Page:EB1922 - Volume 30.djvu/322

282 des Arts Decoratifs, was a second edition of the Ghent display, set out in a way that added much to its interest and value. His- toric masterpieces of the great pioneers of the igth century, fine examples from former London exhibitions, and new work that had not previously been shown combined to give a review of the growth of the British arts and crafts movement that was of unparalleled interest. The architectural setting, again due to Henry Wilson, adapted the magnificent galleries to their new purpose with complete success. The attainments of British craftsmen, the directness and novelty of their designs and the quality of their workmanship, shown to a public that had not yet seen any considerable collection of British work of this kind, gained enthusiastic appreciation. In Aug. 1914 the exhibition was hurriedly dismantled, and, as it was impossible to return the exhibits to England, the collection remained buried in the cellars of the Louvre until the end of the World War.

In the autumn of 1916 the Arts and Crafts Society held an exhibition at Burlington House by the courtesy of the Royal Academy, and this helpful interest brought the two bodies together most happily for the first time. A room devoted to a small but representative assemblage of earlier work continued an inspiring feature of the Ghent and Paris shows, including much, now in private hands, that, although well enough known in certain circles, had not been seen by a younger generation. These examples included some of the varied productions of Walter Crane (1845-1915), the first president of the Society, and of William Morris, D. G. Rossetti, Ford Madox Brown, Edward Burne- Jones, and others of the same school, and bore witness to the remarkably versatile genius of those times. Innovations in the arrangement of the exhibits, inherited from the European ventures, and daring developments of the dec- orative setting of the exhibition that displayed the enterprise of the designer, the new president, Henry Wilson, and the skill of the constructor, Francis W. Throup, brought an un- wonted liveliness into the Academic precincts. A series of large paintings in temporary architectural surroundings completely masked the walls of several galleries. Conspicuous in this practical expression of the revived interest in mural decoration were adventures in work of unusual scale by Augustus John, William Rothenstein, Charles Sims, George Clausen and Maurice Greiffenhagen, to mention but a few of the many well- known painters who took part in the most imposing experiment of the kind yet attempted. A series of rooms were erected, decorated and completely furnished by groups of craftsmen, and appropriate collections were brought together in illustration of " University," " Ecclesiastic " and other types of work. A particularly encouraging feature was the number and quality of exhibits by young workers, for the most part students in schools of arts and crafts. Groups of students working under the direction of their masters also took part in the decoration of the galleries, a new departure in collective education that should bear good fruit in the future.

Relation to Industries. In this exhibition a room was set apart for a small display of articles of everyday use of a kind hitherto un- represented in the Society's shows, arranged by the Design and Industries Association, a body that had been recently formed to better the quality and fitness of goods on sale to the general public through the usual channels of supply. This Association pays but little regard to the long-standing feud between handwork on the one side, and machine and scientific production on the other, but aims at securing an increased output and sale of all kinds of products of the best possible quality. By means of its well produced publica- tions, able lectures, and instructive exhibitions the Association has gained considerable influence all over the United Kingdom, and has succeeded in banding together in close cooperation a number of designers, craftsmen, manufacturers and distributors. It was becom- ing more and more apparent that continental manufacturers were gaining great advantage from the ideas of British designers indeed in some cases more than were the British themselves. The British manufacturer and designer had come to regard each other with a certain amount of suspicion; the one had no use for the "long- haired artist," who in his turn mistrusted the standards of design of the other. Foreign observers, especially in Germany, were taking deep interest in the British arts and crafts movement, and reaping very practical results from the knowledge they had gained. So thoroughly were these investigations being carried out that at least one German university had established a professorial chair for the

special study of the economics of arts and crafts. Foreign goods that embodied the designs and ideas of British craftsmen were securing an ever widening market, not only abroad, but also in England. As a case in point the history of English influence on German print- ing is interesting. Several German type founders cut " punches " based on the calligraphy of Edward Johnston and sold " strikes " (i.e. matrices) to English letter founders, who gave the type English names in blissful ignorance that the designs were of English origin. The Design and Industries Association deals with the whole ques- tion of production and distribution and endeavours to bring together all concerned in an attempt to attain high standards of work and to promote their common interests. Its small exhibit at the Royal Academy, which illustrated a. new point of view in artistic design and manufacture, aroused an interest which has been maintained by other exhibitions of the same character. Another " side show " included pottery, printed fabrics and other things made at the Omega workshops. This small selection of the work of Roger F. Fry gave an illustration of his very novel designs, and was a piquant demonstration of the Catholicism of the selection committee of the Society.

Encouraged by its success in introducing the products of British craftsmanship to foreign buyers, the Board of Trade determined to extend its efforts so as to include all possible markets, at home as well as abroad. In conjunction with the Board of Education it founded, in 1920, the British Institute of Industrial Art, with Sir Hubert Llewellyn Smith as chairman. One of the chief means by which this new body proposed to further its objects was the establishment in London of a current exhibition of modern British work, representa- tive of a high standard of quality, and of the latest developments in industrial art. It also undertook the organization in the provinces and abroad, of special temporary and travelling exhibitions of the same character, either independently or in cooperation with the Board of Trade, or other bodies. In addition to these activities it has established a bureau of information on all questions relating to industrial art and to British and foreign markets. It proposed to establish a purchase fund with the object of securing for the State selected modern work of outstanding merit. All work intended for exhibition comes before a selection committee, of which one section is devoted to manufactures, i.e. multiple production by hand or machine, and another to the work of individual craftsmen. A num- ber of experts in the various matters that form the business of the Institute were elected fellows, and several exhibitions were held at the galleries of the Institute in London.

This brief summary of the chief recent developments in the organization of craftsmen shows an extension of the scope of the arts and crafts movement far beyond that accepted by the original workers. It is perhaps doubtful whether the pioneers of the last century, with their instinctive mistrust of machinery and com- mercial production, would have welcomed all these modern innova- tions with enthusiasm. But however commercial the tendencies of " industrial art " may appear, they have been brought about by the inevitable force of economic responsibilities responsibilities that are in a measure the heritage of success. The new organizations are broad and elastic; they necessarily included all sincere workers who set themselves high ideals of design and workmanship. The labours of these are, indeed, the basis of their operations, which tend, not to supplant handwork or eliminate the artist, but to widen his sphere of action by giving him his proper place in the con- trol of machine-made things.

Calligraphy and Illumination. The present renaissance of writing is due entirely to the perfectly equipped efforts of Edward Johnston, who, in the latter years of the last century, took up with rare per- sistence the study of the materials and methods of the great scribes of the past, and produced a number of MSS. written in a hand based on traditional usage, but quite suited to modern needs. As a teacher he gathered around him a band of students, of whom several special- ized in writing, and as calligraphists, and, in their turn, teachers, spread his methods far and wide. From this beginning arose the remarkable revival of fine formal writing, inscriptions, and lettering that is one of the most interesting signs of the times. Since 1910, Johnston's work has been frequently exhibited in many places; he stands without rival as a really great scribe. His MSS., addresses, and inscriptions, decorated with initials and ornaments in gold and colour, are highly prized. Graily Hewitt, a distinguished pupil of Johnston's, follows closely in his footsteps with work that is widely appreciated. He is also a teacher of authority and has given atten- tion to the training of children, for whose instruction he has written some attractive copybooks. H. Lawrence Christie is a calligraphist whose inscriptions and MSS. show fine style, and A. E. R. Gill is the most distinguished figure in the long-neglected field of lapidary inscriptions. In the illumination of MSS. and printed books no finer work has been done in recent times than that of Mrs. Sydney Cockerel!. Her designs show a vivid poetic imagination; they are, quite modern in character, absolutely without trace of the archaic mannerisms that many worjcers in this art affect Exquisite in drawing and colour, her decorations unite harmoniously, not only with the written or printed page, but also with the spirit of the au- thor whose work she decorates. Mrs. Louise Lessore Powell has enriched a number of MSS. with great delicacy and charm. The accomplished illuminations of Allan F. Vigers, based on a most