LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
THE TRADE VALUE OF GOOD DESIGN. [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—At a recent dinner, which was followed by a few speeches, it was my privilege to hear the Editor of the Spectator affirm his belief in the good taste, the real love of the beautiful, in the large mass of the British public. You gave as an instance the highly successful sale by our museums of postcards of objects of art ; and you mentioned particularly the wide sale by the British Museum of a series of postcards of Persian
Illuminations. The governor of the feast, very wisely, did not follow his good wine with that which was worse. In silence I approved your argument, but had no opportunity of producing an actual piece of evidence which was in my mind. Would you care to hear it now ?
Not so long ago I had occasion, in friendly discussion with the director of a large firm of chocolate manufacturers, to condemn some of his box designs for their poor taste, their lack of originality, and their tendency to the conventional, the " bathing girl " type of decoration which it is now presumed the public wants. He was good enough to permit me to select an artist and to submit a new design, which was duly carried out. It was extremely simple, not startling in any sense, but it was beautiful in lettering and proportions and in all that makes for rightness in fine colour and design. Some months after- wards I wrote begging him that he would put to the test my theory, and yours, that the public has an innate instinct for choosing between the good and the bad, and asked him to put an equal pile of the old and new boxes (they were the same price) in a couple of small shops and tabulate the result as to what the public showed it approved by its unprejudiced selection. He wrote back at once : " Your test is quite unnecessary. The new box is a success."
There has been a great revolution during the past dozen years in design of this sort and in all kinds of everyday applied art, such as printing and posters. There would be a greater revolution if the manufacturer in general would, in the first place, cease to excuse banality and crudity by persistently stating that it is " what the public wants," and, in the second place, put his trust in an artist and give him a free hand. Where it has been tried, as in the case of the manufacturer and his chocolate boxes, or as in the case of Mr. Frank Pick and the posters of the Underground Railways, it has been proved that, purely as a commercial venture, Art is a partner
worth acquiring.—I am, Sir, &c., MARTIN HARDIE.
Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington.
[We gladly publish Mr. Martin Hardie's most interesting proof that in the science of selling good art means good business. Of course it does. The subconscious mind of the buyer must be harmonized, not harried. To the example of the chocolate box could be added the tale of " the fascinating business notepaper " and the drama of " the beautiful invitation card " which filled the table at a public dinner, but these are other stories and for another occasion. On page 160 of this issue an expert in decoration—Mr. Clough Williams-Ellis—reviews the actual designs now being used on the chocolate boxes sold by Messrs. Carsons, of Glasgow and Shortwood, Glos., the firm in question. We have been in the habit, for the past hundred years, of reviewing books and
. mentioning the names of the publishers, and we see no reason why the habit should not be passed on to other products. We hope, indeed, later to express from time to time our opinions on many other things.—En. Spectator.]
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