The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1907-02-17

cons who find a ready sale for paper
knives or salad spoons neatly carved
from well-seasoned applewood
This revival of rural industries is an
interesting phase of the handicraft
movement. Alone with it-and more
important. perhaps, in an economic
sense-is the existence in our cities of
a considerable body of craftsmen who
work in cooperation with architects.
painters and sculptors Men engaged
in the practice of the fine arts have long
complained that there are now, because
of the disappearance of the apprentice
system. very few good workmen COM
petent to assist the artist In the execu-
ton of his designs. Many eminent
American artists have Interested them
selves in encouraging the work OF
craftsmen who, however they make
their start as amateurs, are likely
eventually to become well trained pro-
fessionals, capable of executing In metal,
wood, textiles or other materials, the
beautiful details and accessories for
which the plans OF our better archi-
tects call and for which American
wealth stands ready to pay. Many
former pupils of American and Euro
pean art schools. failing to be placed in
the precarous professions of painting or
SCULPTURE. discover that a demand exists
for hand work which the architect may
use in preference to the more mechanical
and less attractive machine-made pro-
ducts with which he must otherwise sat
isfy his clients.
Hence there have grown up potterles in
charge of individual artists who attend
personally, without permitting excessive
subdivision of labor, to the details or Tor
garden decoration; frame-makers whose
picture and mirror frames represent the
trained artists appreciation OF design
and adaptation; textile workers VINO ma
employment In such departments OF art
as interior decoration or ecclesiastical
embroidery; craftsmen in iron, copper,
silver and other metals. and printers
practising the art preservatiVe with
something of the feeling for lucid and
elegant arrangement that chacterlzed the
Italian and French artists in typography
of the centuries of the Renaissance
Socologists Assist.
Sociologists, also, and other people with
long titles and high missions, believing
1t to be essential to encourage forms OF
industry which allow the maker OF OBJ
iects that are intended to be beautiful as
H,eI as useful to labor under the most
favorable possible conditions, have as
sisted and are assisting, the cause OF
handicraft in this country by writing
about ii and talking about 1t, and often
by purchasing for their own use afueles
made by craftsmen. So that, without IN
reality entering INTO cohP
the work of the machine which mas De
come n necessary part of ciNillzed eX-
istence and which will always continue
To do the coarser and more ordinary
things of life, the believers in the value
of the handmade have already gained a
modest following and proper place for
the things which they produce-as was
lately shown in a special bulletin OF the
governmental department or commerce
and labor.
All this has come to pass within ten
years-for the hammered brass work and
painting of realistic roses pansies and
lilies on plaques. which we regarded as
decorative art in the los and sos, can
hardly be termed serious handicraft. AT
this time nearly every American city has
its local arts and crafts society with oe-
casional exhibitions and in some cases
with permanent salesrooms. At the st.