Page:The Building News and Engineering Journal, Volume 22, 1872.djvu/253

 ~ Marcn 22, 1872. THE BUILDING NEWS. 235 eee SSSSSS9aaSaSsSaans83Sao9mn9sSsS9a9ana that if we were to attempt anything like it in our English manufactures we should fail lamentably, and people would seethat our work was buta bad imitation of Japanese work. The Japanese artist hada marvellous way of stamping his own individuality upon his work, so much so, that it was doubtful whether, by any possibility, he could reproduce a bit of English ornamentation without clothing it in Oriental garb. Hehad great pleasure in seconding the vote of thanks. Mr. G. Arrcuison, F.R.I.B.A., in supporting the proposition, said he quite agreed with Mr. Audsley that of all the beautiful works produced by the Japanese, the Satsuma ware was perhaps the most perfect. Some of the specimens shown that even- ing were quite unique, and he did not know of any European productions to equal them. He had had the good fortune of seeing several collections of Satsuma ware, but the vases exhibited by Mr. Audsley on that occasion were quite equal to any- thing he had ever seen, not only in point of colour, but in grace of outline, and though not, perhaps, equal to some of the Greek vases, the colour was much more beautiful. With regard to the Kanga ware, he did not think Mr. Audsley had quite done it justice, for it contained some most rare and original beauties. With regard to enamel work, he slightly differed from Mr. Audsley, for although the excellence of the Japanese ware exceeded even that of the ancient Byzantine cloisonné enamel beyond comparison, still, as large pieces of decora- tive work, he could not think that the large enamelled vases of the Japanese were at all equal to the brilliantly-coloured ones of the Chinese. In the use of low-toned colours the Japanese excelled almost every other people, but in the use of brilliant colours they were far below the Chinese, and the forms and shapes of their metal vases was neither more nor less curious than those of the Chinese vases, which were excessively coarse in outline, and particularly ugly in general form, as compared with the works of the Greeks or those of the Italian Renaissance; and nothing could be more vilely coarse than the form of the large enamelled incense burner, which resembled the repulsive piled-up or turned appearance of a billiard-table leg. (Laughter). With reference to the Japanese diaper work, although it was very beautiful, he did not think it was to be compared with Chinese diapers. Although symmetry was a virtue when carried out well, it was always well to find that one might have a virtue in an entirely opposite direction aughter), and the wonderful skill with which the Japanese frequently ornamented panels by pieces of fret-work, sprigs of flowers, by birds, or by medal- lions, was certainly as surprising as delightful; but he could not agree that they were always successful. in many cases it seemed as if they had seen a shawl or piece of drapery thrown over some article of furniture, and had striven to imitate it. The horror of Japanese artists seemed to be to produce anything symmetrical. He was afraid that the Japanese. although extremely skilful as artists in point of colour, had had that skilfulness handed down to them traditionally, for, thanks to the enterprise of the British merchant, we had managed to import into Japan some of the most vile colours that had ever cursed humanity, and there was hardly any- thing which now came from Japan which was not cursed by some of the aniline dyes. The moment they saw these novel colours they became so much taken up with them that their inherent taste for colour seemed to leave them. Some twenty years ago much of the Japanese straw work was intro- duced into London, and it was, in the same degree as their Satsuma ware, of a very high character; but within the past five or six years every piece of straw work he had seen was coloured with magenta or some similar dye, owing its existence to the decom- position of coal. In studying the works of the ‘Japanese, we should not lose sight of one very im- portant point—viz., that form was a thing of which they had little or no conception. With the excep- tion of such natural forms as they could copy ‘exactly, such as those of flowers, sprigs of foliage, and birds—which they copied with extreme delicacy, and all the niceties of which they wonderfully well appreciated—all their human figures, and even a great number of their animals, were grotesques, and it had been remarked by somebody that no people could go down with honour to posterity if they were foolish enough to ridicule their own species.(Laughter.) The Japanese ivory carvings were mostly caricatures of the least ennobling kind. Mr. Par asked whether Mr. Audsley, in his study of Japanese art, had noticed anything in it corre- sponding to the current which had manifested itself in European art, and if so, did he consider that Japanese art had attained its highest pinnacle of excellence, was it in its decline, and what was its resent condition? He had been particularly im- pressed by the intense love of Nature which (judging by their works) characterised the Japanese art- workmen. Their work bore no indieation of having had to be finished by the contract time. He had great pleasure in supporting the proposition, and he thought they ought to be greatly obliged to Mr. Audsley, who seemed to have had the Paris Exhi- bition and the South Kensington Museum at his back, judging from the splendid collection of speci- mens exhibited. (Applause.) Mr. H. H. Srannus, remarking on the effect of Western civilisation on Japanese art, said he knew that the aniline colours had made a marked diffe- rence in the colour of works from Japan. He most cordially supported the vote of thanks to Mr. Audsley. The Presipenz, in putting the proposition, said that the Association was particularly obliged to Mr. Audsley for haying taken so much trouble and coming so long a distance to read his paper; and especially were they indebted to him for having brought so valuable a collection of specimens with which to illustrate his remarks. He was sure they would all look forward with great interest to the time when Mr. Audsley should return from Japan, (Hear, hear.) The proposal haying been carried by acclamation, Mr. Aupstey, in acknowledging the compliment, said that in his paper he did not profess to speak of the architecture of Japan, although he did know a little about it. The reason why the Japanese had no permanent architecture in stone and other durable materials was that the islands themselves were of voleanie origin, and now and then suffered from earthquakes, and no stone building would stand; as the only means of getting their buildings to hang together they had adopted wood. But they did not build irregularly ; their buildings were symmetrically disposed, both in their parts and in relation to one another. He did not quite desire to’ be understood as advocating irregularity or want of symmetry broadcast, because he did not believe in it any more than the Japanese did, as a general rule. They broke through it themselves as often as they adopted it. There was no doubt that the Japanese artist, like other artists, made mistakes sometimes. He did not agree with Mr, Aitchison’s remark that the Japanese apparently threw a shawl over a piece of furniture and then painted it. Whatever might be our views, everything the Japanese art-workmen did had a pur- pose, and it was not their fault if we could not see that purpose, or agree with their views. He was not standing up as the champion of Japanese art in every detail; he did not wish to do so. He had endea- voured to treat the subject generally, and to point out its excellences, and did not say that it was posi- tively perfect. With regard to the forms of the Japanese vases, he thought that all the gentlemen who had spoken were substantially right. With regard to the piled-up or turned billiard-leg appearance of the incense burner exhibited, it was due to the exigen- cies of the art manufacture. As it was all in cloi- sonné enamel, the work had to be done in a number of sections, and afterwards fastened together. With regard to the Kanga ware, he did not think he had done it any injustice, as a reference to his words would show. He agreed with Mr. Aitchison that the work was very beautiful, and as a collector he did not care whether that or the Satsuma work came into his hands; but the systemsof ornamenta- tion in the two wares were diametrically opposed and not to be compared to each other. With regard to Mr. Pain’s questions, there was not the slightest doubt that there had been changes of style in Japanese art, and that the older work was the best. From the time of the commencement of intercourse between the Japanese and the Europeans, the art of the former had deteriorated. As to the aniline dyes, some of the late works imported from Japan have presented some very remarkable colours. But he had been told that day by Mr. R. Norman Shaw that in Bradford there was now being manufactured a great amount of materials in the shape of diapers and other ornament, in imitation of the works of the Japanese, and these were being sent out to Japan, where they found a much better price and were said to be more appreciated by the Japanese than their own works, Mr. Puene Spiers said that the case was even worse than stated by Mr. Audslev. They were manufacturing the goods in Bradfor(in imitation of the Japanese work, sending them out to Japan, and selling them there for exporiicion for Eneland as genuine Japanese wares at a less price than ‘ the Japanese could possibly sell the genuine goods. The proceedings then terminated. — The parish church, Mulberry-green, Harlow, is about to undergo thorough restoration under Mr. Woodyer, architect. ROYAL INSTITUTE OF BRITISH ARCHITECTS. HE usual fortnightly meeting was held on Monday evening last, Mr. Edward T’Anson, Vice-President, in the chair. The minutes of the last ordinary general meeting having been read and confirmed, Mr. Hastlake, the Secretary, and Mr. F. P. Cockerell, Hon. Sec., announced several impor- tant donations to the library, including a valuable work by the late M. Hittorff, the distinguished French architect, on the architecture of Magna Grecia. This work (presented by the son of the author) was commended by Mr. Cockerell to the special attention of all those members of the Insti- tute who still kept up the almost obsolete interest in Classical art. From a hasty perusal of the work he had noticed what, he believed, had never been discovered before—vyiz., that the early Greeks fol- lowed in their buildings the same principle of pro- gression which distinguished the Medievalists—i.e,, if a building was left to be completed at some sub- sequent time, the design, as originally conceived and intended, was not carried out to completion in its in- tegrity, but altered or modified in accordance with the prevalant taste of the age in which it was com- pleted. It was unanimously resolved to send a special letter of thanks for this valuable donation. Mr. Henry David Davis, of No. 2, Finsbury-circus, E.C., having been unanimously elected an Associate of the Institute, the chairman called the attention of all those members of the Institute who felt an in- terest in the education of art-workmen tosome prizes offered by the Painters’ Company for the best speci- mens of decorative painting, particulars of which will be found elsewhere in our columns. The Chair- man announced that her Majesty the Queen had signified her approval of the choice made by the Institute of Professor Schmidt, of Vienna, as the recipient of this year’s gold medal, and also that her Majesty had graciously answered the address of con- gratulation sent by the Institute on the recovery of the Prince of Wales from his late severe illness, Mr, Wyatt Papworth then read a paper “ On the Fall of the Brick Dome of the Koltovskoie Church, at S. Petersburg, with an Account of its Construction, and the Theory proposed for the Safe Erection of such Structures, being a Communication from M. Bernhard, Architect, of S. Petersburg.” It was in~ timated to our reporter that the author did not wish any part of this paper to be published. eee THE PALESTINE EXPLORATION FUND. ETTERS received from Mr. T. Drake, who is in charge of the survey during the absence of Capt. Stewart, report ahighly satisfactory progress. During the month of January, the base line having been pre= viously measured, the triangulation was carried over nearly a hundred square miles, of which eighty have been filled in and laid down on the large sheets. The triangulation included Jaffa, and the astronomical observations taken at Ramleh agreed with those of the Admiralty survey at Jaffa. It is found to re- quire great caution and management to get at the exact names of places, many of which Mr. Drake dis- covers to have been laid down wrongly in Van de Velde, owing to the jealousy and suspicion of the fellahin, who think that the survey is a preliminary to the reconquest of the country. Mr. Drake, in identifying the sites of the more obscure towns round Ramleh, agrees with Van de Velde as to the positions of Hadid, Jehud, and Bene Berak, but fixes his Gezer at Tell Jezar, instead of Yastir, Van de Velde’s assigned place for it. Rock-hewn tombs are found in various places. At Dayr Tarif they are of a pattern (an oblong opening, covered with a slab, sunk in the flat surface of the rock) only hitherto discovered in Jebel el Zowi (North Syria, between Hamdh and Aleppo). Excavated cisterns, shaped like beehives or inverted funnels, are very common. Subterraneous store-chambers are also found, and are still used by the natives. The cisterrs and graves at Dayr Tarif have the same name (nawamis) as that given by the Bedouin in Sinai to the primeval cairns and tombs found there, —_—__—__—_ The carriage-ways in the following thoroughfares are to be paved with asphalte :—Fenchurch-street from Gracechurch-street to Railway-place), Leaden- hall-street, King William-street (from Lombard- street to Clement’s-lane), Lothbury, Gresham-street (Bast and West), S. Ann’s-lane, Old Jewry, and Bishopsgate-street (from Cornhill to Wormwood street). A temporary church has been erected at Bedding- ton, which is shortly to be succeeded by a per- manent one. ‘The temporary one is built of wood, and was erected under the superintendence of Messrs. Taylor & Son, of Bromley.