. William De Morgan and his wife . such pictures would be after they had been relieved and trans-ferred to another canvas. The Madonna di San Sisto, for example, is,quite distinctly, not a print in any sense of the word. Of course the fact that the tiles of one pattern are all alike, contributesto the idea that they are printed. But things that are painted alike arealike, and the reasons these have to be painted so are of a purely com-mercial nature. Nevertheless the system is thoroughly painted by hand have no value unless the qualities that give valueto the hand-painting a
. William De Morgan and his wife . such pictures would be after they had been relieved and trans-ferred to another canvas. The Madonna di San Sisto, for example, is,quite distinctly, not a print in any sense of the word. Of course the fact that the tiles of one pattern are all alike, contributesto the idea that they are printed. But things that are painted alike arealike, and the reasons these have to be painted so are of a purely com-mercial nature. Nevertheless the system is thoroughly painted by hand have no value unless the qualities that give valueto the hand-painting are present ; and in my opinion the sooner theacquiescence in the commercial demand for exact uniformity comes to anend the better. Repetition work ought to be very cheap, and done byrepeating processes. One difficulty with which De Morgan had to contend wasthe lack of unity of interpretation between himself and thedraughtsmen on whom he depended for the reproduction of hisideas. The weakness of all modern craftsmanship is an over-. William Dr Morgan fecit [Tile in the imsscssion of Mr. Halscy Ricardo. THE CHELSEA PERIOD 89 refined finish ; and he was keenly aHve to this trouble ; thedesigner and the draughtsman being often so dissimilar intemperament that the former had to copy the latter instead ofinterpreting him ; and if the copying became too mechanical andlaboured, much of the spontaneity of the original was inevitablylost. On one design still in existence De Morgan himself hasnoted for his fellow-worker : I want you to use your own dis-cretion as much as possible ; and there were times when thereproduction of his work was as out of harmony with the spiritof his intention as can be a symphony of Beethoven imder thehands of an unskilled musician. Thus the pottery done directly under his personal super-vision alone bears the stamp of his individual genius. In otherspecimens, although his designs were utilized by his workmen,the subtle grace of the original lines and the vita
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, bookpublishernewyo, bookyear1922
