U8 ART INSTRUCTION. 



shall not be lost, and they are given to understand that if they exhibit good 

 construction, good arrangement, good drawing, and a full evidence of their 

 knowledge of the technical requirements of the material in their designs, 

 they may fearlessly put them upon the market and allow their work to be 

 judged upon its own merits. 



The School has always had a good reputation for modelling, and there 

 seems to be something in the Irish mind which takes kindly to this branch 

 of art. Good results have been obtained in this subject also ; as, for 

 example, the School gained one gold medal and one silver medal for 

 modelled design in the year 1890, and in 1891 three silver medals and 

 eight book prizes for the same subject. To a small extent the students 

 have supplied a demand for modelled work for the silversmith and the wood 

 carver. However, until series of technical classes in those subjects with 

 which art is more immediately connected are established in the School, and 

 which will allow the students to embody their ideas in the material, the work 

 of the school cannot be considered to be complete in this direction. On 

 several occasions, chiefly through the instrumentality of the Committee of 

 the Branchardiere Fund, lace teachers have been brought up from different 

 parts of the country in order to obtain instruction in drawing and design, 

 for short periods, in the School of Art. For instance, the lace mistresses at 

 Carrickmacross, Crossmaglen, Armagh, and Benmore, near Enniskillen, 

 have so benefitted. In all cases the Reports have been that the instruction 

 imparted to the mistress has proved highly beneficial to the industry. In 

 1900 a certain number of National school and other teachers were offered a 

 short summer course of lessons in drawing and design. Those who 

 attended were required to do freehand drawing from the cast ; foliage from 

 nature, with the brush ; geometrical drawing, so far as it applied to design, 

 using those problems which were particularly applicable to the striking out 

 of patterns ; and elementary design. The experiment was eminently suc- 

 cessful. 



The history of the Belfast School of Art divides itself into three periods : 



(i) 1849-54, when it was known as the Government 



Belfast School School of Design; (2) 1 870-1 901, as the Government 



of Art. School of Art ; and (3) the Municipal School of Art, 



which has just come into existence. 



Some years before the establishment of the Government School of Design, 

 attention had been drawn to the desirability of providing means of practical 

 art training for the artisans of Belfast. The first suggestion of a School of 

 Design appears in the " Address to the Public " which prefaces the cata- 

 logue of the first exhibition of the " Belfast Association of Artists," in 1836. 

 Among other objects to which it was proposed to devote the proceeds of the 

 exhibitions was the estabhshment of " a normal school of artistic education, 

 at which lectures on the principles of designing and colouring will be an 

 essential part." The initial effort to get such a school established was not 

 made, hov/ever, until 1848, when a correspondence was entered into whh 

 the Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant. In reply to official inquiries, it was 

 stated that local subscriptions to the amount of ^^300 per annum could be 

 reckoned upon ; and, as a matter of fact, a sum of more than ;;^400 was sub- 

 scribed the first year, showing that there was a considerable amount of 

 interest taken in the project. The Town Council was approached with the 

 view of obtaining a grant from the rates ; but it appeared that there was 



