So far I have described guards executed in the milder mediums of copper and brass, which, though exhibiting the usual great artistic skill and wealth of fancy peculiar to the Japanese, yet have not that masculine art quality belonging to those of what has been termed the 'iron age' of Japan. Of the first it miffht be said that decoration was the chief end; of those carved and damascened in iron the original intention has never been lost sight of — they are primarily sword-guards. They form the epics of the subject, and would require greater space to do them justice than is at our command. It is remarkable that they possess that largeness of line and mass which is characteristic of great art in all times and countries. Looking at those reproduced liere, we feel the art to be akin to that of ancient Greece, India, or Europe of the fifteenth century. Classic severity and sobriety of purpose, artistic conventions and perfect craftsmanship are in all alike. J. P. Macgilliveay.
The Collection may be seen in the Salon of Mr. Grosvenor Thomas, 40 Gordon Street, Glasgow.
WOMEN'S WORK IN ART INDUSTRIES.
I.
THERE could hardly be a better opportunity for reviewing the position taken by women with regard to industrial art than that afforded at present by the Glasgow Exhibition, where women's industries are more widely represented than in any previous show. An attentive observer cannot fail to be impressed with the advance that has been made of late years in this quarter; but while much has been done, more still remains to be accomplished, both by doing away with what is useless, and also by introducing, or by reviving and fostering, arts that may well be engaged in by women with success and profit.
After noticing shortly the most prominent of these, it may be well to consider the difficulties which lie in the way of women who wish to devote themselves to industrial art, and the points to which they should give special attention.
Among the art industries of women, needlework holds, as it probably will always hold, the most prominent place; not because it is either the most profitable, the most healthful, or the easiest, but because the needle is still the tool whose use is most universally taught to girls. Therefore when necessity or inclination leads a woman to practise art as an industry, and not merely to indulge in it as a pastime, she turns more readily to the needle than to the brush, the chisel, or the hammer. There can be no doubt that the various schools of art needlework throughout the country have, by precept and example, done much towards raising the general standard of decorative embroidery; and in country districts where such schools are not in existence, the efforts of amateurs, real lovers of the art, have had an equally beneficial effect, as witness the beautiful work, excellent as well in design as in execution, exhibited by the Wemyss and Houston classes, and by individual Ayrshire women who have been trained and guided by some of the country ladies. For those who can pay large sums for real works of art there is a supply equal to the demand; but there is a department of decorative needlework as yet unvisited by the artist in design or colour. Who does not know the magenta table-cloth, edged with a yellow wreath? or the brilliant blue tea-cosy, with an 'elegant' bouquet of flowers in the centre ? These things are produced by the hundred or thousand to supply the demand for cheap ready-made articles of the sort ; they are the work, not of macliinery, but of swift and skilful fingers which under due guidance could trace as quickly and easily some simple and beautiful design. The work done by Mr. Ruskin's School of Needlework in the English Lake District has shown what can be achieved by peasant women of the same class as those who in Ayrshire gain a small wage by 'slabbing' cheap tablecloths, tea-cosies, dressing-gowns, and the like. Under the superintendence of Miss Twehes, the women of Mr. Ruskin's school first spin the linen yarn of which the fabric to be embroidered is made; and when it has passed through the weaver's hands they once more take it up and decorate it with needlework more or less elaborate, but of colours always harmonious and design always fit and appropriate. Such individual cases, however, do not affect the general market, and it yet remains for some great textile manufacturer to follow the example set by Sir Henry Doulton in the great potteries at Lambeth, and to send out to the public articles of the commonest use, at a price all can afford to pay, designed by artists who are thoroughly trained, not only in the general principles of ornament, but in the requirements and jseculiarities of the material they are called upon to decorate. I may remark, by the way, that some of Doulton 's best designers are women.
