120 
ART ED ü CAT ION. 
disappointed. England concentrated her attention upon the repre- 
sentation of her colonies ; she unfolded her Asiatic riches, while 
her native industry was represented very incompletely, and her 
edueational System very inefficiently. Nothing was to be seen bat 
some specimens by the pupils of the Kensington School, and a few 
of the publications of this institution. It certainly seemed stränge 
that the country from which the idea of World’s Fairs had first 
emanated should so ignore the important chapter of art-education, 
to which it owes its present position in industry as compared to 
other states. 
Everybody perceives that the influence of the English art-schools 
in the matter of form within the last twenty years has been of the 
greatest importance. Still the aims originally proposed are far from 
having been reached ; and it will not yet do for the schools to rest 
upon their laureis, although the success of art-instruction may 
already be traced in English art-industry. Taste has refined itself 
decidedly, and the forms of industrial products in general are more 
artistic, and of a better style. But they are still far from moving in 
a uniform track; on the contrary, they diverge into all styles and 
all directions. It would appear that an independent position has 
been taken by English art in the ornamentation of flat surfaces 
only. In this department, there is observable a unity of forms of 
a decidedly modern style. The same may also be said of furniture, 
into which polychrome surface-ornamentation has been introduced. 
But in silverware, bronzes, faiences, and majolicas, the whole 
history of art is illustrated, from ancient India down to the epoch 
of the Baroque style. No doubt the historical technique in these 
latter branches of industry very generally demands also the his 
torical style, since, as a rule, more attention is paid to the demands 
of Connaisseurs than to an artistic taste. In the future the princi- 
pal task of the scientific direction of art-instruction in England 
will probably be to check this dispersion among all the various 
styles, and to lead from imitation to original creation. It is, 
however, still a question of time, whether England will ever be 
able to attain to the position of recognized leadership in art and 
art-industry, as far as the technique is coneerned. 1 In this the 
1 The above sentenee has been left as it Stands in the original, although the 
word “ technique ” appearS to have crept in by a ndstake. The context makes 
it evident that the “artistic spirit” is alluded to.—Traust.