Page:Every Woman's Encyclopedia Volume 1.djvu/588

 THE ARTS This section of Every Woman's Encyclopedia tells what woman has done in the arts ; how she may study them, and how she may attain success in them. Authoritative writers will contribute articles on : Art Music Literature Art Education in England Musical Education Famous Books by Women Art Education Abroad Studying Abroad Famous Poems by Women Scholarships. Exhibitions Musical Scholarships Tales from the Classics Modern Illusti-atioii Practical Notes on the Choice Stories of Famous Women The Amateur Artist of Instrujnejtts Writers Decorative Art The Musical Education of The Lives of Women Poets, Applied Aj'ts, etc. Children, etc. etc., etc. THE SLADE SCHOOI^ OF ART By GLADYS BEATTIE CROZIER Foundation of the School — System of Reform Inaugurated — High Standard of Work Required — Success of the "Women Students — Surroundings of the School — Working Arrangements for the Classes — Fees — Lectureships — Scholarships and Prizes — The College Hall for Resident, Pupils. In consequence of Mr. Felix Slade's mu- nificent bequest for the founding of professorships for the study of the fine arts at University College, London, with a further sum for the special endowment of several annual scholarships, a committee of the college authorities decided to vote Art. This now forms one side of the college quadrangle, and was opened on October 2, 1 87 1. Sir Edward Poynder, as first Slade professor in London, was in the chair. The opening of the school was an epoch- making event for ambitious art students. At the time the manufacture of elaborately stippled drawings from the antique were still in vogue at most schools of art, and a new generation of brilliant young artists, aglow with pre-Raphaelite fervour, were clamouring for reform in the existing methods of in- struction. The substitution of a short for a long period of work in the Antique Room, before admission to the Life Class, formed the basis of the system of reform inaugurated by the Slade School. The work, moreover, with a single important modification— the abandon- ment of the Sculpture Class— remains to-day in all essentials the original scheme mapped out by Mr. Edwin Field, and organised by Sir Edward Poynder. While the training given at the Slade School is essentially non-academic it is searching and thorough. Among the pro- fessors there is a constant effort to meet the changes of idea animating the students, both by varying the scope of subjects set for the monthly compositions, and for the prize pictures, and by modifying and alternating, from time to time, various other regulations. Teaching at the Slade during the regime of Professor Brown, both in the Life Class, and in the Composition Classes, aims primarily at a highly trained direct view of nature. This is supported by a study of the methods employed by former painters. The attitude of its students towards the Old Masters is, in consequence, rather one of love for and familiarity with their work than the distant and awed admiration accorded by the average art student. Women students have always done well at the Slade School, and some of the finest prize pictures on the walls are the products of a feminine brush. On several occasions women have carried off one or other of the awards offered for the best picture or pictures of the year — for sometimes the prize is divided — in open competition with the men students. In 1897 Mrs. Hall Clarke (then Miss Edna Waugh) took the second prize for her brilliantly executed water- colour depicting the " Rape of the Sabine Women," and she has since done full credit to the Slade School training with her output of spirited and delightful drawings. In 1902 the first prize was taken by Miss M. A. Wilson for her picture " The Musicians," and in 1903 it fell to Miss B. B. Whateley, the subject being " The Good Samaritan." In 1906 Miss E. Proby- Adams divided the first prize with a
 * ^5,ooo for the building of the Slade School of