Page:1902 Encyclopædia Britannica - Volume 25 - A-AUS.pdf/743

 ART

TEACHING

art, however, may sometimes prove helpful and beneficial, and preservative of beauty and character, as in the case of certain decorative and constructive arts and handicrafts in common use, such as those of the rural waggon-maker and wheelwright, and horse-harness maker (see Academy, Royal). Some schools of painting, sculpture, and architecture have preserved fine and noble traditions which yet allowed for individuality. Such traditions may be said to have been characteristic of the art of the Middle Ages. It often happens, too, when many streams of artistic influence meet, there may be a certain domination or ascendency of the traditions of one art over the others, which is injurious in its effects on those arts and diverts them from their true path. The domination of individualistic painting and sculpture over the arts of design during the last century or two is a case in point. With the awakening of interest in industrial art— sharply separated by pedantic classification from fine art —which began about the middle of the 19th century, schools of design were established which included more varied studies. Even as early as 1836 a Government grant was made towards the opening of public galleries and the establishment of a normal school of design with a museum and lectures, and in 1837 the first school of design was opened at Somerset House. In 1840 grants were made to establish schools of the same kind in provincial towns, such as Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, and Paisley. The names of G. Wallis in 1847, and Ambrose Poynter in 1850, are associated with schemes of art instruction adopted in the Government art schools, and the year 1851, the year of the Great Exhibition, was also marked by the first public exhibition of students’ works, and the first institution of prizes and scholarships. In 1852 “the Department of Practical Art” was constituted, and a museum of objects collected at Marlborough House which afterwards formed the nucleus of the future museum at South Kensington. In 1853 “The Department of Science and Art ” was established, and in 1857, under the auspices of Henry Cole, the offices of the department and the National Art Training School were removed from Marlborough House to South Kensington. Classes for instruction in various crafts had been carried on both at Somerset House and Marlborough House, and the whole object of the Government schools of design was to give an artistic training to the designer and craftsman, so that he could carry back to his trade or craft improved taste and skill. The schools, however, became largely filled by students of another type—leisured amateurs who sought to acquire some artistic accomplishment, and even in the case of genuine designers and craftsmen who developed pictorial skill in their studies, the attraction and superior social distinction and possibility of superior commercial value accruing to the career of a painter of easel pictures, diverted the schools from their original purpose. For some time after the removal to South Kensington, during the progress of the new buildings, and under the direction of Godfrey Sykes and F. W. Moody, practical decorative work both in modelling and painting was carried out in the National Art Training School; but on the completion of these works, the school relapsed into a more or less academic school on the ordinary lines, and was regarded chiefly as a school for the training of art teachers and masters who were required to pass through certain stereotyped courses, and execute a certain series of drawings in order to obtain their certificates. Thus model-drawing, freehand outline, plant-drawing in outline, outline from the cast, light and shade from the cast, drawing of the antique figure, still life, anatomical drawings, drawing and

687

painting from the life, ornamental design, historic studies of ornament, perspective, and geometry, were all taken up in a cut-and-dried way, as isolated studies, and with a view solely to obtaining the certificate or passing an examination. This theoretic kind of training though still in force, and though it enabled the department to turn out certificated teachers for the schools of the country of a certain standard, and to give to students a general theoretic idea of art, has been found wanting, since, in practice, when the student in design leaves his school and desires to take up practical work as a designer or craftsman, he requires special knowledge, and specialized skill in design for his work to be of use; and though he may be able to impart to others what he himself has laboriously acquired, the theoretic and general character of his training proves of little or no use, face to face with the ever shifting and changing demands of the modern manufacturer and the modern market. A growing conviction of the inadequacy of the schools of the Science and Art Department (now the Board of Education), considered as training grounds for practical designers and craftsmen, led to the establishment of new technical schools in the principal towns of Great Britain. The circumstance of certain large sums, diverted from their original purpose of compensation to brewers, being available for educational purposes and at the disposal of the county councils and municipal bodies, provided the means for the building and equipment of these new technical schools, which in many cases are under the same roof as the art school in the provincial towns, although the connexion between the two is not so close as might be desirable. The art schools formerly managed by private committees and supported by private donors, assisted by the Government grants, are now, in the principal industrial towns of Great Britain, taken over by the municipality. Birmingham is singularly well organized in this respect, and its art school has long held a leading position. The school is well housed in a new building with class-rooms with every appliance, not only for the drawing, designing, and modelling side, but also for the practice of artistic handicrafts such as metal repousse, enamelling, wood-carving, embroidery, &c. The municipality have also established a jewellery school, so as to associate the practical study of art with local industry. Manchester will shortly have a large new technical school, intended to combine the work of the existing technical school in Princess Street and the weaving school in Peter Street under one roof, with special classes for design; while the art school in Cavendish Street, with its museum, may remain as a high school of design, painting, and modelling. In Glasgow, which has now a distinct place in the modern development of art, both decorative and pictorial, under the headmaster ship of Mr Francis H. Newbery, the art schools are also under municipal management, and large new premises have been completed for the extension of work in the technical and practical direction. Leicester has an admirably equipped and organized art school in a fine building. The important change involved in the incorporation of the Science and Art Department with the Board of Education has also led to a reorganization of the Royal College of Art. A special Council of Advice on art matters has been appointed, consisting of representatives of painting, sculpture, architecture, and design, who deal with the Royal College of Art, and appoint the professors who control the teaching in the classes for architecture, design and handicraft, decorative painting and sculpture, modelling, and carving. The council decide upon the curriculum, and examine and criticize the work of the college from time to time. They also advise the Board in