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THE CRAFTSMAN
a few of the more striking characteristics.
The decorative artists had no precise knowl-
edge of the riches of the past. They had
before them only a few pieces which fashion
required them to reproduce.
   But there was a still graver aspect of the
existing conditions. Artists knew the past
Antique vase of rock crystal, mounted in silver dur-
   ing the twelfth century: from the Treasury of the
   Abbey of St. Denis, nearParis; now in the galleries
   of the Louvre
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only to copy it. Instead of studying the
old models, they exerted all their efforts to
reproduce them with understanding and
accuracy. They fashined works of copy-
ists, and not of creators. In that fact lay
their principal error. A decorative art
which enters the path of reproduction is a
dead art. They copied so extensively that,
when the innovators appeared, these latter
were thoroughly alienated from the past
which existed only in dead remains, and of
which the same examples were offered in
endless series. Affected by such conditions,
many of those who cast themselves on the
side of the new art, said: "Let us fix our
gaze upon the present! Let us no longer
have consideration for the past, which has
been for us a frightful burden! Let our
work be independent and original !"
  But a style can not be improvised. There
are rules which govern the production of a
vase, a dresser, an arm-chair, just as there
are rules for building a house. Imagina-
tion alone and unaided is impotent, danger-
ous, lawless. Let us praise the artists who
say: "Let us fix our gaze upon the present,"
but let us complete their unfinished formula.
We shall say: "Let us fix our gaze upon
the present, with eyes that have studied the
past." If we wish our modern work to be
strong and lasting, it must not be in oppo-
sition to the changeless rules of art. It is
to seek these rules that we study the past.
  In reviewing fine models of historic styles,
we should not regard them as objects to be
copied. Our aim is not imitation. We
say: "Here are admirable productions;
but if you wish in turn to create a really
beautiful work, deserving to be preserved
and made known, understand that you will
not gain your end by copying, but by