Vol. VII, No. 3 
SYBIACUSE, NEW YORK 
July 1905 
GAIN we have met with disap- 
pointment in the naturaHstic work 
sent in for the July competition. 
Surely the feeling for this line of 
work must be dying out in spite of 
the occasional letters of remon- 
strance received from certain sub- 
scribers who feel that we do not 
give enough prominence to the 
naturalistic. We try to give every 
one the best we can in their special line and to this end vary 
our competitions to include every branch of decorative 
work. But in the naturalistic problems alone we meet with 
very little enthusiaslii. Most of the best 'work has to be 
thrown out because it is decorative semi-conventional 
treatment and not purely naturalistic. 
These studies of course will be available later when we 
have a competition for a decorative study. But in the 
meantime we must deprecate such expressions as we occas- 
ionally receive accusing us of neglecting the naturalistically 
inclined among our readers. We certainly will give good 
naturalistic studies, when we can get them. But they are 
exceedingly difficult to find as most of the good ceramic 
decorators are too interested in their conventional work 
to make naturalistic studies for competition; they forget, 
perhaps, that it is absolutely necessary for others to have 
good naturalistic studies from which to make convention- 
alizations, although they must make such studies for their 
own work. 
As an illustration of the conflicting elements in china 
decoration which make the editor's life none too easy in 
the effort to please all, we quote without further comment 
a letter received just the other day from one of our dealer 
friends, an article from the New York Times, and an inter- 
view with Mrs. Anna B. Leonard, of New York. 
N. Y., May 13, 1905. 
Keramic Studio Pub. Co. 
GentTvEmen: There are a great many artists complain- 
ing about recent nimibers of the "Studio" — entirely too 
much conventional — and articles entirely foreign to ceram- 
ics. Conventional work, as they say, was a god-send to 
people who are not capable of making an interesting and 
artistic arrangement of flowers, fruits, &c., in the natural- 
istic — and I myself, do not see where horrid nasty bugs and 
such stufi^, comes in, on plates that one eats off of — you 
never see these things in nature, in a clean, well regulated 
home or restaurant, but one does see flowers in profusion. 
Some years ago there was an art book called " ", 
it was a good, interesting book and a fine seller, until it 
separated from art and gave articles on burnt wood, needle 
work, leather work and other sttbjects foreign to its name, 
it then went down gradually but surely, and at last the 
" " was no more. I should hate very much to see 
the same thing happen to the "Studio" — it is a magazine 
which has stood very high amongst china painters, but the 
conventional page after page stuff is lowering its standard 
among artists. 
Pardon the liberty I have taken, but I have a* deep in- 
terest in the "Studio" and my sentiments are voiced by 
hundreds of china painters whom I come in contact with. 
What I have written is intended in all kindness and I 
hope you will not lake offence. Very respectfully, 
" Until very recently few of the decorators of porcelain 
were interested in tableware," Mrs. Leonard said the other 
day. "Vases and ornamental pieces appealed to them far 
more. Beauty in table service has always been a special 
hobby of mine, and I am glad to say that it is finally begin- 
ning to receive the attention it deserves. Not only artists 
but the intelligent public, are at last waking up on this 
subject. It is a field in which reforms are badly needed. 
It seems to me that if people have poor taste in any one 
thing it is sure to be in the china they place on tlieir dining 
tables. 
" I go into the homes of wealthy families who, so far as 
the hangings and ornaments are concerned, have spent 
money generously and have selected with discrimination 
and good judgment, and I am actually aghast at the dishes 
in which they allow their meals to be served." 
Mrs. Leonard has sincere sympathy with the man who 
objected to his beefsteak being placed on a landscape half 
a mile away. 
" Picture plates, those with naturalistic fish, game and 
fruit painted in the center such as enjoyed a great vogue 
recently, are simply terrible, " she said. " It is never proper 
to put a picture of what we eat on the dish from which we 
arc to partake of it. And a picture of any kind on a piece 
of porcelain sets at defiance all true laws of decoration. 
Kven flowers, though we all love them, should never be 
used in this way. 
"Pri the other hand, flowers, fish, water, ships, dolphins 
and so on, are used in conventional or decorative designs 
upon porcelain with charming effect. The conventional 
design may suggest nature, but it never seeks to portray it. 
It has a certain rhythm and harmony wliich is very restful. 
We never tire of it as we do of even the best of naturalistic 
designs. While I prefer dinner plates with simply the rims 
decorated, allover designs may be very beautiful, and 
restful also. The old Canton ware shows allover decorations 
in blues and greys which are wonderfully restful." 
Mrs. Leonard arose and brought a blue and white 
platter of old Canton ware from the dining room. It was 
of the famous willow pattern. 
" You see, the spots of color are so well distributed that 
we hardly think of the design as a picture; we do not notice 
whether it is a landscape or a waterscape," she said. "This 
is a landscape treated in a decorative or conventional 
manner. Much of its beauty lies in the liberties which the 
artist has taken in his treatment of nature. One never saw 
a tree like this one. But just fancy how crude and horrible 
this same design would be if painted in natural colors, and 
so as to give the effect of a picture. 
" Here there is no shading. Everything is flat. There 
is no reaching back beyond the surface of the plate. That 
