The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-05-13
For She Can Turn Colorless
Lumps Of Lead and Cop
per Into Colors that Ravish
the Eye.
By MARY MARSHALL.

Surely she must be an alchemist. For
out of those hideous sacks of zinc. of tin.
lead, inter and sand, Of oxides of copper.
sand, cobalt and ground glass can Mrs.
Cornelius POLLEN create pottery that is
worth its weight in gold-pottery that
vies with the superb vases OF the Cretans
2,c00 years ago. of the ancient Chinese
potters and the Japs whose formulas
have for centuries been considered a
mystery. From these rude materials she
has brought into being genuine Chinese
yellow, old Spanish red. and that rich
brownish Chinese lacquer that has long
baffled the modern potter Mutton fat
jade, starch blue and "clere de la lune''
are among the other colors that she has
tricked into being with her magic touch
Most of the time Mrs. Poillon spends
in her workrooms in Woodbridge. n. j..
working side by side with her potters
and ''throwers.' seeing that each piece
of pottery that bears her name is true
to the ideal Of the design. And some
times the curve that makes a piece of
pottery work of art is Of but a hairs
distance. 1t is something that cannot be
mathematically computed. Machines can
not produce it. 1t is something that must
be felt.
Just at present Mrs. Poillon is in Wash
ington attending the meetings of the
euel dliou vi ANS ploSlcSS dl thc
Willard Hotel yesterday. today and to-
morrow. She is also arranging her ex-
hibition a the National Museum in con-
nection with the exhibition held there
by the American Federation of Arts.
The exhibition begins tonight with a re-
ception, and after that will be open to
the public till the 1st of September.
What is your pet theory about art?"
was the indefinite question that the rep
- II4r 4 NJ
to Mrs. Poillon yesterday in an effort to
set the ball of the interview In motion.
And then Mrs. Poillon explained her
strong conviction that art should be ap-
piled to the simple useful things of life
in the same spirit that it was applied by
the ancients and by the Chinese and the
Japanese.
THE studios of artists are filled and
cluttered with canvassas that no one
wants to buy. There are hundreds of
artists who work without appreciation
and without compensation. These cam
vases are good. but no one wants to
buy them. American artists would do
better if they but took up applied art, If
thev followed the example Of the best
periods of art and applied their talent to
the useful things of life-to wood carv
ing. to metal work. to pottery. to foun-
tans. to bird baths for country estates.
Ia vases ana mower nolleIS, 10
dishes
This was the spirit of the ancients and
the spirit of the hest period of Chinese
and japanese art. There the beautiful
object is never used as an ornament.
1t has its place and its use, and It is
beautiful But we are far away from
this ideal now. The manufacturers flood
the market with ornaments. new designs.
and freak shapes till true beauty is lost
sight of. Every season the manufactur-
ers feel that they must produce a new
shape no matter how good the last de-
sign may have been. Hence the dread
full freak teapots. all angles and all
spouts, the vases that are hideous, but
at all hazards novel. 1t is women who
see the need of simplicity and beauty
in the useful things of life. Mems minds
are so full of commercialism that they
miss this-they think always of produc-
ing something new each season"
Here Mrs. Poillon checked herself.
- But art must have commercial value
for without an appreciation Of CONNER
Cial value the artists wares stay in the
studios like those useless canvasses, and
they serve no purpose. But we must
learn the lesson of simplicity and learn
with the Japanese the value of single
flower. a single beautiful object
Have YOU been through the Willard
since the horse show" Mrs. Poillon
asked, and then continued: There you
see an example of this overcrowding-l
ma sses of flowers in huge jars banked up
lavishly on either side. flowers beautiful