Evening star., 1923-01-04
The North Window
by LEILA MECHLIN.

There has been much discussion
during the past week Of the project
to erect a $3O,o00,0o0 Arts and In
dustries building here in washing
ton, provided Congress will grant a
site. What does 1t mean? What Will
1t be? Many have asked and are
| asking. Primarily 1t would seem to
be an effort. whether it succeeds or
not, to establish the art industries
of the United States on a surer feet
ing and to give the people of the
country, through the medium of
ocular demonstration, a knowledge Of
what is really being done and how
1t ts being done in American fac
tories, for this Arts and Industries
building is to be a permanent exhi-
bition hall, similar, perhaps, in a
measure to- the Crystal Palace of
London and the old Crystal Palace
Of New York. but exclusively devoted
to the industries in which design is
! q large factor.
The project is fathered by the Asso-
citation OF Arts and Industries, which,
IL we mistake not, has its headQuar-
ters In Chicago. comparatively new
organization. whose effort has been
to bring into line all types of activity
and thought in that big midwestern
city which have any bearing on de-
sign In industry or have any sym
pathy with the fine arts. Its di-
| rectors include artists and manufac-
| turers, and locally 1t Is striving at
the present time to secure a large
| cago of an up-to-date school Of indus
trial art, school in which pottery
making, weaving. metal and glass
work. printing. interior decora ton,
| costume designing, etc. will be
taught. Among the subscribers to
! manufacturers not only of the middle
west. but of the country.
There are comparatively few schools
| of industrial art in the United States.
| There Is one in Philadelphia. an
| other in Providence. r. l. In
| Alfred, N. Y. there is an excellent
! school Of pottery making. Pratt In
| stitute, Brooklyn, and Teachers Col
lege. New York, give special courses.
Newcomb College, New Orleans. ranks
\ high for the instruction it gives in
pottery making and needlework
| NcW TOTh CITY COnQuCIS a night
| school of Industrial art, but the
United States is far behind foreign
nations in recognizing the value OF
trained workers in the department of
| design.
The fact is that it is comparatively
! lately that the Importance of design
| In manufacture has been recognized
in this country, for until the war
| came 1t was easy to import what in
| manufacturing circles is known as
| "hfgh-class goods" and to borrow
from other nations design and some
| Charles r.. Richards of Cooper
| Union has lately published in the
| form of a report the result of an in
! dustrial art survey made during the
past two years with the assistance
of numerous experts and under the
auspices of the National Society of
Vocational Education and the depart
| ment of education of the state of
New York, which discloses the present
| situation and contains information
concerning the art industries of the
| United States which is highly enter
| tanning as well as little known. Better
| than almost anything else this book
| reveals the large part that art has in
| national industrial prosperity. Cos
| tune making, the production of tex
| tiles woven and printed, silks, cali
| Goes, carpets, rugs, laces, curtains,
/! jewelry of high and low estate. sill
verware. furniture. wall paper, light
ing fixtures. ceramics, glassware,
| printing, to be successful are all de-
| pendent upon the merit of design.
/ Thus art in industry becomes not
only a part of the life of the people,
but larger element in prosperity. The
|
| spite high tariff, with the nations of
| Europe unless 1t can turn out product
of an equally artistic character.
| What has been accomplished along
! these lines since the war is indeed
surprising and known to but COM
| paratively few.
X y + *
Mr. Richards in his report tells ap-
proximately the amount that a good
designer in the different industries
can command, and it is not small. For
! example, in costume designing, the
salaries range from sS5 per week to
beginners to $4,000 and even $4,000
per year for experienced designers
For textile designers the salaries
range from $500 to $1,000 year; for
jewelry designers from $50 a week to
$1,000 and $4,000 year. The design
ers of furniture seem not so well re.
munerated. their salaries ranging
! from $4,000 to $4,000, free lance de-
signers, $40 to 500 a design. But
even this is not meager. Wall paper
is about on the same basis.
Like the professions. in these in
I dustrial art positions there seems tc
| be invariably plenty of room at the
top and more need for those specially
OF mediocre talent. large majority
Of those now employed as designers
have got their training in the design
departments of the factories fol
which they work, while a fair per-
centage have been trained abroad.
states that the need of today is not
so much for more schools. but fol
better schools. ut is evident" he
says, that upon the quality and mum
ber of such persons (of special talent
and intelligence) to enter the field
zation can develop and support de-
pend the future of American indus
trial art" An important element in
the development of designers he de-
muneration, but a better status or
the platform of art. and he urges
recognition for the designer as ar
artist on the same footing as the
painter of pictures and the maker Of
sculpture.
4 X = X X
The trend of thought has for some
time been in this direction. There is
in New York an interesting organiza.
tion known as the Art in Trade:
Club, the membership of which i:
composed of workers in the trade,
which are dependent for their success.
on art, such as furniture makers
textile manufacturers, wall paper
designers and also statesmen. for the
| salesman serves as the link betweer