THE CRAFTSMAN


liar motifs of decoration characterizing the
structural efforts of the Russian peasants:
their houses, their beds, benches, tables and
chairs, or other things wrought in wood.
As we examine these, history seems vital,


Table suggestive or Tne nyzanTine
style: designed by S. Malioutine
and not a matter of dried parchment and
crabbed letters. For the touch of the By-
zantine or the Greek seems yet warm upon
the object, though hundreds upon hundreds
of years have elapsed since the contact oc-
curred.
  This singular mingling of the refined
with the barbarian element is certainly the
great source of attraction in the Russian
himself, and in all the works of his imagi-
nation and intellect. It is apparent in the
splendid religious services of the Orthodox
Church, which offer so strong a contrast
with the Roman ritual, and carry the for-
eigner who witnesses them into a world of
sensuous pleasure quite apart from that
opened by the organ music of the Latin
mass. The impression made by a visit to
such a church as the one which rears its
44


golden domes over a commonplace boule-
vard of Paris is not one easily cancelled by
years of ordinary experiences. The bar-
baric splendor of the place proves that
there is a beauty other than the one which
             is suhdued by rules and refined


is.... sude ................ne
away   by  civilization. The
sensitive heart bounds in re-
sponse  to   the  unfamiliar,
crude modulations of the un-
accompanied chants; the eye,
grown   languid  by  delicate
feasts of soft shades, receives
a vitalizing shock from the
almost blinding gold and the
primary colors of the altar
and icons and vestments. The
ceremonies conducted by the
clergy, the almost constant
responsive movements of the
unseated worshippers, as they


             prostrate or cross themselves
with sweeping gestures,--all have a primi-
tive, elemental character which suggests the
wildness and freedom of the steppes, and
open vistas into past ages, when the pas-
sions of men were simpler and stronger, and
life was more sincere and real.
  Movements to preserve in the midst of
the materializing and levelling influences
of our times the arts of primitive peoples
should be recognized and fostered, whether
the arts involved are those of the Old World
or the New, the industries and handicrafts
of the Russian, or those of the North
American Indian. For such movements
are purely and simply the expression of the
instinct of self-preservation native to hu-
manity. Art is as necessary to life as food
and shelter, and whenever its abundance
fails and its fruits wither, life is robbed of