DOI issue:
Great Britain
DOI article:Bankart, George P.: The following article on "colour decoration in relief" has been contributed by Mr. George P. Bankart
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42698#0088
COLOUR DECORATION IN RELIEF
vermilion-viridian, ultramarine, cerulean blue—the latter being the
only blue that remains blue in artificial light ;—ultramarine was used
to deepen it. Burnt sienna and aureolin were very occasionally added.
Gold leaf was also used to some considerable extent. It was felt that
bright, strong, reverberating colours only should be used, with some-
thing not quite approaching an egg-shell gloss, to give luminosity and
quality of colour and of surface, without harshness or overassertiveness.
We of to-day are not religious-bound as were artists of early times. We
live differently, we have other means before us, crowded with inspira-
tion and material for the selection of those who have eyes to see, and the
hand and will to portray. Town and country possess equal suggestive-
ness. It is surprising that artists, who live to observe, do not see and
interpret more than they do of the fullness of their environment.
A moment’s reflection will bring to mind such matter as we may
gather for ourselves, such as the labours of peace and of war ; the indus-
tries of the field, the farm, and the town; the festivals, rejoicings,
tragedies, sorrows, mournings, ministrations, mysteries, and all that
makes up everyday human life ; not to forget the mass of wealth to be
gathered from the lyrics, the drama, and the literature of living men
and women, but expressed by other media than by us; also that of
those who have gone before us. All is at our disposal to help our art to
live in permanent decorative form. Village and municipal halls should
harbour it, apart from only the rich dwellings. To those artists and
countless others who have eyes to discern, and the nature to receive,
every country walk must be crowded with scenes (and every town walk
for all that) reminiscent of the sculptures and paintings of earlier times,
scenes with figures and actions much the same now as ever they have
been, and must continue to be,with variation endless: ploughing, clean-
ing, sowing, harrowing, hoeing, reaping, gathering, shoeing, haymak-
ing, carrying, fruit-picking, cider and wine pressing, the sea, the ships,
the heavens, the earth, the trees and plants, the embroidery of nature’s
carpet, the hedgerows, the garden, animals, birds, fish, light, colour,
darkness, and, most wonderful of all, the human form with its passions
and tranquillities.
All comes within the sphere of the artist, the decorative artist in parti-
cular, better that an “ imitation ” of the “ archaic,” on which we are
perhaps too apt to dwell. We need no symbolism that is not clear and
evident in itself; we live in an age of chaos, of mixed styles and make-
believes, that time, upheaval, and individual effort only will purge of
its superficiality and clarify for us. It is to be hoped that more than
one kind of purification may result from the great conflagration now
raging ; and that out of the ashes, when nations have breathing time to
settle down and think, a national spirit may grow, a national art,
genuine, pure, living, and progressive.
74 '
vermilion-viridian, ultramarine, cerulean blue—the latter being the
only blue that remains blue in artificial light ;—ultramarine was used
to deepen it. Burnt sienna and aureolin were very occasionally added.
Gold leaf was also used to some considerable extent. It was felt that
bright, strong, reverberating colours only should be used, with some-
thing not quite approaching an egg-shell gloss, to give luminosity and
quality of colour and of surface, without harshness or overassertiveness.
We of to-day are not religious-bound as were artists of early times. We
live differently, we have other means before us, crowded with inspira-
tion and material for the selection of those who have eyes to see, and the
hand and will to portray. Town and country possess equal suggestive-
ness. It is surprising that artists, who live to observe, do not see and
interpret more than they do of the fullness of their environment.
A moment’s reflection will bring to mind such matter as we may
gather for ourselves, such as the labours of peace and of war ; the indus-
tries of the field, the farm, and the town; the festivals, rejoicings,
tragedies, sorrows, mournings, ministrations, mysteries, and all that
makes up everyday human life ; not to forget the mass of wealth to be
gathered from the lyrics, the drama, and the literature of living men
and women, but expressed by other media than by us; also that of
those who have gone before us. All is at our disposal to help our art to
live in permanent decorative form. Village and municipal halls should
harbour it, apart from only the rich dwellings. To those artists and
countless others who have eyes to discern, and the nature to receive,
every country walk must be crowded with scenes (and every town walk
for all that) reminiscent of the sculptures and paintings of earlier times,
scenes with figures and actions much the same now as ever they have
been, and must continue to be,with variation endless: ploughing, clean-
ing, sowing, harrowing, hoeing, reaping, gathering, shoeing, haymak-
ing, carrying, fruit-picking, cider and wine pressing, the sea, the ships,
the heavens, the earth, the trees and plants, the embroidery of nature’s
carpet, the hedgerows, the garden, animals, birds, fish, light, colour,
darkness, and, most wonderful of all, the human form with its passions
and tranquillities.
All comes within the sphere of the artist, the decorative artist in parti-
cular, better that an “ imitation ” of the “ archaic,” on which we are
perhaps too apt to dwell. We need no symbolism that is not clear and
evident in itself; we live in an age of chaos, of mixed styles and make-
believes, that time, upheaval, and individual effort only will purge of
its superficiality and clarify for us. It is to be hoped that more than
one kind of purification may result from the great conflagration now
raging ; and that out of the ashes, when nations have breathing time to
settle down and think, a national spirit may grow, a national art,
genuine, pure, living, and progressive.
74 '