The Sunday Oregonian., May 24, 1908, Magazine Section, Page 2, Image 48

THE SUNDAY OREGON'IAX, PORTLAND, MAT 24, I90S.
NG HANDW0RK6RS
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Ihfltsenceon Portland oMhe- .
Arts jmd Crafts Movement Which, is
. Getting "a Foothold .He0
What the City of Eugene Has
Bone in a Practical Way to Develop
Hand and Brain
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HY MIRIAM VAN YVATKR8
ilyLI-lBU than all prrached gojpell
5 B will Hi la unpraached, lnarllcu
lute, but lnoradlcablo. forevrr
ndurlnii a-oapcl "Work and therein have
wsll-balng. WhutHoever ut morality and
lntiilllgnnce; wlmtsoever of patience, per
rvaranoe, (althfulneaa of method. lnht.
Ingenuity, enemy; In a word, whatsoever
of strength a man haa In him, will be
written In the work ho does."
When Carlyle wrote ihosa words he be
came tho "John the Baiulst" of the arts
and crafts morefiient. He proached the
gospel of work from a new standpoint;
not that work Is the primal curse laid
upon us for apple-stealing In the Qardtra
of Eden, but that It Is the true and one
means of sclf-oxpresulon. In Carlyle s
theory- work ts to the worker what the
loem la to the poet.
William Morris applied this gospel, to
handicrafts, lie went so fur as to be
lieve that most of the evils of our- race
would be cured if only we united the
labor of hooid and brain In the erection of
beautiful objects. In the Middle Ages
men commonly held the secret of color
and form, of use and beaut-, and tmpart
ed It to their surroundings. They forged
-wonderful arrows. Irons, locks and can
dlesticks; they filled cathedrals with rare
Illuminations and glass of marvelous
colors; they wove fabrics which the most
modern of machines cannot Imitate; they
sought effects of simplicity and solidity in
furniture and decoration; they hammered
copper and braes and silver into things
of unique and delicate beauty, and in all
this the Individuality of the worker was
wrought Into his work. Bach object was
stamped with the thought and purpose of
the man who made It. Thus art and life
became own sisters.
w have traveled a long way since then.
We have become so used to ugliness In
our dally life that we can scarcely detect
It. Our machine-made produots are all
alike, monotonous and without character;
neither we nor the maker has any Joy in
them. We have divorced the intellect
from labor. In our present system of
highly competitive and highly specialised
industry a manufactured article goes
through scores of processes. Each pro
cess is in charge of a laborer whose only
duty may be to push a lever, or turn a
cog thousands of times a day, all the
- days of his life.
The laborer has so knowledge of the
other processes, no Interest In the finished
product, no fens of creating anything,
lie becomes an automaton. Work ceases
to be a means of self-expression, an
educative force; it Is done without pay.
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for mere wage. In this system the only
man who gets any mental stimulus what
ever Is the inventor of the machine.
As a result of this divorce of Intel
lect and labor the finished article Itself
Is without element of beauty, or per
sonality. Show and cheap ornament
have taken the place of true decora
tion. We may sum It all up and say
our modern Industry has lost the soul
out of It, As Carlyle would say,
"Only the profit nd loss of it. only
the pudding and praise of it remain."
Among certain people of earnestness
and taste a reaction has . sprung1 up
known as the arts and crafts' move
ment. Originated in England by Wil
liam Avarris some IS years ago, the
movement has spread over the United
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States and Europe. It has even pene
trated Portland. ' ' . ; v
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Societies have been organised for
the- revival of handicraft, with schools
of designs, and practical workshops.
They have certain definite esthetic
ideals, chief among- them that beauty
can be obtained only through skillful
use of the hands and brain together.
All useful thtngrs can be made beauti
fr through a return to old-time sim
plicity of material and designs. Above
everything- else the arts and crafts
worker revolts against mechanical,
automatic ' labor. This isn't because
he has a blind grudge against machin
ery, in fact he holds that much labor
should be done by machinery to save
time. But the machine must be used
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to supplement, not to supplant, the
skill and beauty of hard work. When
it is used to crush out the personality
of the worker it is bad.
The true arts and craftsman revolts
against another feature of modern in
dustry, ' over-prodiiction. Under stress
of competition men make recklessly
thousands of times more chairs and
carpets and iron pots than the home
market, or any other market can use.
Factories then shut down, men are out
of work, and our streets are filled
with labor. Overproduction, so says
the arts and craftsman causes all
this; and the machine is at the bottom
of it. We would cure the evil if we re
turned to the true spirit of work; if
we made only what was needed, and
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made that beautiful, ' The hand-made
product cannot compete on equal terms
with the machine-made product. .But
its superior workmanship, its charac
ter, make strong appeal to people Of
taste. Hand-made articles can find
ready sale, always. Consider the un
told thousands we spend on Persian
rugs and French lingerie! But in or-,
der to bring the value of handwork
before the public, as well as to culti
vate appreciation of it we must have
organized arts and crafts -societies.
, They have met with such success in
Europe that the Hungarian govern
ment has practically taken them over.
Each farming community in' Hungary
has its workshop, loom, or foundry,
where the peasants In Winter time
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-work in metals and fabrics. The gov
ernment supplies well-qualified teach-
and inspectors and manages the
ie of these products. Thus the peas
ant supplements his earnings; some
element of-teauty enters his life and
hla personality is enriched by the cre
ative stimulus.
Gustavo Stickley. editor of the Crafts
man, Is trying, through the Department
of Agriculture, to introduce such a sys
tem into farming districts of this coun
try. But for the most part the effort
of the Arts and Crafts societies in Amer
ica is concentrated In cities. The most
flourishing exist in Boston and Chicago.
Three classes of, people compose these
societies; practical workers, men and
women, who, after efficient training have
entered the field of arts and crafts as a
profession and really use their hands;
sympathizers, who understand and appre
ciate the true craftsman spirit; faddists,
whose perennial thirst for novelty leads
them even to the unaccustomed field of
work. The latter are worthy women, and
lend social position to the movement,
which, of course, counts for a good deal.
Through these channels craftsman ideals
have spread rapidly throughout the coun
try. Portland was stimulated to action in
October of 1907. Portland has not, however,-
the honor of starting the first
Northwest association. The bub of our
intellectual life, Eugene, the home of the
State University, very properly took lead
in the Western arts and crafts move
ment. Its society organized in Septem
ber, and has been characterised by an
energetic and initiative spirit.
The leading . Portland craft workers
are Miss MoKnight and Mr. Wlsner. Mr.
Wlsner Is an expert metal worker and
many things of rare beauty have been
turned out from his workshop in the
Fair Grounds. His pupils have become
skillful in hammering copper and silver.
Most of them are socially prominent.
Mr. Wisner has recently left Portland to
set up a workshop la Oregon City; this
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is a blow to arts and crafts in Portland.
Miss McKnight still remains, however,
and rightly occupies first place. Her
specialties are design, for which she has
been efficiently trained in New York, and
jewelry making; though she has a broad
knowledge of the crafts in general. Miss
McKnight is one of those rare workers
who combine idealizing theories and prac
tical achievements. Those who have not
visited her Arts and Crafts shop, on
Washington street, near Thirteenth, have
missed a rare pleasure. It Js, indeed,
the one place in Portland where one may
get a glimpse of true art as the crafts
man conceives it. Borne of the best pot
teries made in America are there, and
many things of distinct individuality and
beauty such as no. commercial "art
store" can show.
Miss McKnight also- has pupils, some
of whom are showing dexterous ability.
But as yet in Portland, neither Mr. Wis
ner nor Miss McKnight has found any
one seriously inclined to take up hand
crafts as a profession. Pupils in plenty
they have, but no apprentices. In the
Kaat the vitality of the movement is
shown by the number of serious work
ers, or apprentices; when no serious
workers are present, the movement is
looked upon as a fad. One has suspicion
that apart from a few talented excep
tions, the Portland movement may be so
described. The third class of arts and
crafts members are in great predomi
nance, t
To be sure, active exertion with ham
mer and file gives more useful results
than bridge-playing and pink teas. More
over, it is a firm principle of Arts and
Crafts that the. esthetic impulse can and
should be cultivated everywhere, even
ill high society. But monopolization of
ithe ioportunltles for such development
by any class not intending to become
serious workers goes against the vital
ideal of the movement. Conditions in
Portland are due no doubt to the new-
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