Part 3

It is a hopeful sign that in many of the technical art schools throughout the land students are taking up jewellery design, and not only that, but in some cases carrying out the actual work themselves. It is largely due to the same fostering influence that the beautiful art of enamelling, frequently referred to above, has been developed amongst us, notably at the Central School of Arts and Crafts, where classes for this department were inaugurated under the able guidance of Mr. Alexander Fisher. But if the improvement in jewellery is to be general and permanent, in order to set it on a secure basis the motive power must come from within. Much good, therefore, may be expected to result from the official sanction afforded by the Goldsmiths' Company to the jewellery work of their Technical Institute, to which a number of very creditable designs owe their existence. Among others may be singled out some decorations for watch-backs, a branch of the craft as useful as it is neglected; those who have taken it up, like Miss Kate Allen, for instance, being unfortunately but rare exceptions. There is no reason, however, why everyone who carries a watch should not enjoy in it the constant companionship of a thing of beauty.

To sum up, then, if our modern art jewellery cannot boast any conspicuously brilliant features, at any rate it is of a high average standard. And though, as is the case of all good work, it must needs share many qualities in common with the noble treasures of the past, it yet does not assimilate to any historic style. In fine, it is original; and, withal, there may be traced in most of it a certain family likeness. It seems almost as if some new-born idea were really beginning to dominate it with the impress of a distinct nationality, destined to develop some day into a tradition which future generations may justly feel it a privilege to follow.

The case of fans is the exact opposite to that of jewellery. In the former department, it cannot be said that there exists any sort of consensus of ideals, nor any paramount type of ornament. And, notwithstanding the existence amongst us of some few fan-painters of very considerable repute, their operations remain as yet quite personal and individualistic. They have no regular following; have founded no school of decoration. It is, therefore, a subject still open to determine by what principles the ornament of fans should be guided.

Firstly should be taken into account the peculiar shape of the surface available for decoration; and, secondly, the fact that this surface is not a flat plane, but such that must in practice infallibly be broken into so many set divisions or folds. The latter circumstance is the real crux of the question, many decorations, otherwise beautiful enough in the flat, being utterly ruined in effect as soon as they undergo the ordeal of mounting. Thus it may perhaps seem an ingenious plan to subdivide the space horizontally, but it must be remembered that every horizontal line will lose its value when converted, as it must be, into a series of irregular zigzags. The folding is an essential factor, without taking which into account no fan decoration can be satisfactory. In setting out the design, then, it should always be borne in mind that no sharply defined straight lines are admissible, except those that radiate from the centre; and that, of curves, concentric ones are the best, such, that is, as are parallel with the arc shape. If the ornament is floral, it may take the form either of a powdering, or of an all-over pattern of moderately small scrolls. Those on a large scale would run counter to the folds in too emphatic a manner to be agreeable. In figure subjects, of course, care should be taken so to dispose them that no important feature like an eye or a nose be split asunder by the lines of the folds. The larger and more pronounced the pattern, the more necessary it is to observe these conditions. On the other hand, where the colouring is of fairly even tone, and without strongly contrasted masses, or where the design is on a small scale, the surface can the more safely be spaced out by lines or medallions or cartouches, or other devices that may commend themselves.

As regards material, there is no question that a silk ground, prepared with rice-size and stretched, until the decoration is completed, on a stretcher, offers as suitable a texture as one could desire for delicate and softly-blended harmonies in water-colour; as the fans of Mr. Conder, a prolific fan-painter, whose work appeals to a large circle of admirers, amply testify. The detail is all Mr. Conder's own, though the influence of French XVIIIth century ornament is unmistakable.

Miss Syrett again is a clever artist working on somewhat similar lines. No one, however, who knew her figure compositions in her Slade School days, productions full of promise, if marred by the attenuated model with prim, smooth-drawn hair, the type of Carlos Schwabe's illustrations to "Le Rêve" and "l'Évangile," could have foreseen that Miss Syrett would develop in the direction of her present work. The reduced black-and-white illustrations convey no idea of the tender beauty of the colouring, nor of the exquisite pen-work in brown with which such features as the faces, hair, and hands are executed.

Another gifted artist is Mr. Brangwyn, who now makes his _début_ as a fan decorator, with a finished painting on silk, and also a crayon study for the same purpose. His design shows how much individuality an artist may impart even to work consciously founded on that of a past style. Here, for example, in the drawing of Cupids shooting their darts at a pair of lovers, may be recognised the very figures of the Trianon period, but happily without any of their doll-like affectation and effeminacy.

Those who recollect Miss Jessie King's drawing in the last winter's special number of THE STUDIO--her _Pelleas and Mélisande_--in which the lank forms of Schwabe or Torop were combined with a wealth of accessory ornament of the artist's own, will scarcely recognise her hand in the present fan. She seems to be able to pass with marvellous facility from one fully matured style to another. The elaborate, nay, luxuriant finish of the whole, to say nothing of separate details such as the butterflies, the festoons, knots, etc., vividly recall the work of the late Aubrey Beardsley. It is no derogation of Miss King's remarkable powers to assert that, but for the existence of Mr. Beardsley, this drawing of hers would certainly not have been what it is. One could wish that, for the sake of support to the leaf, more room had been allowed to the sticks. But, apart from this defect, the dainty care with which every minute detail is consistently carried out merits little else than praise.

Miss Christine Angus contributes two designs--one, in a pictorial style, for a paper fan, not nearly so decorative as the other, of nude boys and sweet peas, for painting on silk. Miss Ethel Larcombe's gauze fans are attractive compositions, which bear tokens of a diligent appreciation of Granville Fell.

Another kind of fan ornamentation is exemplified by the stencil work of Mr. Reginald Dick and Mr. Thomas Cook. It is true these decorations are in a degree, but only in a slight degree, mechanical. The one unchangeable element is the white tie-lines of the pattern. For the rest, no little skill is required of the artist in devising and cutting his stencil. The number of plates is limited, but the mode adopted of colouring by hand admits of such variations that no two specimens from the identical stencil plates would ever be alike. Mr. Dick's fan is provided with enamelled sticks in keeping with the other parts of the decoration. Mr. Cook's design is the less characteristic of this particular method. Indeed, though finished off at either end with a certain plausibility, the pattern is an obvious repeat, and such that might very well be the section of a circular dish border.

Less ambitious are the designs for different sorts of lacework by Miss Hammett and Miss Naylor. Each of these patterns, while keeping strictly within the limits of the special technique proposed, shows yet much freshness and fertility of resource. In the one case the design is floral, in the other the theme is relieved by the introduction of bird forms into the composition.

To conclude, the scope for decoration that fans afford is so great, and the possible methods so manifold, that the wonder is there are not many more artists employed in this industry. It is one well worthy of their attention; and it is to be hoped that no long time may elapse before the joint efforts of designers may, in this, as already in other branches of arts and crafts, result in something like a native style of ornamentation being evolved.

AYMER VALLANCE.

(_British_)

A FAN PAINTED ON SILK

BY

FRANK CONDER.

(_In the possession of Thomas Greg, Esq._)

(_British_)

A FAN PAINTED ON SILK

BY

FRANK CONDER.

(_In the possession of Dalhousie Young, Esq._)

(_British_)

A PAINTED SILK FAN

BY

FRANK BRANGWYN.

(_British_)

"THE COURT OF LOVE"

DESIGN FOR A PAINTED FAN

BY

H. GRANVILLE FELL.

(_British_)

BUCKLE IN WROUGHT SILVER AND ENAMEL

BY

NELSON AND EDITH DAWSON.

(_British_)

_Comb in Mother-of-pearl and Enamel_ B. J. BARRIE

_Comb in Beaten Silver with Ivory Prongs_ DAVID VEAZEY

_Hair Comb in Silver and Transparent Enamels_ KATE ALLEN

(_British_)

DESIGNS FOR JEWELLERY IN GOLD, SILVER, ENAMELS, MOSAIC AND PRECIOUS STONES

BY

THOMAS A. COOK.

(_British_)

_Enamelled Silver Brooch_ A. E. ARSCOTT

_Silver Pendant touched with Enamel_ E. MAY BROWN

_Enamelled Silver Brooch_ W. HODGKINSON

_Silver Brooch with Beads of Enamel_ ANNIE McLEISH

_Brooch in Silver and Enamel_ KATE ALLEN

_Silver Brooch set with Red Coral_ ISABEL McBEAN

_Silver Locket Enamelled_ W. HODGKINSON

_Brooch in Gold and Enamel with Pearl Centre_ KATE ALLEN

_Brooch, Silver and Enamel_ A. E. ARSCOTT

_Silver Brooch enriched with Enamel_ ANNIE McLEISH

_Enamelled Silver Brooch_ W. HODGKINSON

(_British_)

_Brooch in Silver and Enamel_ DAVID VEAZEY

_Brooch in Silver, Enamel, and Precious Stones_ B. J. BARRIE

_Gold Pendant with Pearls, and Turquoise, and Champlevé Enamel_ DOROTHY HART

_Gold Pendant enriched with Enamel_ E. LARCOMBE

_Silver Pendant with Enamel_ MINNIE MCLEISH

_Brooch in Silver and Enamel_ ANNIE MCLEISH

_Enamelled Silver Brooch_ MINNIE MCLEISH

_Enamelled Brooch in Silver_ N. EVERS-SWINDELL

_Brooch in Gold and Enamel_ M. ALABASTER

_Pin in Beaten Silver and Enamel_ D. VEAZEY

_Hair Pin in Silver and Enamel_ E. M. HODGKINSON

_Pin in Silver and Enamel_ E. M. HODGKINSON

_Pin in Beaten Silver and Enamel_ D. VEAZEY

_Pin in Beaten Silver and Enamel_ D. VEAZEY

_Silver Hair Pin touched with Enamel_ ANNIE MCLEISH

_Hair Pin of Gold decorated with Enamel and Mother-of-pearl_ W. HODGKINSON

_Hair Pin in Silver and Enamel_ E. M. HODGKINSON

_Silver Clasp enriched with Enamel_ ANNIE ALABASTER

_Silver Clasp inset with Enamel_ DAVID VEAZEY

MODERN AUSTRIAN JEWELLERY. By W. FRED.

Critical examination of the jewellery of any particular period cannot fail to be practically a chapter of the history of culture. The popular saying: "Every time has the poet it deserves," is superficially true, yet holds within itself a certain element of falsehood, as does pretty well every commonplace proverb of the same kind. However, if the sentence be slightly modified, as it very well may be, so that it reads, "Every time has the jewellery it deserves," there will be absolutely nothing untrue about it, for the ornaments worn, whether on the dress, the hair, or the person of the wearer, have always reflected in a marked degree the taste of their period, and are very distinctly differentiated from those of any other time, so that changes in fashion imply changes of a more radical description in popular feeling.

A history of personal ornament is open to many side issues, and unfolds itself in two different--indeed, opposite--directions. Primitive savages, as is well known, wear ornaments before they take to clothes. The Fiji islanders sport gold chains round their necks, and the African negroes in their untamed state load themselves with every glittering object they can get hold of, looking upon the multiplication of ornaments as a sign of wealth. Very different, of course, is the state of civilisation of those who look upon decoration as an evidence of art culture, and care only for such ornaments as require the exercise of technical skill in their production, valuing them in proportion to the amount of that skill displayed by their craftsmen, rather than the intrinsic value of their material. The time of the Italian Renaissance is an instance of the truth of this. As has so often before been the case in the times of transition which are of inevitable recurrence, our own modern epoch is characterised by a certain unrest and confusion, in which many tendencies are contending with each other side by side, and neutralising, to a great extent, each other's effects. In America, the Tiffany company seems to aim at producing masses of precious stones, which will give primarily the impression of the great wealth of their owner and producer; whereas, in France, Lalique the jeweller endeavours rather to throw into the background the actual value of the jewels, their artistic setting being the first thing to strike the observer. We in Austria have greater leanings to France than to America, and precious stones, however great their intrinsic value, are looked upon as of quite secondary value in modern art-work to beauty of line and of colour. French influence on Austrian work cannot fail to be recognised. Its germs fell indeed on a soil of exceptional fertility, with the result that they have taken root and borne abundant fruit. It should perhaps, however, be remarked that those races who are the heirs of a strong art tradition do not need, as do others less fortunate, to prove the wealth of their inheritance by the use of lavish ornament. Their inherent artistic culture is indeed evidenced by the fact that they expect their artists to exercise their skill on materials less costly than do those who, to a certain extent, have their reputations still to make. Benvenuto Cellini had to be content to work in silver, the Americans want to have every stick or umbrella-handle to be of gold.

If we cast a glance, however hasty and cursory it may be, over the development of jewellery in Vienna, noting the forms most popular in that city in past times, it is impossible not to be struck with the way in which every historical phase of art is reflected in these forms. The favourite style with Viennese jewellers, and that in which the most effective, and at the same time the most characteristic, results have been achieved was undoubtedly the so-called _baroque_, a term originally restricted to a precise architecture or art-style alone, but now loosely applied to characterise any ornamental design of an unusual kind. It is in this half-serious, half-sportive style, with its grotesque yet bold effects and its complete freedom from convention, that the finest pieces of Austrian jewellery have been produced. At the time of the great Congress of Vienna, when the representatives of the Powers met in that city to settle the affairs of Europe after the fall of Napoleon--that is to say, about one hundred years later than the first introduction of the _baroque_ style from Italy, French work, though it was of a crude description, exercised an influence over Austrian jewellers, and what seemed like a second renaissance of the art of ornament began in Austria.

The art of jewellery in Austria remained under French influence almost until the present day--in fact, throughout the whole of the 19th century--and it has only been in the last year that Austrian art-industries have been set free from the foreign yoke which so long oppressed them, so that the true Viennese style of jewellery has but rarely come to the fore. Now at last, however, the liberating influence of the modern spirit is making itself felt in the art of jewellery, as in everything else; and every ornament produced, whether in precious stones or in enamel, bears the unmistakable impress of the distinctive psychic character of our capital city, which even foreigners do not fail to recognise. The result of this individuality is that a work of art is indissolubly bound up with the personality of its creator, and with the idiosyncrasies of the town which was its birthplace.