Vol. IV, No. 6 
NEW YORK AND SYRACUSE 
October 1902 
HE National League plan of study for the com- 
ing year is certainly a decided move in ad- 
vance ; if the members of the League take 
advantage of it, we may look for something 
worth while. The prizes offer an incentive 
to sincere students, and the interest shown 
by Mr. Lennox, of Trenton, and Mr. Grueby, of Boston, in 
offering to purchase and reproduce designs, gives a tone to 
the whole course which it has perhaps lacked before. Cer- 
tainly the taking up of the study of designing and modeling 
for pottery, is a step which raises the whole scheme nearer to 
a truly artistic basis, and beyond the realm of fancy work. 
We notice in the schedule of work for the comparative exhi- 
bition that in every problem, whether consciously or otherwise, 
the conventional work chances to be mentioned first ; 
we fake this as welcome augur that the preference or 
understanding of what is the proper form of decoration may 
in the near future lead to requirements including only con- 
ventional design. Lest we be misunderstood again, we repeat 
what we have so often said, that we are not deprecating the 
painting of naturalistic studies on porcelain and pottery, but 
we insist that the proper sphere for the display of this branch of 
Keramic work is on panels or placques. When it comes 
to decoration, the conventional only is permissible. 
We call attention to the League Course of Study which 
is presented again in this number, so that no one will fail to 
read it. The rapid spreading of interest in pottery and un- 
derglaze decoration has been remarkable since first it began a 
year or two ago. The fact that a number of our leading dec- 
orators are introducing it into their regular studio work, is 
significant. That an unusual attention is being paid to appro- 
priate designing for Keramics is a natural accompaniment 
and an omen of better things to be. Surely we are laying the 
foundation on which to build in the near future, at least a 
few artist potters such as France and England boast. 
We admire the artist potters who are beginning in an 
earnest and simple way, and who can produce simple but 
artistic results, and whose work shows that unmistakable indi- 
viduality which always commands a price. The chemical and 
experimental side of the question figures more prominently 
at a later period when one is more able to know what to try 
for in body, glazes and color; one must understand first the 
manipulation of clay, either building up by hand or with the 
wheel, and cultivate a simple taste in form and color. 
We note that the Pratt Institute and other technical 
schools have formed a course in pottery making. Last year 
these schools were able to exhibit pieces of individual merit ; 
most of these were built by hand, a wheel not being a neces- 
sary adjunct, although the fascination of turning will in time 
make each student long to possess one, and ultimately to ac- 
quire one. 
All who come to New York to study Keramics, should 
ascertain the time of exhibitions at the different galleries. 
During the winter season there are many well selected collec- 
tions, seemingly free from the reproach of having been got 
together simply for the purpose of a sale ; collections that 
have been gathered and arranged with knowledge and taste. 
Even famous collectors are sometimes deceived, as in the case 
of the renowned connoisseur, M. Granddidier, in Paris, who 
will point to specimens in his superb collection which have 
been discovered to be copies, and he will add that he prizes 
them notwithstanding, for their intrinsic beauty. 
The man or woman who has the best general art educa- 
tion, undoubtedly makes the best decorator. 
We hear of Pottery Clubs being formed for the purpose 
of dividing the expenses of building a kiln, for underglaze 
firing and for experimenting with native clays. 
Only recently four young persons (each a craftsman) ap- 
plied for a course of study at Mr. Volkmar's pottery on Long 
Island, with a view to learning the art of pottery making from 
the very beginning, and also to test the clays of Massachusetts, 
that they may build their own kiln and use the native clay, 
and carrying on the work in a serious and practical way. 
These students wrote that they were willing to work 
hard, and did not expect any one to do the work for them, 
that they wished to learn the practical side, and they would 
take the theoretical side as they worked along ; their idea 
being to produce simple and practical results, and then take 
up the study of chemical questions as they arose. 
One can buy formulas of different compositions that have 
at one time or another produced good results, but the thing 
is — to produce — to create — then to make a market. 
With the overthrow of the Roman Empire the art of 
making decorative pottery disappeared from Europe, but was 
brought back to Spain again by the Arabs when they ob- 
tained a foothold in that country in the eighth century, and 
into Sicily about a hundred years later. From this last coun- 
try the art spread to Italy, and during the fourteenth and 
fifteenth centuries reached a high state of development. 
During this time flourished the manufacture of majolica ware, 
so called, it is supposed, from the fact that the Moors had 
made a somewhat similar ware on the island of Majorca. To 
the decoration of this ware distinguished artists devoted 
themselves, and Raphael is said to have prepared designs for 
some of the pieces, such as platters and other vessels. So 
artistically was this ware decorated, and such a wealth of orna- 
ment was lavished upon it that its original intention for 
domestic use was lost sight of entirely, and the plates, cups, 
vases and other vessels came to be valued and used only as 
luxuries of decoration, 
