The moulded plaster ceilings seen in our illustrations on pages 132 and
13 3 are characteristic of his art, the soft graduating effects, free from all
discordant lines and corners, being particularly pleasing and restful.
The cement panelsfor the front elevation of the Council Offices at Lewes
(p. 131) are interesting, but do not possess the dignity and refinement
of the artist’s work in plaster. A notable achievement in the latter
medium is the frieze by Mr. George Rushton (principal of the Ipswich
School of Art) a portion of which is shown on page 134. It is five feet
high, and the complete work, which has been executed for a mansion in
Kent, is sixty feet in length. It is coloured in tempera, and while the
design is formal in treatment it is decidedly modern in feeling. The same
may be said of the lunette decoration in tempera by Miss Jessie Bayes,
reproduced in colours (p. 135). Here is a well-balanced composition,
somewhat delicate and entirely harmonious in colour, and reminiscent of
certain masterpieces of Puvis de Chavanne, whose influence on mural
painting of the present day, both in his own country and elsewhere, is
becoming gradually more pronounced. The pencil study for a mural
panel, by Mr. R. Morton Nance, is characteristic of this artist’s work in
a style which he has made peculiarly his own. His draughtsmanship is
always sound and he possesses a keen sense of decorative picturesqueness.
That versatile artist Mr. E. A. Taylor is here represented by three
designs for stained glass (pp. 138 to 140), all of which were carried out
by Mr. George Rhind for a country residence inFrance. Unfortunately
these three beautiful windows were destroyed when the house was demol-
ished during the early part of the present war. Rich in colour, pleasing in
design, and conceived in the spirit of the old work, though obviously
modern in treatment,these windows were entirely satisfactory. Similarly
suited to their purpose are the two windows designed by Mr. Harold
Fenton (pp. 141 and 143), whose simple but effective massing of colours
127