New-York tribune., 1873-02-19
ART IN MANUFACTURES.
LECTURE BY RUSSELL sTuRGIs. JR.

Inc 1lltn lecture IN lut dlllluai NOuleC upVh
art was deived by Russell sturs. ir al the National
Academy Of Desirn last evening. his subject being
Ornament and Manufacture" The substance OF the
address was as follows:
liz my lecture tonight shah try TO touch upon these
points difficulty IN getting designs made Tor the uu
poses OF manufacture. The question wonld naturally
arise why persons should 90 further than the great
ateors TO have designs made, or TO seek them Nearly
all modern designs as applied 10 building are loaded
down under a burden Of imitation, which leaves them
almost crushed under It's woght, Nearly every building
10 which We can point has been desgnedn ths or mat
or the other style Of architecture Of pas, ne we can
hardly nud building OF the nineteenth century, II TINS
il the case with regard architectural art II II sim more
the case in the matter manufactures partly Tor the rea
son that manufactures less important and partly for
another reason which l Will mention Take the art
for instance Of ordinary wall decoration wch Is one OF
those which touch most closely upon architecture
win show you a design Of French wall paper "Hieh
think is one Of the best. "a design OF PINK purple ana
white flowers, with green leaves upon gray lsA-draO
ground was shOwnJ There Is grace ana refinement OF
tonch about IT, which is common 10 many OF the
modern wall papers. Now VIII sho" you an
English wall paper OF similar ues'en' "m'h
7 do not like as wen. The roses must not
be seen TO stand ont too much from tne rest OF
the design one reason give why the first one is bet
ter than the second is that IL is richer The French has
great deal Of that grace which comes from the trained
workmen. The English is noticeable lor us eFueht SIN
certy in design. Here somelJapanese wall papers
This shows no attempt at brilliant eoloIlng ana has
nothing upon it but this silver upon sort OF gray
ground. IL has all the French grace ana
English sincerity It is incomparably better than
anv OF the others. The japanese rooms are smaller
and the paper is used chiefly 10 cover screens IL
f. instead OF being plastered upon walls, put upon
stretched canvas and split bamboos am wrong 70 can
the grass silver The colorng Is made OF some vegetable
substance probably / have some in powder Dut nave
to baV aua |
mica but the limitations made here OF that material are
not near as good In all these patterns, only one block
has been used The great expense IS Weh great many
blocks are used While the paper made with one block
can be bought for sevcnyhve cents, that with many
will cost very high price will show you how easily
this Japanese decorative art applicable 10 our own use
This paper was made al my order, in imitation OF the
Japanese. 1t is exactly traced, and looks Ike
scroll design of the seventeenth century In perhaps
12OO different Japanese wall papers which nave had,
do not think there 100 which would not be pleas
ant to Won at first sight In these few the only
why you would object TO them would be Tor ther Oddly
one design which you might dislike would be paper hay
ing one row Of huge anthcmums and another row
OF enormous 1 think you will agree that 1t re-
ouircs a whole morning to find single modern design
which you can endure, and the final choice which you
make is probably in the style Of pale blush gray with
little spots This very rich paper which first showed
You can be put on the wall for Less cost than any orna
DESIGNS N CARTETs
II this proposition OF wall papers il is certainly
true Of carpets The thing most difficult TO find,
after ALL is CARPET do not know that have found
one at any store in New-York which at all satisfies me
oriental carpets do not speak Of because they relate
10 that very part OF subject which do not touch
Here is some Venetian stun, Of beautiful design and
green and golden-yellow coors. There is nothing TO
prevent the modern weaver from weaving
stufls just like this. hIy, IS tniS not uohe
/ viii try 10 answer. l fear cannot say
that by any study or nature OF natui4I
forms, but by banisng past styles We can come 10 THIS
elegance again. The best colorng has been done in
ancient times by semi i-baroarous people Ige loYe 10Y
bright strong vivid cOlors stronger In the earlier
tunes than later. Perhaps great taste for sculpture
drove out the taste color II does seem as though
century. 1t woud be easy for me To show you many
Of the japanese stufs, with the pattern sometimes
taken ont with acid. The pattern sometimes partly
enil e. III , WI a. harI alone If we intrrur,f
manufactures be the work Of inferior persons, under
This is twObracket candlestck. 1t j. Ike q little
plant with leaves and berries, starting from the same
root stem, and twIning around II. We can see
that the artist thoroughly understood tAe plant lhs
cannot be made every day II Is possible mat u-lshti
trained workman, but only with great labor
and expense, in thesG, day, Fo5,dDy' dSa WIN
In making such things now, the work is stopped by the
necessity Of explaining step 70 those WHO 40 not care
about what they are doing. This was found in an
Gent Acsia modern Alsace, by NapQl.0h, l WHAT was
supposed 10 be CIsaIs camp IL was III ptrlect v-q-
ti0n wlthhe excepton of one handle wca was broken
on This was restored by a slful Partisan workman.
Repousser is the process by which thin plate OF metal
is worked from the wrong side by hammer. The real
way is 10 screw a hammer head into lspch,
1c norronr ~ 0orked by q boy. While tbe
skjed workman watch and direct ID forming OF the
design using different h9m"r,Is as the of the
work requires; ILeG Is only one Workman nowadays
not practced in this city an II is only done by per
sons VINO ayowedly trying to bring Out the ancient
same care shown IN making new Things as
is used in copying old ones we might have
a1f4f nj i- "A
II has rnrtv of form and race and shows the knOw
edge of the workman. ii is not often that one can
care 10 make their forms beautiful Here is another
piece Of their work. it IS candlesck very clumsy IN
was too much for them, and the result was
a failure? they were not able TO bring
the several parts together 80 as to form graceful outline
The de sign traced upon is surface is very well dOne II
well understood that each flower is capable OF
being extended at large scale IL shows 10 ne how
defective all our ordinary designs for decorating In
the first place, its colors are only the natural ones, and
the ny teral is one Of tie most unylel9ng The gold
the same size would soon wear away.
WHY OUR WORK Is PALTRY.
II will readily TO us 10 ask why the mauufac.
urer have the help Of great designers. 1t only
those who are trained designers who are free from the
the cares which come to those who try be designers
and manufacturers. Why cannot they employ such 10
make designs for theml In the books Of tiles offered
by the houses in England the designs are
made by we-knOwn men. The only reason
why the manufactures ever goes 10 the designer
is because he wants 10 use his a prominent
IN England had received RGoO in one year for such
designs. IL is hard 10 do this Ia large companies Or
ganizatiOu and fine designs cannot 90 together we
only mean pay large dividends fine designing
20 with IL. company cannot afford 10 make uc de-
sign for set and make but copy OF H. and then
make the next set little different. An lne designs
have come about by making each article little better
than the preceding one. When one pattern ' made
many copies be sold while that fashion lasts are
made from ~.
1t IS that II is not the 70 make money
seek fine designs, but to give the people Just
what they want, and no more. II II bad for
fresh designs
any OF them prove unsuccessful do know whether
here ia way 10 resist There 4. fine