. Art crafts for amateurs . es not appearto me one to be encouraged. Style is individuality, andthough this is a well-worn maxim it is nevertheless con-stantly being ignored by teachers and professors. Thecontemplation of examples, however excellent they be, if itlead to the exclusion of personality and character, is detri-mental to the work of the student. Greek art is perfect inits way, but what a stagnation and dry up of all that makeswork interesting and vital ensued from a slavish adherenceto what were termed canons of taste, said to be derived froma study of classical examples. There is
. Art crafts for amateurs . es not appearto me one to be encouraged. Style is individuality, andthough this is a well-worn maxim it is nevertheless con-stantly being ignored by teachers and professors. Thecontemplation of examples, however excellent they be, if itlead to the exclusion of personality and character, is detri-mental to the work of the student. Greek art is perfect inits way, but what a stagnation and dry up of all that makeswork interesting and vital ensued from a slavish adherenceto what were termed canons of taste, said to be derived froma study of classical examples. There is no longer any artsalvation in the acanthus leaf or honeysuckle border j we A METHOD OF STUDY. 7 must go to fresh sources of inspiration ; if need were, trackthe unknown, for the well-worn pathway has become toopolished for us to find foothold. Did not the time come inEnglish painting for a departure from the schools, andhence the pre-Raphaelite movement which led the studentto contemplate some earlier masters than Raphael ?. No. 3.—Embossed Copper the Yattenden Class, under Mrs. Waterhouse. I was severely rebuked by one critic who reviewed myformer work, The Training of a Craftsman, for myadvocacy of individuality in art, making it the expressionof ones ego. - A lot of young men and women doing whatthey think is right in their own eyes forsooth! Would 8 ART CRAFTS FOR AMATEURS. these same young men and women be any more interestingif they slavishly conformed to certain canons, the saidcanons being the learned professors conception of what artshould be? It is obvious enough that genius is a rarething, but we all have that within us which makes us dif-ferent in some way from other people, and slight as thispersonality may be, it should surely find expression and notbe sneered out of existence by some superior person whocan only move and think by precedent. The Chinese havegone on through the centuries contemplating and studyingtheir nine classics, but what advance do th
Size: 1413px × 1768px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectdecorat, bookyear1901
