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THE ARTS AND CRAFTS EXHIBITION AT THE ACADEMY. TAB ordinary Academy public are likely to be considerably astonished if they visit Burlington House in the coming week. Not only have it:tures in gilt frames given place to tables, chairs, toys, tapestries, jam-pots, washhand-basins, wall-papers, soup-plates, brass candlesticks, and altars, but the rooms themselves have been transformed. Instead of our old friends the dull, strictly orthodox Exhibition rooms with heavygingerbread-ooloured woodwork and mechanical plaster mouldinge and skylights, we step into an amazing world of artistio make-believe. Instead of the large mote No. ill., we find ourselves in a Byzantine
Basilica composed chiefly of Wood battens and painted canvas, and still smelling strongly of glue. The epee of this strange temple leads into the Octagon Room, now become a veritable Pantheon in which altars of different sorts are collected. As in the Basilica next door, the miaeew scene is one of canvas and paint. Indeed, the visitor to this part of the Exhibition has all the amusement of being able to examine the worke of an ecclesiastical scene at the theatre—" from behind."
In case the air should be too solemn, side-shows of quite a different character are provided for the visitor, who by now is astonished at nothing. Go into one room and you find a space partitioned off to show a lady's bedroom in which all sorts of very artistio fittings aro to be found. In the same way other enclosed spaces contain dining. room furniture, bookbindings, illuminated manuscripts ; in fact, all the miscellaneous activities which are grouped under the head of "Arts and Crafts." To soften the light, muslin ceilings have been stretched, barrel roofs have been improvised, all out of the flimsiest material, while here and there between the joins you see the familia, Academy woodwork and stucco, standing sullenly in the background, looking infinitely solid and dowdy. But when all is said and done, we most cordially congratulate the Arts and Crafts Society on having performed a very miracle. They have made the Academy amusing.
Apart from the wall paintings—the only one of which is remarkable being that of Mr. Sims—the larger part of the objects here shown Sr. of the kind with which we have become familiar from Arts and Crafts Exhibitions in the past. They have the same faults and the same qualities. The faults generally lie in the direction of a striving to make ordinary things of household use strikingly original and arresting. But chests of drawers which goforth into the wilderness to preaeh, and which proclaim their originality by every corner and knob, are not good everyday companions ; neither do bedsteads, which defy you to show anything like them before, invite to rest. In the lesser arts originality is not everything, perhaps not the most imports nt quality. The things we use habitually must have a negative side to them to make them accord with our changing moods. They must take on our individuality and not challenge us with their own. This does not mean that they should be colourless and tame, or mere repetitions of accustomed patterns. A good example of what has been just said is to be found In the furniture designed by Mr. Gimson. His works have those desirable qualities which it is hard to put into words. His work 4033 no t recall the style of any other designer, but it is very difficult to say where the originality lies. It is beautifully designed, eminently practical, entirely without affectation, and shows the happiest choice of material. The dressing-table of elm and ebony and the table cabinet of English walnut are two beautiful examples out of many. The workmanship, too, is ol the finest kind. It is a delight to pull out the drawers of the table cabinets executed by Mr. Burcheet, so perfectly do they work. If was turn from Mr. Gimson's furniture to that of Mr. Barnsley, we at once see a difference. The air of distinction is gone, the accomplished artist quite sure of himself has disappeared, and we have instead, as well as the skilful designer, the propagandist eager to impress us with his per- sonality. Of the one we say—" What a beautiful piece of furniture I"; of the other—" What a good example of the Arts and Crafts movement!"
Perhaps the most interesting part of the whole Exhibition has been left to the last. It is to be fourid in a small compartment in which the Design and Industries Association has gathered together a collection of pottery and stuffs, which are produced in the way of trade, and taken from ordinary stock. These things are made to satisfy an ordinary demand, and are not made by individual craftsmen for purpose. of exhibition. Here at last we seem in touch with something vital, for the whole question of Arts and Crafts turns on the possibility of manu- facturing things which people want to have because they are useful and which are also beautiful. This special collection comists of two classes, one being of things which arc of traditional make. The other includes things made because there are enough people who care for good design to make it worth while to cater for them. The first category has in it a most interesting collection of jam-pots and preserve-jars used by Messrs. Crosse and Blackwell. The large brown pots for household jam with well-printed labels with a blue border are of most satisfying appearance, and the same remark applies to the receptacles for curry. paste, honey, or mustard. It is greatly to the credit of the firm that they have maintained this good tradition, and it is to be hoped that they may develop it on these lines, so that all their productions may appeal to the sense of sight as well to that of taste. Excellent, too, are the brown jars coming from the Church Greeley potteries near Burton-on-Trent, and the ware from SU3130Z. Means. Heal arc now making crockery, some of which is very good in colour and design, not too rough to be clumsy, and yet avoiding machine-made finish. A green dinner service is a good example of this. Round the walls hang stuffs of striking and gorgeous colour. These, it is said, are made in England but unobtainable, being manufactured entirely for savages. Surely after being permitted to see them we must in future be able to buy them too. By showing this small collection the Design and Industries Association has done a real service. It is much more im- portant for the future to capture the manufacture of the common things of daily life, and make them pleasant to look at, than to produce elaborate works of individual craftsmanship. H.
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