Decorative Sculpture

Sculpture was rarely created during the Gothic age except for a definite purpose or place and it was only with the period of Italian classical revival of the 15th century that began the flair of what is called "art for art's sake." Princes became collectors of art objects and it was not long before they began ordering painted or sculptured representations of mythological or ether subjects and to build galleries to hold their collections. Even after this influence of the collector-connoisseur had been felt, decorative sculpture flourished in Europe through the baroque period and into the 18th century, where it found beautiful expression, especially as applied to garden sculpture, of which that at Versailles in France and of the Villa D'Este and at Frascati in Italy are examples. The decorative tendency continued on during the classical revival of Napoleonic times, but after that comes a period which lasted down to the loth century, during which nature was copied in a photographic manner rather than formalized and interpreted, and the decorative sense in sculpture was to become almost completely lost.

Schools of Art.

In our own time comes a reaction against the naturalistic school and the beginning of a new classical revival, the Viennese secessionist movement being one of the leaders in this direction, and in Scandinavia, Germany and more recently in France, it is of vital moment. In this connection it would be well to mention the Decorative Arts Exposition held at Paris in 1925 where French decorative sculpture was magnificently shown, and where it revealed the many interesting tendencies and accomplish ments in this field. Most other countries were represented by splendid achievements as well. This classical revivalist effort has not been especially coherent as it has lacked the direct traditional tendencies of the former periods of this nature because of the conditions of modern life which surround it and also because of the various other revolutionary tendencies toward which modern art is diverging. Cubism and post-impressionism (q.v.) have left their strong influence, and the fact that until recently and since the middle of the 19th century sculpture has been conceived and carried out as the interpretation in stone or bronze of a clay model rather than in the final material itself. Only now is coming the reaction against this tendency and there is an important school of sculptors who are working directly in the final materials of their art.

One of the factors at work in the world of modern art is the wide-spread appreciation of primitive art. Negroid sculpture,

Polynesian woodcarving or Alaskan carvings in wood and slate have taken their place beside the ancient art of Egypt, China, India and elsewhere and have created definite impressions on cer tain schools of modern sculpture. These impressions are the result of the great publicity given lately to the interesting discoveries of what has heretofore been inaccessible. Naturally, in the handi craft of all primitive peoples the decorative element is strong. (See ART : Principles of Art.) Conservative art museums are devoting space to the exposition of these early decorative objects to a degree formerly unknown. Art dealers are exploiting it and critics are devoting much consideration to its qualities. A multi tude of books devoted to the illustration of the objects has ap peared within the last few years and the appreciation of primitive art has in some circles seemed to supersede that of the more highly developed classical kind.

There is a tendency toward a certain chaotic condition in some schools of modern art due to many causes, of which may be men tioned the lack of well defined rules of limitation, which bring about a mood of endless personal experimentation. Though some times interesting and promising of great things to come, and, in the hands of an artist of great talent, much sought after and appreciated, yet, because of their remoteness to tradition or be cause of their peculiar qualities, it is difficult to place these crea tions advantageously and make them fit into settings of modern life and appear in terms of what has heretofore been considered beautiful. For after all, and in the long run, art exists and will survive because it is beautiful, and when the contrary is the case the movement which brought it about will change or be short lived. Other tendencies of this lack of relatedness are caused to an extent by the fact that art is not as essentially a part of the life of to-day as it was in former times. It is a thing apart and not integral to our social order. Machine-made objects take the place of hand-made ones and the development of handicraft is not on the increase. Quantity production and standardization are a bug bear to the man who loves the beautiful artisan-created object. The variety and somewhat accidental qualities of hand-made work have a charm that the machine-made ones cannot reproduce, and a decorative work, though of original beauty of design and of value as a unique piece, becomes undesirable when reproduced mechanically by the thousands—the Venus de Milo loses her charm as a cigarette advertisement.