Janet Kaiser on sat 13 sep 03
From Victorian Ceramic Tiles
by Julian Barnard
Studio Vista 1972
ISBN 0 289 70251 8
"The idea of "that special art" was important to Morris -- a true
craftsman should be passionate about his subject and every part
of his production should be an expression of that particular
medium. Clay for the potter, wool for the weaver. As a man
understood his material, so he could use patter and decoration in
a way that was naturally suitable. For this reason, printed
decoration could never be considered "artistic".
Through the agency of Morris and his contemporaries, the public
became more aware of "Art" and "Beauty" than ever before. The
harlequinade of early Victorian decoration turned into a
conscious striving for good taste in design and ornament that
found many disparate (and desperate) expressions in the Art or
Aesthetic Movement during the last quarter of the century. But
the public contemplation of the nature of what was "truly
artistic" led to fashions, in the seventies and eighties, that
were far removed from the original intentions of the Art
Movement. Morris had looked for a revival of craft and cottage
industry, but the industrial manufacturers responded, not by
changing their production techniques, but by advertising their
wares as "art furniture": there were "celebrated and artistic"
billiard tables, "more truly artistic" textiles, "art metal
workers"; but more than anything else, there were "art tiles".
The popular pursuit of Beauty and Art was, in fact, the one thing
that saved the industrial manufacturers from embarrassment. There
was nothing so certain to guarantee the future of mass-production
as fashion. Oscar Wilde, drawing on the ideas of Ruskin and
Morris, was one of the men who ensured the success of the Art
Movement:
'/Although/ Beauty had existed long before 1880, it was Mr Oscar
Wilde who managed her d=E9but. To study the period is to admit
that to him was due no small part of the social vogue that Beauty
began to enjoy. Fired by his fervid words, men and women hurled
their mahogany into the streets and ransacked the curio shops for
furniture of Annish days. Dados (of tiles) arose on every wall,
sunflowers and feathers of peacocks curled in every corner, tea
grew cold while guests were praising the Willow Pattern of its
cups". (1)
The Aesthetic Movement points to the gulf that existed between
the general public and the contemporary intellectuals, such as
the exponents of the Arts and Crafts Tradition. The popular
response to the reforms in art and design was superficial. It was
decoration that was fashionable and there was little concern for
the object or how it was made. If some pundits were lamenting the
fruits of the machine age, most people were revelling in the
novelty and variety of goods that could be purchased. Towards the
end of the century there was some reconciliation between these
two positions. Although Morris always held firmly to his
socialist views, he did come to recognise the necessity of the
machine. And at the same time there had been a general
improvement in the standards of the commercial manufacturers. The
work of men like Ashbee and Lethaby was to bring the products of
the Arts and Crafts Movement to a far wider public and the
prevalent outlook was explained by a member of the Boston Arts &
Crafts Society, USA: "There is an antagonism between business for
the sake of gain and Art for the sake of use and beauty, but the
antagonism is between their motives, not between business and
art" (2)
Although the motives of the commercial potters were questionable,
tile production came into the category of "business for the sake
of use and beauty". But the essential characteristic of the
industry was mechanical production. The same writer goes on the
remark that "it is wholesome now and then to turn suddenly round
and ask ourselves, when we are thinking of the wonders of
mechanical invention which the last few generations have seen,
'Just whose labour does machinery save?' "
The question was important to the exponents of the Craft
Tradition. It is clear, however, that machinery was not designed
to save labour but to increase production. Never before had tiles
been used so extensively: on walls, floors, in furniture, grates
and hearths. And in an age when architecture was often seen as
something to stick on to a building afterwards, to make it showy,
tiles were used by every speculative builder in the country. In
the concentric rings of 19th century development around English
towns and cities, tiles pavements and porches can be seen in
their thousands. They took their place with the odd pieces of
stained glass in the front door, the cast-iron railings, the
terracotta ridge tiles and the little panels of decorative
brickwork on the fa=E7ade.
(1) Holbrook Jackson's free quotation of Max Beerbohm writing
about the year1870 in his essay "The 1890s" (published in 1913)
(2) Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston, Handicraft, 1902
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