MACHINE ART

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 124, 29 May 1933, Page 8

MACHINE ART

THE MODERN TASTE

A LONDON EXHIBITION

FUNCTION AND DESIGN

The news that thore. is to bo a serious exhibition in London in the summer of manufactured articles of everyday use, chosen by competent people for their fitness for purpose and for the .imaginative use of the materials of which they arc made, is exciting. It shows that the long Victorian, Edwardian, and Georgian sleep with regard to the products of our factories is at last coming to an end, writes Professor C. H. Heilly in tho "Manchester Guardian." In the nineteenth century tho work of a machine was considered hopeless. No gentleman would trust its products if he could do otherwise, and he was largely right. Tho machine goods of the period, like tho embossed stuff that was put' on ceilings and dados to imitate elaborate plaster-work, produced fussincss without distinction. It was hoped, one supposes, that a rich muzzy effect would give the suggestion that the work was done by hand. Tho aim, therefore, was false from tho start, and it was not until it was discovered that tho product of the machine, if true to its origin, had a beauty of its own that tho real conquest of the machine began. In this, of course,' tho motor-car has been v great teacher. Any sensitive person accustomed to its fine lines cannot sit. down comfortably at dinner in a room decorated with machine embossing and carving. He wants clean lines and bright surfaces at home as well as abroad. NOT REALISED. How deep the revolution in taste has gone our manufacturers as a whole seem quite unaware. It was impossible at Brighton last Christmas to buy an ordinary present of glass or china with any element in it of modern design, until ono began to ask for foreign goods, such as Swedish glass. Then, very reluctantly, and as if they were committing a misdemeanour of the first, order, tho shopmen began apologetically to bring out of their cupboards a N few clean, bright interesting things.'.l had not, however, realised myself how deeply one is affected by this mass movement in tasto for clearer lines till tho other day, when I had half an hour to spare and spent it walking through the groundfloor galleries of the British Museum. Out of habit I went to the great room with tho Elgin Marbles, expecting to bo pleasantly stirred, if not thrilled, by them as ten and twenty and thirty years ago. I found myself, however, soon distracted and looking round for the simpler archaic stuff of which wo have a little but not nearly, enough. I then wandered off into the Egyptian and Assyrian Galleries, and Ibegan ■to feel as I used to in the Greek ones. Hero was severity and restraint and, in some of the Egyptian granite figures, emotion so powerful that the granite seemed to possess a life of its own. The fifth century Greek figures, in spite or perhaps because of their realism, seemed—dare I say it?— Victorian in contrast. • , ■ MANUFACTURER'S DUTY. If. the modern desire for fitness and refinement can deflect old allegiances in this way, it is clear that tho lesser traditional forms, the more derivative ones which have reached us "by many circuitous routes from the Renaissance, will go down too. Indeed, they have dpne so already in ; every country but our own. To stand up | again they must be revivified with new i life and feeling. Our manufacturers should watch everywhere, so it seems to me, what the younger artists are doing in architecture, painting, and sculpturo so as to get some inkling of the spirit.of this great, modern movement. Once they get into sympathetic relation' with it they will employ the right designers and give them, what is equally important, the right instructions. It is no good employing enthusiastic young . people, from the schools of art and telling them to draw the traditional ornament. That will not meet a world revolution. It would be better to stick to the old designers and be content to sell only to those over forty, and too old at that. NOT SEEN AT HOME. That there are British firms today who know all about the revolution which- has , taken place and swept across the- Continent like a tornado since the war is obvious, or our own export trade would be worse than it is. Their goods, however, liko some excellent and simply coloured pottery manufactured in England for the v West Coast natives- which I found an a Liverpool -warehouse and was only allowed to buy if I did not say where I got it, are. largely hidden from us at homei-Protection, too, if it lasts, will continue to keep out the good foreign stuff. An exhibition, therefore, such as is proposed, where the manu-. facturer is only allowed to show his really good modern things, is not only going to be au exciting event but a necessary one. After Sweden, Ger : many, and France have had their exhibitions of decorative art, wo must make a little splash on our own account and show what wo can do before we sink contentedly into our protected backwater. Tho Gorrell Commission said it was most essential, and that the Government ouglitrto pay for it. The Government, however, will do nothing of tho kind, though the Board of Trade offers its blessing. Hence it is especially good to know that private individuals, and thoso best qualied, have taken on tho task.