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Read Ebook: Ideals in Art: Papers Theoretical Practical Critical by Crane Walter
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Ebook has 739 lines and 48380 words, and 15 pages
Temporary Street Decoration 199, 201
Royal Mantle from the Treasury of Bamberg 205
Chasuble from the Cathedral of Anagni 206
Sicilian Silk Patterns 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214
Embroidered Tabard in the Archaeological Museum at Ghent 215
Details from the Embroidered Tabard 216, 217, 218
Robe of Richard II 219
The Lions of England, designed by Walter Crane 220
Heraldic Lion, designed by Walter Crane 221
The Lions of England 222
Equestrian Figure with Heraldic Trappings 223
Binding in black morocco, with Medallions and Coat of Arms, by Thomas Berthelet 227
Binding in black morocco, with Arms of Edward VI, by Thomas Berthelet 229
Binding in stamped calf, with emblematical designs 231
Binding of oak boards covered with stamped calf, by John Reynes 233
Binding in brown calf, inlaid, by the Wotton Binder 235
Appartamenti Borgia, Vatican, showing Pinturicchio's "Salutation," etc. 238
Detail from Pinturicchio's "Salutation," with enrichments in Gesso 239
Palermo, Cappella Reale 241
The Double Cube Room, Wilton House 243, 245
Method of Working with the Brush in Gesso 249
Filling for Picture Frame in Gesso Duro, designed by Walter Crane 250
Design for a Bell-pull, modelled in Gesso, by Walter Crane 251
Gesso Panel, design for the Art Workers' Guild, by Walter Crane 253
The Dance , designed by Walter Crane 254
Picture Frame in Oak with Gesso filling, designed by Walter Crane 255
Treatment of Form in Gesso Decoration, by Walter Crane 256
System of Modelling with the Brush in Gesso 257
Gesso Decoration at 1a, Holland Park, by Walter Crane, the woodwork by Philip Webb 258, 259, 260, 261
Panel in Gesso, tinted with lacquers and lustre paint, designed by Walter Crane 262
Panel in Gesso, tinted with lacquer, designed by Walter Crane 263
Pictorial Decoration 271
"Love and Death," by G. F. Watts, R.A. 275
"Sir Galahad," by G. F. Watts, R.A. 277
"Hope," by G. F. Watts, R.A. 279
IDEALS IN ART
OF THE ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT: ITS GENERAL TENDENCY AND POSSIBLE OUTCOME
It seems a strange thing that the last quarter of the nineteenth--or what I was going to call our machine-made--century should be characterized by a revival of the handicrafts; yet of the reality of that revival there can now be no manner of doubt, from whatever point we date its beginnings, or to whomsoever we may trace its initiation.
Indeed, it seems to me that the more we consider the characteristics of different epochs in the history of art, or of the world, the less we are able to isolate them, or to deal with them as phenomena by themselves, so related they seem to what has gone before them, and to what succeeds them, just as are the personalities associated with them; and I do not think this movement of ours will prove any exception to this rule.
Standing as we do on the threshold of a new century--which so often means a new epoch in history, if not in art--it may, perhaps, be allowable to look back a bit, as well as forward, in attempting a general survey of the movement. Like a traveller who has reached a certain stage of his journey, we look back over the region traversed, losing sight, in such a wide prospect, and in the mists of such a far distance, of many turns in the road, and places by the way, which at one time seemed important, and only noting here and there certain significant landmarks which declare the way by which we have come.
To take a very rapid glance at the phases of decorative art of the past century, we see much of the old life and traditions in art carried on from the eighteenth century into the early years of the nineteenth, when the handicrafts were still the chief means in the production of things of use or beauty. The luxurious excess of the later renascence forms in decoration, learned from France and Italy , corrected by a mixture of Dutch homeliness, and later by French empire translations of Greek and Roman fashions in ornament, often attained a certain elegance and charm in the gilded stucco mirror frames and painted furniture of our Regency period, which replaced the more refined joinery, veneer, and inlaid work of Chippendale and his kinds.
Classical taste dominated our architecture, striving hard to become domesticated, but looking chilly and colourless in our English gray climate, as if conscious of inadequate clothing.
This Greco-Roman empire elegance gradually wore off, and turned to frigid plainness in domestic architecture, and to corpulency in furniture, as the middle of the century was approached, when the old classical tradition in furniture, handed on from Chippendale, Sheraton, and Hepplewhite, seemed to be suddenly broken into by wild fancies and fantastic attempts at naturalism in carving, combined with a reckless curvature of arms and legs supporting springs and padding. Drawing-rooms revelled in ormolu and French clocks, vast looking-glasses, and the heavy artillery of polished mahogany pianos, while Berlin-wool-work and anti-macassars in crochet took possession of any ground not occupied by artificial flowers, and other wonders, under glass shades.
The '51 Exhibition was the apotheosis of mid-nineteenth century taste, or absence of taste, perhaps. The display of industrial art and furniture then, to judge from illustrated catalogues and journals of the period, seemed to indicate that ideas of design and craftsmanship were in a strange state. The new naturalism was beginning to assert itself, but generally in the wrong place, and in all sorts of unsuitable materials. Those were the days when people marvelled at the skill of a sculptor who represented a veiled figure in marble so that you could almost see through the veil!--but that was "Fine Art." Industrial art was in a very different category, yet it was influenced by fine art, and, generally, greatly to its disadvantage. We had vignetted landscapes upon china and coalboxes, for instance, and Landseer pictures on hearth-rugs--and our people loved to have it so.
These things were done, and more also, in the ordinary course of trade, which flourished exceedingly, and no one bothered about design. If furniture and fittings were wanted, the upholsterer and ironmonger did the rest.
But I think many and mixed elements contributed to the change of feeling and fashion which came about rather later, in which perhaps may be traced the influence of modes of thought expressing themselves also in literature and poetry, as well as the study of different models in design.
One cannot forget that the early years of the nineteenth century were illuminated by the inspiration and clearness of inner vision were expressed in so individual a form with such fervour of poetic feeling and social aspiration, both in verse and design, in the books engraved and printed by himself which remain the remarkable monument of his neglected genius.
The group of artists associated with him, too, such as Edward Calvert and Samuel Palmer, marked an epoch in English poetic illustration, associated with wood engraving and printing, of very distinct character and beauty, the influence of which may be seen at the present day in some of the woodcuts of Mr. Sturge Moore.
The more conscious classical designs of Flaxman and Stothard were colder, but graceful, and mark a period from which we seem more widely separated than from others more remote, yet seemingly nearer in sentiment.
Quite a different kind of sentiment was fostered by the writings of Scott upon which so many generations have been fed, but they had their effect in keeping alive the sense of romance and interest in the life of past days, still further enlightened by the researches of antiquarians, and the increased study of the Middle Ages, and above all of Gothic architecture. All these must be considered as so many tributary streams to swell the main current of thought and feeling which carried us on to the artistic revival of our own times.
The poetry of Tennyson, with its sense of colour, sympathy with art and nature, and the romance of the historic past, its thoroughly English feeling, and its revival of the Arthurian Legend, and its association with the designs of some of the leading pre-Raphaelite painters must be counted if not as a very strong influence upon, at least as an evidence and an accompaniment of that movement.
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