INTRODUCTION.
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Thedecoration of pottery under the glaze offers opportunity for the production of work, beautiful and artistic in a high degree, and in its simpler forms gives to those who do not aspire to the higher art, a most fascinating and labor-rewarding study. I can not, however, assure those who wish to enter the domain of decorative art by this interesting road, that they will find the way strewn with roses. On the contrary, discouragements are likely to occur so frequently that it is only by the exercise of a considerable amount of patience and perseverance that any advance can be made. But such are the attractionsof the work that its enthusiastic votaries will not be deterred from its prosecution by any difficulties in the way, and if immediate and perfect success can not be assured, an exceedingly interesting occupation will be revealed to the learner, and to the earnest worker can be promised the reward of faithful labor.
I would like here to insist, however, upon the necessity of a thorough and serious study of drawing as a preparation for this as well as for all decorative work, and to enter a most emphatic protest against the theory which seems to prevail in some quarters, that any one can paint upon pottery acceptably. With little preparation other than the possession of some colors, brushes, clays, and pieces of pottery, the devotee of art enters upon the work of decorating (?) pottery. Alas! disfiguring it, for it is a lamentable fact that of the pottery now being painted by amateurs (some of the work by professional decorators might also be included) a very large proportion has its value diminished rather than enhanced by the work put upon it.
This would not be so frequently the case if the scope of the work were limited to the capacity of the worker. We see every day, attempts, in which the failure to reach the point aimed at is absurdly obvious, where, if the effort had been less ambitious in its aim, the result would not only be less an object of ridicule, but of far more intrinsic value.
In other departments of human handiwork, some natural capacity, as well as a certain amount of training, is considered necessary to successful practice, but, in art, such is the ignorance of the general public, any one is thought eligible to the profession of an artist, and much passes under the name of art, which has no claim to that honorable title.
I do not wish to discourage those who are willing to enter into this pursuit as humble, patient learners, but to warn those, who are eager to obtain at once the rewards only given to years of faithful study, of the futility of their desires. It is perhaps idle, however, to warn or to advise them. The consciousness of their folly willonly come to them after experience, and knowledge gained from failure, shall have given them some comprehension of the difficulties which their ignorance prevented them from seeing.
In art, as in all other pursuits, there is no royal road to excellence, and those who do not think it necessary to learn the rudiments before attempting the higher branches, will learn to their cost, if they are capable of learning any thing, that nothing was gained by leaving out these stepping stones in their progress.
The time is never misspent which is devoted to honest, well-directed efforts in acquiring the art of drawing. The excuse so often offered, that the practice of the art is only intended as an amusement, and that therefore it is unnecessary to undergo the drudgery of learning it thoroughly, is one which is unworthy. To those who offer it I would say, pray amuse yourselves with something else rather than an art, into which, to obtain even an insight, demands the best that any one can give.
These remarks apply as well to the decorationof pottery as to any other department of art work. Although from its peculiar nature and various uses this material yields itself to many and varied styles of decoration, yet this decoration, however simple, must be planned and executed according to sound principles, to be of any artistic value. The best preparation for the work of decorating pottery, therefore, is a thorough knowledge of drawing and an understanding of the laws which govern all decorative art.
Sources of information upon these subjects, drawn from competent instruction, books and periodicals, are daily becoming more numerous and accessible, and one who desires to practice the kind of decorative art we are now considering, should cultivate his taste and augment his skill by these means, and especially by close study of nature in all its various forms. It is only in this way that the student will be enabled to accomplish work which will be a source of pleasure and profit to himself and others.