The rules, the conditions of a sport or game, give it its own peculiar character and charm, and by means of them the greatest amount of pleasure and keenest excitement is obtained in the long run, just as by observing the conditions, the limitations of an art or handicraft, we shall extract the greatest amount of pleasure for the worker and beauty for the beholder.
Many remarkable designers in black and white of individuality and distinction, and with more or less strong feeling for decorative treatment, have arisen during the last few years. Among these ought to be named Messrs. Ricketts and Shannon, whose joint work upon "The Dial" is sufficiently well known. They, too, have taken up printing as an art, Mr. Ricketts having designed his own type and engraved his own drawings on wood. They are excellent craftsmen as well as inventive and original artists of remarkable cultivation, imaginative feeling and taste. There is a certain suggestion of inspiration from William Blake in Mr. Shannon sometimes, and of German or Italian fifteenth century woodcuts in the work of Mr. Ricketts. The weird designs of Mr. Reginald Savage should also be noted, as well as the charming woodcuts of Mr. Sturge Moore.
FROM "HERO AND LEANDER." (THE VALE PRESS.)]
Another very remarkable designer in black and white is Mr. Aubrey Beardsley. His work shows a delicate sense of line, and a bold decorative use of solid blacks, as well as an extraordinarily weird fancy and grotesque imagination, which seems occasionally inclined to run in a morbid direction. Although, as in the case of most artists, one can trace certain influences which have helped in the formation of their style, there can be no doubt of his individuality and power. The designs for the work by which Mr. Beardsley became first known, I believe, the "Morte d'Arthur," alone are sufficient to show this. There appears to be a strong mediæval decorative feeling, mixed with a curious weird Japanese-like spirit of _diablerie_ and grotesque, as of the opium-dream, about his work; but considered as book-decoration, though it is effective, the general abstract treatment of line, and the use of large masses of black and white, rather suggest designs intended to be carried out in some other material, such as inlay or enamel, for instance, in which they would gain the charm of beautiful surface and material, and doubtless look very well. Mr. Beardsley shows different influences in his later work in the "Savoy," some of which suggests a study of eighteenth century designers, such as Callot or Hogarth, and old English mezzotints.