SPECIAL REPORTS ON THE SCHOOLS OF ART, BY SIR R. ROWAND ANDERSON, LL.D., ARCHITECT, SESSION 1905-1906.

The Art Schools in Scotland (I refer chiefly to architectural education) will never do their work thoroughly unless pupils come to them better educated and prepared than at present. No apprentice should be taken under 16 years of age and must possess an Intermediate Certificate. It should be made a condition in all indentures that the apprentice must attend the art classes from the beginning of his apprenticeship.

I advocate morning, in place of evening classes for all architectural students, because there is a considerable leakage of class time in the evenings, as students, when there is pressure, have from time to time to work late in their offices and it is difficult to keep them together in the evenings towards the end of the session.

The winter evening work should be given to Science.

Representations should be made to architectural societies to adopt. resolutions embodying these suggestions, and from what I learned in Glasgow and Aberdeen, I believe architects would readily fall in with sun arrangements.

Students living in outlying places could easily be at the school by nine o'clock in the morning. To work students at night after a long day in the office is too much. Two evening classes a week for Science is enough.

The teaching of Art in Edinburgh, is at present in an unsatisfactory condition. The following schools undertake Art Education :-(1) The Royal Scottish Academy; (2) The School of the Board of Manufactures; (3) The Applied Art School, now combined with the Board of Manufactures School; (4) The Heriot Watt College; (5) The Edinburgh Architectural Association.

The Royal Scottish Academy confines itself chiefly to studies from the life.

The Board of Manufactures and the Heriot Watt College beside teaching industrial art generally, carry on a life school for painters and others.

The Applied Art School confines itself to architecture and applied arts. The Edinburgh Architectural Association has drawn up a scheme for the education of architects, and offers money prizes to apprentices and others for competitive designs. This has the result of drawing students away from the Applied Art School, in the hope of making a few pounds if successful in the competitions arranged by the Association.

The Royal Scottish Academy could fulfil their charter obligations by giving prizes and bursaries to students, and the Edinburgh Architectural Association could do the same with any funds at their disposal.

Edinburgh cannot support and does not require more than one first class school, and all the work done by the above schools could, and should be concentrated in one school, under a high-class director and organiser, who should be a permanent official, with a more highly paid staff of teachers, who should be engaged for a term of years only, say five.

While I advocate the concentration of Art teaching in one Central Art School, the Heriot Watt College and all other Technical Schools must still carry on drawing classes, as any engineer or man of science cannot be considered completely educated unless he is a good draughtsman.

The ten Royal Exhibitions and six National Scholarships of about £50 each are, in my opinion, wrongly disposed of. The result of the present

system is that they induce good students in Scotland to compete for them, the successful then go to London and the Royal College of Art gets the credit of doing more than they are entitled to, and Scotland loses.

1 understand that this money is not voted specially for the Royal College of Art, and it is not provided that its benefits are to be concentrated in London. The exhibitions and scholarships available for Scotland should be disposed of by a committee of experts in Scotland. The money would do more good if used in this way.

Clerk of Works Diploma.-I advocate strongly the institution of a special diploma for clerk of works. The Heriot Watt College, the schools at Aberdeen and Glasgow have all the appliances and teaching power to give a course of instruction leading up to this diploma, and the teaching should be spread over not less than five years.

On a building in course of erection there is no more important man than the clerk of works.

The interests of the building proprietor and the architect are, to a large extent in his hands, and much of the successful carrying out of work depends on his qualifications.

At present a clerk of works is almost always a carpenter or a mason, generally the former. However good he may be at his own trade, he has to acquire a knowledge of all the others, before he can be considered a qualified clerk of works. This, at present, is to a large extent accomplished by his own personal observation at buildings where he happens to be employed with a certain amount of study in the evening classes, but it is incomplete and imperfect.

The possession of a high diploma would raise the status of the clerks of works, and from the conversations I had with some of the Schools' Governors and others, I have reason to believe that they would support such a thing being instituted, in fact, the Technical College of Glasgow is now at work on a curriculum which would cover the ground necessary.

ABERDEEN GORDON'S COLLEGE AND GRAY'S SCHOOL OF ART.

On my visit here I was accompanied throughout by Mr. Ewen, H.M. Inspector of Science and Art. Previous to visiting the Art School I was taken to the Central Higher Grade Board School to inspect the Drawing carried on there under Mr. Symons, the teacher. I was much attracted by all I saw, and I think that Mr. Symons' results are remarkable.

Art School. I visited, in company with Mr. Ewen and Mr. Stewart, all the classes for modelling, drawing from the cast, the antique, and also the life class, and was much struck by the high standard of merit throughout. Mr. Ogg and the other male and female teachers are doing good work.

The course for architects and builders extends over five years. The history of architecture and design in architecture are excellently taught by Mr. Irvine, and building construction on very practical and comprehensive lines by Mr. Blake.

Colour does not appear to have a place in the curriculum of an architect, this should be supplied and carried on as is done in the Edinburgh School.

The attention of architectural students should be directed to the proper treatment of granite, which must always be the chief building material in the district. One cannot produce in granite what can be done in free stone, their natures are so different. To arrive at what should be done one must hark back to the countries and times when the granites, syenite and hard lime stones were the chief building materials, A careful study of the art of these countries would, in time, lead to a true and artistic manner of using granite in the present day. To this end a collection of casts from Egyptian and Assyrian works should be deposited in the new Art Gallery for the use of the students.

I should like to see more attention given to measuring and detailing old work. Aberdeenshire is very rich in buildings of the 16th and 17th

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centuries, and offers many opportunities for carrying on this work. A certain amount of it is now done, but I should like to see more of it. Nothing wakens up the interest of the student more than bringing him into personal contact with old work. It is a powerful factor in art education.

The courses laid down for stone cutters, plumbers, house painters, wood carvers and decorators are well arranged, and should in time bring about good results. The stone cutters want some more attention, and a better direction of their efforts. I found a number of them making designs from prints of cemetery monuments, all in bad taste, and nearly all of them unfit for reproduction in granite.

The preliminary education in architecture and its decorative features, modelling, perspective and colour, should be more thorough in all those grades.

I was much pleased to learn here that the Aberdeen Architectural Society is working in co-operation with the Art School. Their requirement that apprentices be of the age of sixteen or seventeen and that the standard of their education should be fixed by the Intermediate Certificate of the Education Department is in every way a good thing.

I would suggest that all evening classes for Architects should be given up, and that students should attend every morning from 8 till 11, and any evening work be given in winter to Science. The students' education in the school and the application of it in the office would run on parallel lines, and would act and re-act beneficially. I believe employers would find this a more convenient arrangement, and the attendance of the students at the school would not be so liable to be broken up with the occasional but necessary demands on them for overtime in their offices.

I was much impressed by all I saw at Aberdeen. The headmaster is well supported by his assistants, and I left with the feeling that I had seen a school doing admirable work, full of vitality, and with a great future before it.

DUNDEE TECHNICAL INSTITUTE.

I visited the classes here accompained by Mr. Ewen, H.M. Inspector of Science and Art, and I also had conversations with Dr. Lumsden.

The work is carried on in three different buildings: the Technical Institute, the Young Men's Christian Association Rooms and Dudhope Castle.

The headmaster, Mr. Delgaty Dunn, appears to be a capable man for his position, and he and his assistants are thoroughly interested in their work, and I have highly to commend all textile and ornamental work done under their tuition.

The drawing from the antique is more limited, the study from the living model still more so, and modelling is practically non-existent.

Mr. Thoms, the architectural teacher, is doing the best he can, but the tudents come to him in a very unprepared condition.

The curriculum for architects ought to be increased from four to five years, and the session from thirty to forty weeks. Architects should, if possible, be induced to take no apprentices under sixteen years of age, and not furnished with the Intermediate Certificate of the Education Department. I also recommend that the architectural classes should meet in the morning at eight, and if possible continue till eleven. Employers would soon recognise and reap the benefit of this arrangement.

The painters and plumbers carry on their work in Dudhope Castle. The rooms here are very low in the ceiling and the work is not carried on under healthy conditions.

The practical class in plumbing is active and doing good work.

The remarks I make about the painters at Glasgow and at the Heriot Watt College are equally applicable here.

The whole of this Institution wants remodelling, and possibly an entirely new and enlarged building. Until this is done the standard of attainment

will not be a high one.

EDINBURGH ROYAL INSTITUTION, SCHOOL OF ART.

I made a number of visits to this school and saw all the different classes at work, and also had the pleasure of going over it with Dr. Macnair,

Applied Art Section.-The work done in this section of the school still maintains a high standard, and many able draughtsmen are being turned out every year. The staff is, however, unequal to the work.

As the teaching is individual, and the attendance large, it is impossible for the head teacher, Mr. Greig, and his assistant to give a proper share of attention to each student. At least one more assistant teacher is wanted.

I should say that students are allowed to make original designs at too early a stage of their training. The result is that the student begins to do such work before he is prepared for it, and spends four times the amount of school time at the design than he would do if such work was deferred to the fifth year of his studies.

This also takes up too much of the time of the teacher. The proper place for the students to indulge their fancy and test their powers of original design is at their Sketching Club. The school time should be given up to serious study.

The advantage of putting all classes of students through a preliminary training of architecture is seen in this school.

The Colour class is ably conducted by Mr. Campbell Mitchell, and I can say the same for modelling under Mr. Portsmouth, but he ought to have an assistant for architectural work.

The Saturday afternoon sketching classes are more popular than ever. I know of nothing that brightens up a student or stimulates his interest in his studies more than getting him into contact with old work of every description. The work done by prize takers during their holidays is also to be highly commended.

A great impulse could be given to the Applied Art Section of this School if the hours of attendance were from eight till eleven in the morning in place of from eight till ten, and with no evening art classes. The attendance at these latter is frequently broken into by the necessary overtime apprentices have to work in offices. If the morning were entirely devoted to art instruction, and the students could give, say, two nights per week to science, that is all that should be expected of them. The Applied Art School is now doing in a most efficient manner what formerly had to be done in the office or the workshop in a very inefficient manner, in other words, employers are now getting their apprentices educated at the public expense. It is therefore not unreasonable to expect that the office hours should be curtailed to admit of apprentices getting the full benefit of the School. Employers should be urged to acquiesce in this arrangement, as I feel sure they would soon recognise the benefits they themselves would derive from it.

National Art Survey.-The invaluable and unique collection of records of Scottish Architectural work goes on increasing. The work done by the two bursars is an important factor in their education. If possible the number of bursars ought to be increased to four, so as to give every student a chance of doing six months' work at this.

I should like to see a little more discipline in this class. The work done by the last holders of these bursaries was not equal in amount to what should have been done and has been done by previous holders. Each student should keep a diary recording his daily work.

The holders of Travelling Scholarships have also given a good account of themselves, and the experience and knowledge they gain of all classes of work such as stained glass, metal work, wood work, etc., is invaluable to them in after life.

The lectures on Architecture by Mr. Ramsay Traquair have, I am told, been well attended and appreciated by the students.

Art School Classes.-I visited all the classes under the guidance of Mr. Blacklock and am able to report favourably on all I saw.

The Drawing and Painting classes from the antique and life are well attended, and there are a number of promising students. Some of the female students are doing excellent work.

The classes for Modelling from the Antique and Life, under Mr. Portsmouth are doing first-rate work. Mr. Portsmouth seems to have the gift of rousing the enthusiasm of his pupils.

The classes for General Design are well conducted by Mr. Black and his assistant, and some of his students are developing a distinct alent for design. The Bookbinding class is doing well.

The classes for Preliminary Drawing, etc., are well attended, and good work is being done.

This school can never do the good work it can and ought to do in the present building of the Royal Institution. The state of matters there now is deplorable. Teachers and pupils are hampered in every way, and there is no room for expansion. The solution for this problem is urgent and should be taken in hand at once.

EDINBURGH HERIOT WATT COLLEGE.

I made a number of visits to this College and received every attention from the Principal and teachers.

Architecture and Building Construction.-These subjects are taught to a large number of students by Mr. Jerdan, and there is good work being done within the limits of time at his disposal.

The teaching session is too short, only 28 weeks, with a class two nights per week of 1 hour and 20 minutes each. It is impossible to d fall justice, even with the addition of home work, to such wide and comprehensive subjects.

The classes for Graphics, Strength of Materials, and Mechanics of Structures are of great importance, and all architectural students should pass through them,

TRADE CLASSES.

Cabinetmaking. Mr. Ednie, one of the best students of his time in the Applied Art School, has conducted this class on good lines. I saw some excellent work being done by the students. The examples of furniture they have should be weeded out a little. The only criticism I have to make here is that the syllabus professes to do rather too much. What is known as L'Art Nouveau should be excluded, as it can only demoralise the taste of the students. There should be a fuller education in architectural drawing, colour and perspective.

Woodcarving.-Except for amateurs I do not think woodcarving should be taught, the workshop is the place for this. Modelling and a knowledge of historical ornament should be the subjects chiefly taught.

Bookbinding. Very good work is being done in this class.

Carpentry and Joinery.-The instruction given in this class is good and practical.

House Painters and Decorators.-This class is well attended and the teachers seem thoroughly interested in their work, but it is carried on on a wrong basis. While this class may educate apprentices to do remunerative work, which could not be done without the teaching they get here, it is impossible that art workmen can be produced. Colour cannot be taught by gas light, the laying on of paint may be. If art craftsmen are to be produced, then the whole system must be altered. The student must first of all be tested for colour blindness, then be put through a course of architectural and freehand drawing, historical ornament and colour study from still life, finishing with figure drawing and life studies. Unless he is thoroughly qualified in these subjects, he never can be a high-class decorator. I have found the Painters' class at the other schools I have visited in the same condition as here.

Art Classes.-The Art classes here are, I understand, practically the creation of the Headmaster, Mr. Riddel, and he deserves great credit for what he has done. This, of course, was only made possible by the liberality and support given by the Governors of the Trust. I looked over all the classes and I think Mr. Riddell's method of interesting the students in their work is good. All the students under his care (male and female) are making good progress.