THE FIRST EXHIBITION OF THE ARTS AND CRAFTS EXHIBITION SOCIETY.
TO review the ordinary exhibition catalogue would seem to be as strange as to read a dictionary, but the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society in placing before the public a somewhat novel departure in the matter of exhibitions, have further supplemented such by the issue of a catalogue which is as unique as it is requisite. They have essayed the task of educating those of the public who visit the New Gallery into a right under- standing of what they are called upon to see ; an object which would not be altogether without its value could it be carried out in exhibitions other than that of the Arts and Crafts. The authorities of that exhibition tacitly assume that their visitoi-s require knowledge, and, judging from the way in which even those pseudo teachers ot the public, the art critics, have either seemed to fight shy of this exhibition, or have reviewed it by filling a column of their newspaper with a recluntffee of the catalogue, it would appear as if that assumption was not altogether unwarranted. Prefacing the catalogue proper with a series of short essays on the history and technique of the various handicrafts under review, a set of practical object-lessons is the result, and the casual visitor finds what would probably have been a dreary hour of monotony, converted into a visit full of informa- tion, and he emerges a wiser and certainly not a sadder man. In a short preface, the President of the Society, Mr. Walter Crane, in insisting upon the importance of the handicrafts, points out how, under our mechanical system, all sense of the personal element is lost. As the machine leads, so the people follow. Practically this is true, but after all the machine is but the servant of the producer, and if the design supplied be bad the issue is bad, but the means taken to produce are no factor in the transaction. Not for a moment can the ordinary production of the machine be defended, but a good deal could be done and is done by recognising the machine itself as a fact ; and if it be the spirit of the age it cannot be altogether ignored. All great missionary enterprises succeed only by accepting the conditions of life under which the people live to whom salvation is brought ; and the Arts and Crafts Society, as missionaries of a movement, might turn their attention to this side of the question. Of the enviable position the Society holds there can be no question. The difference between the ordinary manufacturer or middleman and the skilled designers and workers whose works are exhibited in the New Gallery lies in the fact that the latter fitly claim to be teachers of the public, whilst the former is usually the servant. The power capable of being wielded from this position is very great, and the education of the people will speedily mean the education of the manu- facturer. Meanwhile the people question not and have nothing to say in this matter. A little leaven will in time leaven the whole lump, but there is always the preparation of the ' sponge ' to receive even the yeast. The president fitly ends by calling attention to the series of papers which follow as being written by men whose names are associated with the subjects of which they treat, not only in the literary sense, but as actual designers and workmen. The principles which guide the practice and methods of Mr. William Morris are apparent in the paper on Textiles, which leads off the series. In the thirst for oi'iginality which prevails to-day, it seems to be lost sight of that the heritage of past work is ours, and to accept it and adapt it to our needs is but following the practice of all good designers at all times. If by the process a new style of architecture, and with it, of ornament, be evolved, such is simply a repetition of history. Viewed in this light, Mr. Morris's utterances on tapestry, carpets, and textiles generally, lose much of their apparent dogmatism. Take, for example, carpets. The principles which guide carpet-designing are seen at their best in the work of the old Persian designers, where fitness and beauty go hand in hand. Therefore let carpets be designed and coloured as are the works of the Persian masters. Should the public desire carpets whereon highly shaded rococo ornament glares in all the glory of aniline dyes, simply do not gratify the desire ; and when it is borne in mind that the public can only desire to have that which is in the market, the matter becomes less difficult than at first appears. This insistence upon the principles contained in the work of the past is apparent in the whole series of papers, though Mr. Walter Crane, in his essay on Decoration, would seem to include the man, and to demonstrate that the requirements for a decorative artist are not always and at all times met by the ordinary painter of easel pictui-es. Decorative painting exacts peculiar and special knowledge and training, and the present paramount influence of the purely pictorial painter is not always advantageous to the other Arts and Crafts. In the essay on Wall-Papers, which follows, more might have been made of the complete conquest and disappearance of the French designer in this branch of decoration, if for no other pui-pose than that of showing the absurdity of the notion, so prevalent among a large class of fabric-printers, that designs for such can only be had from France. That figures should not merely be 'stood about,' but be an integral part of the building they adorn, is the dictum of Mr. Somers Clark in his article on Stone- carving, and he might have illustrated his remarks by
