DEVELOPMENT OF ART

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 145, 22 June 1938, Page 9

DEVELOPMENT OF ART

MACHINE DESIGN

W.E.A. LECTURE

The second of the series of lectures on "Art in Everyday Life" was given on Monday by Mr. E. C. Simpson, 8.A., at the W.E.A. class in the D.I.C. Buildings.

After recapitulating shortly the first lecture, the speaker proceeded to deal with principles of form and ornament. Before it was advisable to decide what, was good or bad machine design, he said, it was necessary to awaken a critical judgment of design in general and find out what principles held good for the machine. With this in view tha

lecturer explained broadly what determined form, and the suitability of differing kinds of ornament.

When dealing with the form or snap* of an article of everyday use, two considerations governed its making. The first of these was the material of which it was made, which had characteristics of its own; and the second was the purpose which the article was meant to serve. A simple illustration of this was afforded by pottery, which material was tensile and cohesive and lent itself readily to shaping into a hollow sphere. The shape of the spher* was then determined by the purpose of the vessel for which it was intended, having only a small opening if used for a jar to hold a maximum, quantity; with a wide opening for a maximum accessibility in a bowl; with quarter or less opening for a dish or plate. The addition of spout, handles, and foot rim added a secondary element from which followed innumerable sequences of proportions. CHANGES IN SHAPE. On examining pottery work through the ages it became evident that man'i material needs have remained much the same. The purpose of vessels, jugs, and cups had not changed. But the spiritual needs of man were more complicated, and whereas a certain shape of vessel would be felt to be right at one period, a* different shape would be favoured at another. This choice between forms, which were equally suitable for the material purposes of an object, constituted an aesthetic judgment. "When we decorate a work of art we add an extra which is known as ornament, and the character of the ornament is determined first by suitability," said the lecturer. "It is noticeable among present-day productions, whether they are individual works of an artist or objects of. machine manufacture, that they have little ornament. Our own age is one of steel and speed and work. . We have little time for play or carefree enjoyment. Though we may regret this we cannot alter it, and from it rises a style peculiar to the age, showing freedom from a play of ornament. But ornament is actually a psychological necessity, giving the eye a point of iocns when looking at the shape of an object. But as the shape of an object is the primary element in its making, the ornament applied should be of such a nature as to emphasise that shape and not conceal it. The number of ways in which this can be done is unlimited as the ingenuity of man." A number of illustrations were shown of the different ways in which ornament has been, and still is, used to emphasise form. ,

FORM AND ORNAMENT. Examples of ornament shown on th» screen were evidence not only of the different ways of using it, but also -of the existence of certain laws whiph, were constantly observed; as, for Instance, that ornament arises naturally from the physical nature of a material and the particular process of working that material. This examination of form and ornament, continued the lecturer, showed where the present-day methods of machine production excelled, as welt as showing the artistic limitations of the machine. The machine could not give those shapes, or those farms of ornament, which depended on much subtlety and sensitiveness; on the other hand the machine gave simplicity and standardisation, which, with modern precision, made stylised ornament widely possible. On this the machine did meet the psychological need for ornament, and could give (those forms of it which were aided by precision and cleanness. The last part of the lecture was devoted to a discussion of certain style marks of the present age, such as streamlining. .'..„. The course of lectures is still m progress and will be continued next Monday. ■