The record-union., 1899-12-03

LOndOn correspondent New Ioih -
pune: The chief moral of the GullonaH
masque. "Beautys Awakening, Is en-
forced anew at the Arts ana CrailS
Exhibition, which has been opened ~
day for private view at the I'VE"
Gallery. The workman becomes al
artist when he succeeds by Qualues
of design and art in color in giving
pleasures by his handiwork. Systeniatlc
instruction in the art of making op-
jects beautiful as well as useful began
in England when the South Kensington
Museum was founded, and now there
are $50 schools in the United Kingdom
where $4,000 students are taught the
principles Of design. This exhibition,
like the Guildhall masque, offers evil
dence of the progress which has been
made by English art workers in &C
curing a true color sense and real
command over form and in glorlfJlng
the commonest handiwork.
One room of the gallery is occupied
with examples of the art of the great
est of recent English designers and
decorative artists, William Morris, who
died on the eve Of the previous exhi-
bition These include working draw
ingS in colors for wallpapers and
textile fabrics, figure designs and stud
les for stained glass, the only picture
in oil which he is known to have pant
ed, needlework and tapestries Illus
trating his love of color, illuminated
manuscripts from his own hand, orig
inal black and white drawings for his
choicest books, and the best examples
of printing and binding from the
[a1v L h jr1cr n
room is the actual handiwork of this
great craftsman, and his instinct 1of
decorative beauty in form and color Is
revealed in drawings, embroideries, de-
signs printing, binding and many
kinds of surface ornamentatlon. NO
visitor can fail to be impressed with
the range of his art. He mastered diff
fcultieS of many crafts, yet everything
upon which he concentrated his artistic
energies received the impress OF his
characteristic vigor, simplicity of meth
cd and refinement of spirit.
In this house beautiful are hangings
of silk, linen, wool, woven velvet, pro-
catelle, .damask, cotton chintz, tapestry
and other fabrics. The design is al
ways clear and precise, and perfectly
adapted to the material and to the key
of color There are thirty or more
colored drawings for the wallpapers,
by which William Morris reformed
English taste in interior decorations.
The designs are based on wild tulips,
peoples, blackthorn, jasmine, lilies,
acanthus, roses and other flowers, and
reveal the pleasure which he derived
from close study and minute observa-
ton of natural forms. In the draw
ings for stainedsglass windows the out
lines are clear and strong, and the
shadowing is rich in detail. Some OF
his best qualities as a designer are
shown in work of this class, which was
adapted for schemes of bright color in
ornamental glazing. In this branch or
art, as in bookmaking and manuscript
illumination, he was an enthusiast for
everything that was medieval in
spirit but he was neither copyist
nor an imitator. He retained in every
form of craftsmanship his own char
acteristic love of line and color and
his own luxuriant fancy.
Beautiful as are the fabrics, tapes
tries and carpets in this room, book
lovers have no eyes for anything ex-
cept the trial pages, borders, initials
and bindings in the cases. Here is the
sumptuous Kelmscott Chaucer in folio,
with delicate binding in white pig
skin, designed by William Morris. In
the same cases are two trial pages OF
Froissart's Chronicles" on vellum.
There are two additional cases with
printed books, wood blocks and bind
ings from the ''Kemscott Press" Lady
Burne- Jones, Mrs. Morris, Mrs. Fair
fax Murray and Mr.. Cockrell have
filled another case with manuscripts
on vellum, written, Illuminated, Dor
dered and ornamented by this man OF
genius, whose heart went out to the
work Of the Middle Ages, yet whose
personality was never lost under any
guise. There are three remaining
cases with original designs for borders