The country needs craftsmen of this type and for them there is an important work. For such, if they elect to join the ranks of the potters, these words are written and in the hope that some may be stimulated, encouraged, guided and helped the counsel of a fellow craftsman is offered.
CHAPTER I
Applied Art
It is not intended, in these lines, to consider what are generally termed the Fine Arts, painting and sculpture. These are perfectly competent to take care of themselves and, indeed, the author can make no claim to an ability to discuss them. In the field of applied art, however, there are certain principles to be observed, principles, moreover, which are frequently lost sight of because of the lamentable separation of the functions of the artist and artificer.
It is extremely difficult to draw the line between art and manufacture. For example, a wall paper, designed with skill and executed by machinery in actual reproduction of the work of the designer; is it a work of art or is it a product of the factory? It is both. Primarily a work of art is the product of the artist's own hand. It reveals his individuality. It is the language in which he expresses himself to his audience. It is the note of his voice. Such a work may or may not appeal to a large section of the public. This will always be so. An artist, be he poet, musician, painter or craftsman, is one who can see more than others. What he sees he endeavors to express but it is inevitable that he be sometimes misunderstood. Hence it the more necessary that his message be delivered at first hand. To look upon a replica of the work of an artist is like reading a sermon or an oration from a printed page. One may gather much of the teaching but the personal note, the tone and gesture, must be lost.
But there are many who can gather the words of great men only from books. There are, moreover, books which have never been spoken and wherein alone the message is to be found. In like manner there are works, emanating from the hand of great designers which can only be made available for the many in a form of reproduction. The wall paper cited as an illustration is of this class. Were it not for the printing press this beautiful design could not have passed beyond the studio, and while it is a great thing if a wealthy man can commission a Whistler to decorate a peacock room, it is an advantage by no means to be ignored that a well designed wall paper can be purchased by the piece.
But while this is true of such of the household goods as cannot be procured except by the medium of the machine, there are other examples. In the case of the wall paper the function of the machine is simply to transfer the proper design to the paper itself. This has no identity except as a surface. It is no more to be considered than is a canvas upon which a picture is painted. But when a chair or a table is formed out of pieces of lumber uniformly shaped by one machine, the seat or top put together by another and the legs or back carved or stamped by a third, art or individuality is lost because mechanical construction is involved.
Still more is this the case in the product of the manufactory of pottery. In commercial practice not only is a shape designed without regard to decoration but the same decoration is placed upon several forms, or a single form is made to suffer as the vehicle for many decorations. Some of the results may be pleasing, even beautiful, but it is more by luck than guidance and no piece produced in this way has any claim to be classed as a work of art.
On the other hand it may happen that a work of art, in the sense of individual expression, may not even be beautiful and one is tempted to ask the reason. If a work which is a genuine expression of a man's personality fail to please the senses of those who are trained in the finer perceptions there must be something wrong.