Manual Labour—the Potter's Art and Building
Manual labour is distinguished from manual gymnastics by the fact that the object of the latter is to exercise the hand, and the former, to accomplish a determinate work, being, or simulating, a socially useful object. The one perfects the individual, the other enriches the world; the two things are, however, connected because, in general, only one who has perfected his own hand can produce a useful product.
I have thought wise, after a short trial, to exclude completely Froebel's exercises, because weaving and sewing on cardboard are ill adapted to the physiological state of the child's visual organs where the powers of the accommodation of the eye have not yet reached complete development; hence, these exercises cause an effort of the organ which may have a fatal influence on the development of the sight. The other little exercises of Froebel, such as the folding of paper, are exercises of the hand, not work.
There is still left plastic work,—the most rational among all the exercises of Froebel,—which consists in making the child reproduce determinate objects in clay.
In consideration, however, of the system of liberty which I proposed, I did not like to make the children copy anything, and, in giving them clay to fashion in their own manner, I did not direct the children to produce useful things; nor was I accomplishing an educative result, inasmuch as plastic work, as I shall show later, serves for the study of the psychic individuality of the child in his spontaneous manifestations, but not for his education.
I decided therefore to try in the "Children's Houses" some very interesting exercises which I had seen accomplished by an artist, Professor Randone, in the "School of Educative Art" founded by him. This school had its origin along with the society for young people, called Giovinezza Gentile, both school and society having the object of educating youth in gentleness towards their surroundings—that is, in respect for objects, buildings, monuments: a really important part of civil education, and one which interested me particularly on account of the "Children's Houses," since that institution has, as its fundamental aim, to teach precisely this respect for the walls, for the house, for the surroundings.
Very suitably, Professor Randone had decided that the society of Giovinezza Gentile could not be based upon sterile theoretical preachings of the principles of citizenship, or upon moral pledges taken by the children; but that it must proceed from an artistic education which should lead the youth to appreciate and love, and consequently respect, objects and especially monuments and historic buildings. Thus the "School of Educative Art" was inspired by a broad artistic conception including the reproduction of objects which are commonly met in the surroundings; the history and pre-history of their production, and the illustration of the principal civic monuments which, in Rome, are in large measure composed of archæological monuments. In order the more directly to accomplish his object, Professor Randone founded his admirable school in an opening in one of the most artistic parts of the walls of Rome, namely, the wall of Belisarius, overlooking the Villa Umberto Primo—a wall which has been entirely neglected by the authorities and by no means respected by the citizens, and upon which Randone lavished care, decorating it with graceful hanging gardens on the outside, and locating within it the School of Art which was to shape the Giovinezza Gentile.
Here Randone has tried, very fittingly, to rebuild and revive a form of art which was once the glory of Italy and of Florence—the potter's art, that is, the art of constructing vases.
The archæological, historical, and artistic importance of the vase is very great, and may be compared with the numismatic art. In fact the first object of which humanity felt the need was the vase, which came into being with the utilisation of fire, and before the discovery of the production of fire. Indeed the first food of mankind was cooked in a vase.
One of the things most important, ethnically, in judging the civilisation of a primitive people is the grade of perfection attained in pottery; in fact, the vase for domestic life and the axe for social life are the first sacred symbols which we find in the prehistoric epoch, and are the religious symbols connected with the temples of the gods and with the cult of the dead. Even to-day, religious cults have sacred vases in their Sancta Sanctorum.