’48

SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT ON DESIGN.

[Class XXX.

of the growth of plants may be adopted as the ornamentof lace—for which they are very suitable from theirelegance and variety—subjected to a symmetrical arrange-ment, however, in the succession of pattern, almost allimitations of dowers are to be avoided; doral forms beingthe rule, dowers imitated quite the exception. The petalsand leaves should rarely be filled in solid, but treatedwith stitches of varied forms of the nature of a diaper oftexture, so as to give lightness, variety, and richness atthe same time.

The great excellence of the French and Belgian laceseems to consist more in the truer appreciation of beautyof line and delicacy of form, than in any very markedsuperiority of design over the English . In the workitself these characteristics are even more evident than inthe designs, since they are most carefully and faithfullyattended to and preserved. There is, moreover, a morejust appreciation of quantity in the ornamental arrange-ments of the Brussels and Valenciennes laces than in ourown ; the patterns of Honiton lace are generally tooheavy, the form rather too large and overcrowded, andthe whole effect a little too solid and equal, although thispartly arises from the mode of manufacture.

As compared with the important exhibition of themanufactured article, there are few “ designs'’ for laceon the Foreign side; and the best of those are moreremarkable for execution than for any particular origi-nality, viewed relatively to the beautiful fabrics them-selves. On the English side there are some designs forlace curtains, and one for a lace veil, founded on Brussels patterns, by II. Heald (Class XIX., 209, p. 570), ofNottingham, which has merit. There are also severaldesigns exhibited by the students of the GovernmentSchool of Design, some of the most elaborate of which,by C. P. Slocombe (10, p. 821), and T. Rawlings (10,p. 821), have been extremely well executed in Ilonitonlace by Mrs. Tredwix, of Exeter (Class XIX., 55, p. 561),and Mr. Gill, of Colyton (Class XIX,, 886, p. 573).The designs are novel, but a little too architectural intheir general arrangement, resulting in a slight degree ofstiffness, and a want of that flowing ease which shouldcharacterise the ornament of the material. The femalestudents also have some clever designs for lace. Thebeautiful fabrics exhibited will have their due share ofattention from the Jury of the Class for the manufac-tured article. Some of the best desigu is to be found inthe works of Groucock and Co. (Class XIX., 3,p. 559-60), Forrest and Sox (Class XIX., 45, p. 561),and those already mentioned. The Nottingham lace cur-tains, although not to be commended for their design,show a tendency in a better direction than the Swissworked muslins; the treatment is generally flatter, theborders better considered for quantity, and, in some ofthese works, a diaper over the central field has beenadopted with good taste. In these goods, and in machinelace, some of the best designs are to be found in thefabrics of Heymaxn and Alexander (Class XIX., 25,p. 560); and R. Birkix (Class XIX., 20, p. 560), has oneor two well-adapted designs for narrow machiue lacealso. On the Foreign side the Belgian and French lace,from the grace and flow of the leading lines of the orna-ment, and the greater delicacy and refinement of theforms, together with the better appreciation of just quan-tity in the distribution of the parts, upholds the acknow-ledged superiority of their manufacture. The English lace, especially the hand-worked lace, seems rather tocall attention to the labour bestowed on it as a part ofthe excellence; the foreign lace, even when greaterlabour has been employed, strikes us as rather elegantand beautiful than as laborious and costly, from the moreeasy and playful forms of its decoration. These qualitiesentirely accord with the nature of the fabric, and charmus more when, on examination, we become sensible ofthe curious elaboration which often accompanies them.The lace cuffs and berthes of B. Vander Kelex (Bel-gium , 313, p. 1161) include some of excellent design;and also the lace exhibited by Van IIaelex (Belgium ,299, p. 1160), B. Dlhaijox (Belgium , 314, p. 1161), andF. Agdiat (France , 1545, p. 1250). On the whole thereare fewer errors in the design for lace than prevail in

most other manufactures, partly arising from its circum-scribed nature. Besides the faults enumerated in theforegoing remarks, the tendency to the natural imitationof flowers is seen in some of the Iloniton lace.

Having passed in review the various sections and sub-sections into which this Report has been divided, itmight, before concluding, be thought desirable to con-sider the best means of obviating the various faultsobserved and commented upon in the course of thisexamination: this, however, would be too large a sub-ject, and one not necessarily within the nature of theReport itself. The public and the manufacturer, bothequally interested, and whose improvement is equallynecessary—for to be useful it must be mutual —are nowawake to the necessity of better education in desigu;and the question naturally arises, whether the meansadopted in the Government schools are the best possiblefor the proposed end, or whether it would be desirable toextend their scope, so as to make them not only schoolsof design, but in some degree workshops, where the spe-cialties of design may be fully explained, and the dueapplication of ornamental art to manufacture thoroughlyexemplified and carried into practice.

This question, however, is twofold, and has referenceto two classes, whose functions and qualifications are notnecessarily identical—the designer and the art-workman.That the designer should be acquainted with certain ofthe means of production and the peculiar processes of themanufacture for which he designs can be doubted by noone, since without a knowledge of the general conditionsof the manufacture his art is to be employed upon hislabours would be useless. But the question is one ofamount, and the consideration to be arrived at is, shallthis knowledge be given in the course of his art-educa-tion? or is it best acquired when, having obtained athorough knowledge of ornament, he turns his attentionto some special application of his powers?

That the art-workman should know all the processesof the manufacture he is engaged upon is absolutelynecessary; it is his starting point as an education in thetechnicalities or processes of ornamental art is the startingpoint of the designer. What the art-workman has to addto his manufacturing knowledge is, such an amount ofart as will enable him thoroughly to appreciate and per-fectly to carry out the work of the designer, withoutwhich, indeed, he is imperfectly educated in his trade;while, on the contrary, the designer (not necessarily aworkman) has to obtain such an insight into the pro-cesses of the workman or the machine as will enable himto fit his design to the difficulties of production. Likethe artist and the ornamentist, the two classes, whilstgenerally distinct, sometimes merge into one another,from which cause the question has been unnecessarilyobscured. The truth is, that while, in some cases , itwould be most desirable that the designer should under-stand the minute specialties of the manufacture, in othersit is nearly unnecessary : while the art-workman’s pro-vince is quite apart from the imaginative, and all that herequires is a full acquaintance with the technical meansof art, such as drawing, modelling, chasing, painting, &c.In these he cannot be too fully educated; but since thelarge mass of those who are to be instructed are of thisclass, it is obvious that the principles and practice ofdesign need not necessarily form a part of the educationin all schools of ornamental art.

This view of the question does not interfere with thosespecial cases so often alluded to in this Report, wherein,from the high requirements of the material, or of theobject itself, the artist-designer is at the same time theartist-workman also, and embodies and produces his ownconceptions by his own skilled handicraft.

The general truth seems to be, that when a designerhas thoroughly mastered the technical language of art,and the general principles of design and its application,the amount of special knowledge sufficient for his purposeis speedily acquired in any branch of manufacture towhich he may devote his attention; and in all cases morestrict adaptation to uses, more originality, and greateraptness to mould the power of production to the best andmost beautiful results, will arise rather from a full insight