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Article ON ARCHITECTURAL ART. ← Page 2 of 3 →
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On Architectural Art.
and the political , and the religious needs of this progressive and agitated century . He did not speak of what architecture mi ght be in 1963 ; but this he did say , that whatever it might be , it would have drawn more of its life from the principles which they upheld , than from those of the antagonistic school of classicists . The architecture of which they claimed to be
advocates had been triumphant . It was called , to be sure , Gothic , and they adopted the term . Was it because they bad any special respect for the Gorths or the Yandals , or for the Huns either ? Was it because they looked upon the Pointed Arch as the only line of beauty , as if they did not see any beauty at all in tbe semicircular line , or in the horizontal beam of the Greeks ? No . But it was because
Gothic was a term of reproach that they had adopted it . He had stated that their principles were triumphant ; and it needed but a morning ' s stroll through the metropolis to prove that they were so . Look at the improvement in street architecture . Look at the points that had been gained since the Exhibition of 1851 . Formerly the ideas that existed in the mind of the London builder
were' cement mouldings run aud capitals cast ; now , however , materials were changed . Colouring was introduced not only into public buildings , but into private dwellings . Carved stone was used for shop-fronts , sometimes grotesquely , more often beautifully . He could point , as an instance of the great advance , that had been made , to the Renaissance house in Upper Brook-street
, in the occupation of the well-known Jewell er , Mr . E manuel ; to the Grosvenor Hotel ; to the London Bridge Hotel ; to tbe gigantic structure of a similar class about to be erected in Lanham-place ; and to many others . Not that these were Gothic buildings , but they were equal evidences of their victory in tho reality of the materials , the carefulness of the carving , and above all in thesky-line .
What they had always insisted on was the pre-eminent necessity of the sky-line not being forgotten . That was a point which the London architect ten years ago did not care about—did not understand or if he did , repudiated . There
was no design , no taste ; but now the necessity fyr . attending to the sky-line had been iecognised , the pyramidising of the skyline now formed a constant element of artistic conception . That showed the growth of educated feeling in arcditectural art . He would avoid speaking on that occasion of ecclesiastical acchitecture , although in that , also , there were triumphs to be recorded—triumphts of composition—of materials—of form—on which he miht dilatebut the field was too wide ; he should
cong , tent himself with pointing to the advances which had been made , and the victories that had been achieved in secular architecture , as a proof of the success of the principles for which they had contended . What was now the special function of architectural art in the seiise in which the Museum applied it—he meant tne art specially of the stone-carver , the wood-carver , the decorative painter , ancl the manufacturer of indestructible coloured
material in tiles ? The Museum started some ten years ago , when the condition and position of the workman had begun to excite the attention of those who had emancipated themselves from tbe trammels of pedantic architecture . Up to that time the workman was looked upon as little better than an intelligent machine . Certain forms were put before him for the purpose of following . Those be had to hew out , but there was no invention developed in what he did . The carefulness of his works was little
considered . There was a rough conventionality which was required of himj and which be had to comply with , but more was not expected . Invention was nowhere . It was not necessary for him to have a knowledge of art ; of the play of the human figure ; of the expression of the human facfe , and of those various forms into which animal ancl vegetable nature throw themselves , and that are producible by a plastic art .
These were beyond his scope . They were not thought of much by any one , but with the development of free art the necessity of a wider field of decoration came to he recognised on all sides . The architect had seldom time to compare , and still less time to superintend the elaboration of his designs , and so the responsibility fell upon the operative class—the art-workmento whom the details of the structure were confided . This was a wholesome thing ; it taught these people the dignity of their own vocation , that they were not merely executives of certain pre-existing diagrams , but ministers of beauty and gracefulness ,
active contributors to the whole artistic effect of the structure on which they were engaged . It was only by bringing this h ° me to them that anything like a real artistic movement in the people could be consummated , and accordingly the Architectural Museum was established . It ivas not , however , set up to teach men anything , but for the purpose of furnishing examples in the shape of models and casts , to which those who had been elsewhere taught might resort with a view to carry
out the spirit of their teaching . For that reason the Museum had been brought together ; but it bad not been so without forethought ; for , true and wholesome as the doctrine he had stated was , the art-workman ought not to he enslaved by example , but encouraged to cultivate originality ; to take the flower of the field as it grows ; the human face as he found it ; the passing animal as be saw it , and to draw bis inspiration from them . True and ivholesome as the doctrine to which he
had alluded was , as to giving the workman an idea of the dignity of his position , and that he was not a mere machine , incapable of thought , yet , lifee all other doctrines , it bad itsvicious side ; and the greater the success that was attained , the more that was seen of the good fruits which it produced , the more they ought to avoid that vicious development which would lead to the springing up of a crop of weeds around the
goodly plants . The whole system of mere bookwork , mere imitation of a model without feeling thrown into the details , without originality evidenced in the lines and curves , was deadening , and might lead to a rapid recoil from free invention on { lie part of the art-workman . But , on the other hand , was it true that mere instinct was sufficient to deAelope the principle of free invention ? Was it sufficient to set before the
art-workman a group of animals or a bouquet of wild flowers , and to tell him to imitate them , ancl take them as his model ? Could a man , in short , imitate without education ? He could not . In art , as in politics and religion , the doctrine ' of the perfectibility of the human animal was at fault-There must be training ancl education . There might be the germs of the beautiful in human nature ; but he did not believe iu its instructive existence , for any practical purpose , without training . It was one thing to feel , it was a totally different thing to reproduce . The principle of
putting the art-workman in possession of ability to copy nature as it is should be adopted only on tbe condition that that workman had received such instruction as made it possible for him to analyze beforehand , to follow out and to combine those elements of beauty which lay veiled in the material forms before him . They should not run wild after originality , with the idea that the human animal is capable of unknown degrees of perfection . The princile of turning the art-workmen looseand
p , giving him full scope at his work , was good , but if corried too far it was dangerous . Originality should be kept within due bounds . Hrst-vate imitation was far better than second-rate originality . The Architectural Museum held up examples to be copied , ancl it also distributed prizes . How far had these prizes carried out its principles ? It might be said that they gave the rein too much to invention , and led to a sort of
feeble originality . He did not think there was any ground for such apprehension . In last year ' s exhibition , the wood carvings were of a high order of merit . Carvings in stone came next . The other work , he was sorry to say , disappointed them all This year they bad thrown their strength upon wood-carving . They had offered few prizes , but these were cf considerable value ancl a long year had been given
for the completion of the works intended for competition . They did so thanking those who co-operated with them in other branches , and acknowledging great merits in the works sent in ; but they thought that a higher degree , of merit was now required . The wanted , iu short , to abolish the artworkman , and to create instead the working artist . He might he a man who only carved foliage or mouldings : but he might
rise higher , add carve the human form . He should , however , work in the spirit of an entire conception of the work on which he was engaged as an artist . Much mig ht be taken out of books ; for the scholarly work of a working artist would in volve more or less of originality , and more or less of copying . There was another branch of architectural art of which he should say a word . He alluded to the movement in the matter
of colouring . It was in a statt of transition ; hut it should go on anp become much more extensively developed . The craving of the eye for beauty of colour in our buildings was increasing . True they had to contend against an adverse and malignant climate , —an atmosphere overchanged with smoke and with
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Architectural Art.
and the political , and the religious needs of this progressive and agitated century . He did not speak of what architecture mi ght be in 1963 ; but this he did say , that whatever it might be , it would have drawn more of its life from the principles which they upheld , than from those of the antagonistic school of classicists . The architecture of which they claimed to be
advocates had been triumphant . It was called , to be sure , Gothic , and they adopted the term . Was it because they bad any special respect for the Gorths or the Yandals , or for the Huns either ? Was it because they looked upon the Pointed Arch as the only line of beauty , as if they did not see any beauty at all in tbe semicircular line , or in the horizontal beam of the Greeks ? No . But it was because
Gothic was a term of reproach that they had adopted it . He had stated that their principles were triumphant ; and it needed but a morning ' s stroll through the metropolis to prove that they were so . Look at the improvement in street architecture . Look at the points that had been gained since the Exhibition of 1851 . Formerly the ideas that existed in the mind of the London builder
were' cement mouldings run aud capitals cast ; now , however , materials were changed . Colouring was introduced not only into public buildings , but into private dwellings . Carved stone was used for shop-fronts , sometimes grotesquely , more often beautifully . He could point , as an instance of the great advance , that had been made , to the Renaissance house in Upper Brook-street
, in the occupation of the well-known Jewell er , Mr . E manuel ; to the Grosvenor Hotel ; to the London Bridge Hotel ; to tbe gigantic structure of a similar class about to be erected in Lanham-place ; and to many others . Not that these were Gothic buildings , but they were equal evidences of their victory in tho reality of the materials , the carefulness of the carving , and above all in thesky-line .
What they had always insisted on was the pre-eminent necessity of the sky-line not being forgotten . That was a point which the London architect ten years ago did not care about—did not understand or if he did , repudiated . There
was no design , no taste ; but now the necessity fyr . attending to the sky-line had been iecognised , the pyramidising of the skyline now formed a constant element of artistic conception . That showed the growth of educated feeling in arcditectural art . He would avoid speaking on that occasion of ecclesiastical acchitecture , although in that , also , there were triumphs to be recorded—triumphts of composition—of materials—of form—on which he miht dilatebut the field was too wide ; he should
cong , tent himself with pointing to the advances which had been made , and the victories that had been achieved in secular architecture , as a proof of the success of the principles for which they had contended . What was now the special function of architectural art in the seiise in which the Museum applied it—he meant tne art specially of the stone-carver , the wood-carver , the decorative painter , ancl the manufacturer of indestructible coloured
material in tiles ? The Museum started some ten years ago , when the condition and position of the workman had begun to excite the attention of those who had emancipated themselves from tbe trammels of pedantic architecture . Up to that time the workman was looked upon as little better than an intelligent machine . Certain forms were put before him for the purpose of following . Those be had to hew out , but there was no invention developed in what he did . The carefulness of his works was little
considered . There was a rough conventionality which was required of himj and which be had to comply with , but more was not expected . Invention was nowhere . It was not necessary for him to have a knowledge of art ; of the play of the human figure ; of the expression of the human facfe , and of those various forms into which animal ancl vegetable nature throw themselves , and that are producible by a plastic art .
These were beyond his scope . They were not thought of much by any one , but with the development of free art the necessity of a wider field of decoration came to he recognised on all sides . The architect had seldom time to compare , and still less time to superintend the elaboration of his designs , and so the responsibility fell upon the operative class—the art-workmento whom the details of the structure were confided . This was a wholesome thing ; it taught these people the dignity of their own vocation , that they were not merely executives of certain pre-existing diagrams , but ministers of beauty and gracefulness ,
active contributors to the whole artistic effect of the structure on which they were engaged . It was only by bringing this h ° me to them that anything like a real artistic movement in the people could be consummated , and accordingly the Architectural Museum was established . It ivas not , however , set up to teach men anything , but for the purpose of furnishing examples in the shape of models and casts , to which those who had been elsewhere taught might resort with a view to carry
out the spirit of their teaching . For that reason the Museum had been brought together ; but it bad not been so without forethought ; for , true and wholesome as the doctrine he had stated was , the art-workman ought not to he enslaved by example , but encouraged to cultivate originality ; to take the flower of the field as it grows ; the human face as he found it ; the passing animal as be saw it , and to draw bis inspiration from them . True and ivholesome as the doctrine to which he
had alluded was , as to giving the workman an idea of the dignity of his position , and that he was not a mere machine , incapable of thought , yet , lifee all other doctrines , it bad itsvicious side ; and the greater the success that was attained , the more that was seen of the good fruits which it produced , the more they ought to avoid that vicious development which would lead to the springing up of a crop of weeds around the
goodly plants . The whole system of mere bookwork , mere imitation of a model without feeling thrown into the details , without originality evidenced in the lines and curves , was deadening , and might lead to a rapid recoil from free invention on { lie part of the art-workman . But , on the other hand , was it true that mere instinct was sufficient to deAelope the principle of free invention ? Was it sufficient to set before the
art-workman a group of animals or a bouquet of wild flowers , and to tell him to imitate them , ancl take them as his model ? Could a man , in short , imitate without education ? He could not . In art , as in politics and religion , the doctrine ' of the perfectibility of the human animal was at fault-There must be training ancl education . There might be the germs of the beautiful in human nature ; but he did not believe iu its instructive existence , for any practical purpose , without training . It was one thing to feel , it was a totally different thing to reproduce . The principle of
putting the art-workman in possession of ability to copy nature as it is should be adopted only on tbe condition that that workman had received such instruction as made it possible for him to analyze beforehand , to follow out and to combine those elements of beauty which lay veiled in the material forms before him . They should not run wild after originality , with the idea that the human animal is capable of unknown degrees of perfection . The princile of turning the art-workmen looseand
p , giving him full scope at his work , was good , but if corried too far it was dangerous . Originality should be kept within due bounds . Hrst-vate imitation was far better than second-rate originality . The Architectural Museum held up examples to be copied , ancl it also distributed prizes . How far had these prizes carried out its principles ? It might be said that they gave the rein too much to invention , and led to a sort of
feeble originality . He did not think there was any ground for such apprehension . In last year ' s exhibition , the wood carvings were of a high order of merit . Carvings in stone came next . The other work , he was sorry to say , disappointed them all This year they bad thrown their strength upon wood-carving . They had offered few prizes , but these were cf considerable value ancl a long year had been given
for the completion of the works intended for competition . They did so thanking those who co-operated with them in other branches , and acknowledging great merits in the works sent in ; but they thought that a higher degree , of merit was now required . The wanted , iu short , to abolish the artworkman , and to create instead the working artist . He might he a man who only carved foliage or mouldings : but he might
rise higher , add carve the human form . He should , however , work in the spirit of an entire conception of the work on which he was engaged as an artist . Much mig ht be taken out of books ; for the scholarly work of a working artist would in volve more or less of originality , and more or less of copying . There was another branch of architectural art of which he should say a word . He alluded to the movement in the matter
of colouring . It was in a statt of transition ; hut it should go on anp become much more extensively developed . The craving of the eye for beauty of colour in our buildings was increasing . True they had to contend against an adverse and malignant climate , —an atmosphere overchanged with smoke and with