Art and Handcraft in the Woman's Building
of the World's Columbian Exposition

IN THE WOMAN’S BUILDING. 65 DESIGN FOR WALL PAPER. Anna Lee, United States. very fine work in the designs of wall-paper and silk may be seen. Several of these have won. prizes. This exhibit is well worth studying, for, while this institute is in its first year, many of its students are among our most skillful young designers. In the exhibits of the various American ceramic clubs, societies, and leagues, the excellence of technique, as well as the variety and amount of work in this branch of art, is a genuine surprise. It is very rich in porce- lains, following Sévre and Dresden styles, but curiously lacking in the dash and freedom of mod- ern French china painting. This seems to indicate that painters pos- sessing force and originality find more congenial directions for their efforts. Exact skill, fineness of execution, and clever specimens of miniature art are far in excess of instances of color effect or original design, and there is as yet no foreshadowing of a distinctively Ameri- can school of china decoration. This is the more remark- able in. the face of the evident popularity of the art, and the wide extent of its practice. There are exquisitely painted specimens which come from places remote from centers of art, places where the student and artist must depend for educational influences entirely upon books or art publications. This undoubtedly retards the development 5