50 
RERAMIC STUDIO 
is one of the great principles of all correct designs for por- 
celain whether for table use or not. There must be no 
attempt at perspective — simply the form or silhouette of 
the object. The artist must let nature alone. 
" In the exhibition which our society is holding at the 
National Arts Club at present there is a plate done in a con- 
ventional morning glory design of blues and greens — of 
course not the natural colors of that flower. It is a fine 
example of what such work should be, the background 
spaces being as beautiful as the design itself — a point always 
to be thought of in good porcelain decoration. 
"All the table china shown at this exhibition, while 
beautiful in design, is very quiet in tone — so quiet, indeed, 
that even members of the society have found fault with it. 
'You will never be able to sell it,' they say. However, 
many people who on their first visit have olDJected to its 
simplicity have liked it better when they saw it a second 
time. Its beauty gradually grows upon them. It takes 
time to educate the public taste, and we must be wilhng to 
do a little missionary work, though it does not pay at first. 
"What we are fighting against now is the showy, 
flashy style of decoration which seems to be the most pop- 
ular for table china of all descriptions. The designs are 
generally neither true to nature nor conventional. They 
are over-ornate, in poor taste, and bad in color. Even in 
the most expensive porcelain it is hard to get tableware 
possessing real artistic value. In the cheaper china it is 
well nigh impossible to do so. Until some of the large 
potteries come to our aid by printing decorations which are 
good in outline and color upon their inexpensive wares, we 
cannot hope for any great stride forward in the general 
appreciation of what is best in such things. 
" It is as easy to print a truly beautiful design as a poor 
one ; but the potteries which turn out cheap grades of china 
are unwilling to attempt improved designs. The old ones 
have sold well in the past, and the manufacturers are afraid 
to risk an innovation. This is largely owing to the ignorance 
of the salesmen employed by china houses. There is a 
large carpet firm in this city which requires all its salesmen 
to take a course in design at Columbia University in order 
that they may understand the principles of artistic design- 
ing and be able to explain the good points of the rugs 
intelligently to customers. It would be a splendid thing 
if the firms which handle china would adopt such a plan. 
"Our society, in common with the whole arts and 
crafts movement, is trying to impress upon people that the 
arts come into one's life more by the little things by which 
we are surrounded than by the pictures on our walls. The 
pictures we ma)^ look at once a day or twice a week, but the 
objects of utility we handle and gaze upon continually. It 
is by them that our artistic taste and judgment is uncon- 
sciously molded. 
"Nothing in our homes should be more beautiful than 
the table service. We come in contact with it three times 
a day and during the hours of our intercourse with each 
other. The appointments of the table really influence our 
thoughts. If they are worthy of being talked about, they 
may be a pleasant subject of conversation. I think the 
china should be different for every course of the dinner. One 
set used straight through a meal grows monotonous. For 
my own table I use old Canton ware. Blue and white 
china is always pretty, and much that is very reasonable in 
price is good in design. 
" I would advise people of moderate means to use it in 
preference to any other. There are many difl'erent patterns 
in the blue and white, so that variety can easily be intro- 
duced into such service, but dishes of one design only should 
be placed on the table at a time. 
" In the shapes of tableware, also, there is much im- 
provement to be desired, but with this we can not do much 
at present. No American potters^ turns out really fine 
porcelain for decoration, so artists are obliged to use that 
which is imported from England, Germany and France. 
"The handles of cups and pitchers are always a draw- 
back to the artistic treatment of these, as they invariably 
have the appearance of being stuck on — as, indeed, they are. 
To have the handle of one piece with the article and an 
apparent outgrowth of its form, though artistically correct, 
would increase the cost of its making considerably. 
"Plates, cups and all dishes should, I think, be plain, 
without fluting or embossed work of any description. For 
platters and vegetable dishes silver is better than china. 
It can be heated without injury, and it retains its warmth 
mtich longer." — Neiv York Times interview with Mrs. Anna 
B. Leonard. 
NOVEMBER COMPETITION PROBLEM 
Color design for stein in fruit motif to be accompa- 
nied by detail drawing of motif in pen and ink,. First 
prize, $8.00, second prize, $5.00. Competition closes Sep- 
tember 15th. 
LEAGUE NOTES 
THE exhibition of the study course problems, for the year 
just passed, is a credit to mepibers of the League. 
Some members who do not know the resourcefulness of 
Chicago, were intimidated by the strike, and thus prevented 
from sending at all. The trial exhibitions of the New York 
Society of Keramic Arts, at the National Arts Club, and of 
the Duquesne Ceramic Club, at the Carnegie Gallery, Pitts- 
burg, held necessarily about the same time, prevented the 
installation of those exhibits with the League. 
This seemed to us, while placing our pieces, an "ill 
wind", but it has blown good to all. All three exhibitions 
were sufficiently important to create comment in these 
various cities, and as all conformed to our educational plan, 
were eminently successful. While all forms are the same, 
there is an interesting variety of treatment. Convention- 
alized forest and yellow poppy from California; crab-apples, 
land-scapes and tulips from Kansas; oak trees, flowers, fish 
and geometrical arrangements from Maine, Massachusetts, 
Michigan, Illinois, New Jersey and New Orleans, all show 
the originality resiflting from concentration in study. 
Only about one half of all pieces submitted were ac- 
cepted for exhibition at The Art Institute. The criticisms 
were severe but just, but all forms (with one exception) 
conforming to the rules of education, are shipped for com- 
parison. These refused pieces are below the average work 
of the members who submitted them, and give the unpres- 
sion of having been hurried and slighted. For Portland 
were selected choice pieces to fill the space allotted there. 
In adopting an entirely educational feature for exhibi- 
tion purposes, we have entered the art enclosure, where we 
come in contact with an educated, art loving public. Plave 
we strengthened our commercial advantages, or weakened 
them ? 
The relations of Advisory Board members. Proxies, 
Chairmen of Committees, Officers, etc., were such that it 
would have been a pleasure to retain them another year, 
all were faithful, but it was deemed wiser to select new 
representatives, in order to bring more members in closer 
