Page:The Building News and Engineering Journal, Volume 22, 1872.djvu/478

 456 THE BUILDING NEWS. +’ June 7, 1872. ee occasional addresses were given by leading architects or other artists. Altogether this “ Association ” re- flected the highest credit on the draughtsmen and apprentices, and it would be much to be regretted that it had decayed were it not that there is a pro- spect of something similar soon being formed—an outflow, I understand, from the recent visit of Pro- fessor Kerr. To further this new Association the employers might, perhaps, give the draughtsmen and apprentices access to the Society’s library ; and if they have difficulty, as I know they sometimes have, in making a syllabus for the session, they might make it for once of a course of lectures to their assistants, one taking Construction, another Asthe- tics, one Classic, another Gothic, and so on—an exercise of goodwill that, like Portia’s merey, would be ‘twice bless’d,” blessing both those who give and those who take. Not many years ago a dozen gentlemen, ten of whom were architects, bought a house, reconstructed t, and had it furnished by the nicest judgment with the choicest art-treasures. Their single aim was to extend the knowledge and improve the taste of the fellow-citizens of Sanct Mungo. There was a Greek court in it, by Alexander Thomson; an Ttalian drawing-room, by Clarke & Bell; a Gothic library, by Mr. Burnet; and an Old-Scottish hall, by her Majesty’s decorators, Messrs. Bogle & Co. Example is said to be better than precept, but both must be best, and accordingly the platform vied with the press—lectures being read and leaders being written, as well as objéts d’art being mirrored upon the retina—in endeavouring to educate in purity of form and harmony of colour, breadth of composi- tion and delicacy of detail. But ‘‘ Fortune smil’d, deceitful, on its birth.’ Dr. Johnson was of opinion that “the chief glory of every people arises from its authors ;” we, wiserin our generation, elect to “ let Glasgow flourish” by pig-iron and turkey-red, and this being so, the reader will readily conclude that the “Scottish Exhibition” was soon seen to be a mistake. It was closed ; then “‘ Here grew the arts of war and peace,” for thereafter one part of the building be- came the meeting-room of the Architectural Society and another the drill-hall of a company of volunteers. Vain transitory splendours! could not all Reprieve the tottering mansion from its fall! As Thomas Gray says, ‘‘ The paths of glory lead but to the grave,” and the walls within which alike the battle of the styles was fought, and the goose- step was marched in defence not defiance, haye now painted on their portals ‘‘ Funeral Emporium”! “To this last.” Sic transit. The Glasgow Herald thinks that decorative art is improving in the west of Scotland. In a descrip- tive notice of the drawing-room in Wilton-bank House, in the neighbourhood of Glasgow, it says :— “The ‘Four Seasons’ are represented on the ceiling by variegated clusters of flowers; the walls are divided by ornamental pilasters, and the panels between are excellent imitations of Lyons figured silk, the whole being executed in the first style of the art. This mode of decoration is certainly far superior to the common stencil process, which has been described as an ‘ornamentation of drapers’ shops and dram shops, and a disgrace to fashionable drawing-rooms.’ It is a very simple process, managed by sheets of paper cut to any pattern, and then the paintis daubed over the sheets with a common brush in the hands of an ordinary journeyman.” It must be added that the name of the decorator is not given. Although the imitation of flowers and silk may be the kind of decoration best suited to this particular room, it is searcely fair to say that “this mode is certainly far superior to the common stencil process.” The stencil process, when ‘executed in the first style of the art,” may be equal, if not superior, to what at best is but an imitation. In estimating the merits of the stencil process there surely must be taken into consideration the degree or quality of the faney and judgment exhibited in the design. It need scarcely be said that there is no reason why these should not, in some instances, be of a very high order. I have seen stencil work in which were at once happy invention, severe judg- ment, rich and harmonious colouring, and the utmost purity of outline, and which was applied with the nicest sense of the true purpose of decoration. The means of production—‘‘the paint daubed over the sheets with a common brush in the hands of an ordi- nary journeyman ”—can be no argument against it. It may as well be argued that the ink being spread over the types with a common roller in an ordinary printing-press, determines the art-character of ‘* The Hliad,” or ‘‘ The Tempest.” The stencil process lends itself perhaps more appropriately than does any other to the highest style of art, the Greek, but I fear that a “fashionable drawing-room” would be “a disgrace” to such stencil-stuff as the anthemion, the fret, and the guilloche, which have neither wsthetic nor ethic kin with mere imitation and dis- guise. I prefer truth in a ‘dram-shop ” (in vino veritas /) to falsehood in a drawing-room, although the falsehood may be more “ fashionable” even than the room. ‘The interest in imitation is chiefly in its being an imitation, it spreads no charm to its sur- roundings, but narrows all regard to itself; the interest in outline ornament is in its innate beauty— for it has little else to seek favour by—and in its appropriateness for its purpose—architectural deco- ration. The imitating of a Lyons silk or a tiger- lily is mot art. Children and savages imitate ; artists create, I understand that Mr. Honeyman, of Glasgow, is to read a paper at the Conference on ‘ Modern Church Architecture in Scotland,” and that there is a proposal to have represented, by photographs or otherwise, the churches of Glasgow. If this pro- posal be carried out fully a large proportion of the churches shown will be Classic. It is pleasant to find in your illustrations an occa- sional relief from the frequent Gothic, and to us, I dare say, the pleasure is enhanced when, as last week, we find that the relief has come from Glasgow. —_»—__——__ ARCHITECTURAL ASSOCIATION. EPae usual fortnightly meeting was held on ! Friday evening last, Mr. Rowland Plumbe, F.R.I.B.A., President, in the chair. The minutes of the previous meeting having been confirmed, Mr. Quiirer read a letter from Mr. C. L. East- lake, Secretary to the Royal Institute of British Architects, requesting the Association to appoint one delegate to attend the Architectural Conference which commences on Monday next. Mr. Quilter remarked that last year the Association was invited to send five delegates, but he presumed that want of room, or some other reason, rendered it necessary to in- vite only one delegate this year. He moved that the President should be appointed as delegate to represent the Association. Mr. Boyes seconded the motion, unanimously adopted. Mr. Quitrer, having made an announcement respecting the visit proposed to be paid to S. Alban’s Abbey to-morrow (Saturday)—see adver- tisement—moyed a vote of thanks to Mr. A. W. Blomfield for his kindness in permitting the mem- bers of the Association to visit his new Church for the Deaf and Dumb in Oxford-street. Mr. Blomfield had kindly consented to conduct the members over the building again, and to point out to them *some of its peculiarities. The motion was carried by acclamation. Mr. Quittrer then made a preliminary statement regarding the annual excursion of the Association, under the auspices of Mr. Edmund Sharpe, of Lancaster. It was contemplated to start from London on August 19, and the district proposed to be visited was the country lying between Peter- borough and Northampton, including Stamford and its neighbourhood. The excursion would finish at Northampton, that being the nearest point to London. The number of excursionists will be strictly limited to 50. Further particulars will be announced. Mr. Quitrer next proposed that a special meet- ing of the Association be called for to-night (Friday) to discuss the reports of the Conference Committees, and to instruet the Association's delegate to the Con- ference with reference to the same. The motion, having been seconded by Mr. J. Douetass MArHEws, was carried unanimously. Mr. G. H. West, A.R.I.B.A., formerly a pupil of M. Viollet le Duc, then read a paper (of which we give the first half of a copious abstract) which was ON MODERN ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE, As the world grows older, men’s wants become more specialised, and more difficult to satisfy, demanding more extensive knowledge and more complex methods of construction. A Greek temple would seem now-a-days a very simple problem both in arrangement and construction, and even the compli- cated buildings of the Romans are in reality most simple, consisting almost invariably merely of a huge inert mass of concrete, cast, as it were, in a mould in an incredibly short time by vast erowds of labourers, such as only the conquerors of the world could bring together. It was reserved for the Gothic builders, who had to raise buildings nearly as vast with resources infinitely smaller, to introduce a totally new system, and, by equilibrating the forces they could no longer drown in an inert homo- geneous mass, to make their buildings almost living things, in which every part had its special function, and became a necessary member of the whole body. This is the system which has prevailed in reality eyer since the Middle Ages, and which must continue to do so more and more as materials become more diverse and expensive, labour more costly, and time and space more precious, of all of which the Roman was most prodigal, whereas almost the first require- ment of modern building iseconomy. Now economy can only be obtained by scrupulously using the materials required in accordance with their nature, and carefully balancing the forces produced; by making the decoration a part of the construction, so as never to have two systems side by side; and, finally, by scrupulously adhering to the conditions of the programme, never putting in useless parts for the sake of symmetry or fancied beauty of form. Let us, then, see how far architectural education in France keeps these objects in view, illustrating our remarks by references to buildings which may serye to show the results of the different systems employed. Many architects in France have ateliers separate from their offices, where young men can enter and work for themselves, the master visiting them once or twice a week. Here a beginner learns fairly, among some forty or fifty companions of different capacities, a considerable amount of archi- tectural drawing, and how to work up a design and make it look pretty. He picks up certain vague notions of taste and style, a very superficial idea of history, and no real knowledge of construction. If he is unambitious, untalented, or short of time and means, there he stops, and as soon as eyer he is able to earn anything in a builder’s or architect’s office he enters one, revisiting his old atelier from time to time. After a few years of this kind of life he dubs himself architect, and sets up in the world. At these ateliers one pays 20fr. a month to the patron, as the master is called, and from 10fr. to 20fr. to the common fund, the whole expenses of every kind certainly not reaching £20 ayear. The more prosperous or more enterprising student, how- ever, after a few months of this régime, decides upon entering the Ecoledes Beaux Arts, the entrance exami- nation for which consists of one day’s architectural design, three days’ drawing from the cast, two or three written questions in arithmetic and logarithms, and a vivd voce blackboard examination in geometry, descriptive geometry, and in history. Once in the Ecole, he has to go to the school for a day once every two months, to be shut up with the rest in a long room under the roofs, with windows on either side, each window being divided from the next by a wooden partition, like a miniature stable-stall, with room for two in each box. Extra places are pro- vided at a long narrow table running down the centre of the room. The hours are from nine to five, with no forced cessation of work. That want, however, is supplied by the pupils. One makes in the school in these eight hours a rough sketch to a small scale of the subject given, of which one carries away a tracing to serve as a guide in pre- paring the finished drawings, for which two months are usually allowed, The amount of study expended on these drawings is immense; one draws them over and over again on tracing paper, altering a window here, a door there, adding a column or subtracting one, keeping, however, very closely tv the original sketch, for otherwise one is put “ hors de concours ” till at the last moment one is all in a fuss, and has to finish off the elevations as fast as possible, scamping the plans and sections. Besides these projéts rendus there are once a month time sketches, to be made within the eight hours. The subjects are such as these: ‘An out-of-door altar for the Féte Dieu,” a fountain, an octroi-house, or the like. Every two months there is a public exami- nation of the drawings, and honourable mentions are awarded to the best. In order to pass from the second class, into which one originally enters, to the first, one must have obtained four mentions and have passed examinations in mathe- matics, stereotomy, sciography, perspective, and construction, honours and medals being given. Each of these examinations is both written and viva voce, and drawings are required. In Construction, some subject is given, which has to be specially studied for its construction, the object being to drag as many different sorts of construction as possible into one’s seven double-elephant sheets. One cares as little for the design of the subject given as one cares for the construction of the ordinary ones. The Grand Prix de Rome, though nominally open te any one, is practically restricted to those in the first class. There is first a twenty-four hours’ sketch, then one of forty-eight hours, and in this latter the final competitors, or logistes, are chosen. They are shut up for two months to make their designs, and the successful candidate is sent to reside at Rome for five years, during the latter eighteen months of which he is permitted to travel. During these five years he has to send home tinted drawings and restorations of ancient buildings, original designs and sketches, For this final grand result of their bis