Start Date(s)

• 1890 (journal itself)
• 1887 (Willing’s)

End Date(s)

• 1914 (NSTC )
• 1929 (Roberts)

Editor(s)

• Batsford, Bradley Thomas

Printer/Publisher(s)

• Electrotype Co.

City

• London, England (NSTC)

Type of Content

• Lithographed designs (Catalogue p. 10)
• “Designs in colour for art workers” (Index p. 18)
• “Each issue contains five plates, all coloured” (“The Half-Year’s Art” p. iii)
• Contains an introductory note by Wyke Bayliss (journal itself)

Notes

• “The January 1890 volume contains only illustrations. It is the English edition of Dekorative Vorbilder (parts 1-7 of the German)” (Waterloo Online)
• “Having expressed in a review a very favourable opinion of the Dekorative Vorbilder, a work that has met with considerable success in France and Italy, as well as in Germany where it first originated, I have been invited to write a brief Introduction to the English Edition. The work is intended specially to assist the Amateur and the Art-Decorator, by placing before them designs which may be copied, enlarged, amplified, or varied, according to the purpose to which they may be applied. These designs are of very great variety, both in subject and style. Some are transcripts from the works of the great Masters of the Renaissance, Italian, French, and Dutch; others are from the studios of living Artists. They include examples suitable for Mural Decoration, for Tapestry, for Modelling and Wood Carving, for Illumination of Manuscripts and Bookbinding, for Repousse and Inlaid work, and generally for Pictorial Ornament of all kinds. So that in turning over the leaves of this book one can scarcely fail to come upon some suggestion that may form the basis of a system of decoration, or be adapted to the purpose in hand” (“Introduction,” first series, 1890) (Waterloo Online)
• “Yet another art magazine is upon us. It is The Art Decorator, and is published by the Electrotype Company. The first number contains a preface Mr. Wyke Bayliss, who explains that The Art Decorator is an English edition of the German Vorbilder. The designs presented to us in the number do not augur well for the success of the enterprise. The Germans can scarcely claim to be the most artistic nation in the world, and it would be astonishing if they selected their illustrations with discretion. We cannot see that the drawing of a ‘Bramble’ has the slightest claim to be called decorative; and of the allegorical designs entitled ‘Music’ and ‘Painting,’ the best that can be said is that they are Teutonic” (“New Books” 1890, p. 212)
• “In an introductory note to the first number of this publication, Mr. Wyke Bayliss, the President of the Royal Society of British Artists, explains to some extent the scope of the work. It is to assist the art decorator by placing before him selected designs of worth, some of which are transcripts from the works of the great masters of the Renaissance--Italian, French, and Dutch--and others from the studios of eminent living artists. The designs are varied, and include examples suitable for mural decoration, tapestry, modelling, bookbinding, and repoussée and inlaid work, and generally for pictorial ornament of all kinds. The serial is not of interest to the decorative artist alone, for all who are interested in art cannot but be struck with the beautiful designs and the highly successful colour-printing which characterises the work. Each issue contains five plates, all coloured. The work is well deserving of the success it has attained, and should be productive of much good in the domain of decorative art” (“The Half-Year’s Art” p. iii)
• “The Art Decorator volume has reached us. As an example to our English decorators of what their German brethren can do, it will be invaluable--nearly every design is beautiful, both in colour and detail, and each and all should prove fruitful sources of suggestion. To those who wish to know further about the purposes of this valuable work we would say that the best account is that which is contributed as a preface to the volume by Mr. Wyke Bayliss, F.S.A., who says, ‘For the mass of English amateurs, more skilled perhaps in execution than in design, and for the hardworking decorators of our provincial towns from whom something more is expected nowadays in the matter of taste than used to suffice for the man with the paint-pot, there will be much in the pages of the book to admire, and practically to serve their purpose.’ But does not Mr. Wyke Bayliss mean ‘more skilled in design than in execution’? Surely it is in execution that our English workmen fail” (“Gift Books” p. 616)
• This will become The Artworkers' Studio in vol. 27 (and will run from 1926-29) (Roberts p. 16)
• Publisher's address (Hodder Bros.): 18 New Bridge St., London (Mitchell’s 1895, p. 206)

Subject Categories

• Design
• Fine Art
• Printing Trade

Issues

• Art Decorator 1.1 (January 1890)
• Art Decorator 1.2 (February 1890)
• Art Decorator 1.3 (March 1890)

Sources that Discuss this Journal

• COPAC
• “Gift” p. 616
• “Half-Year’s” p. iii
• Index p. 18
• Mitchell’s 1895 p. 206
• NSTC
• “New Books,” Woman’s World p. 212
• Roberts p. 16
• Stewart vol. 1, p. 222
• Waterloo (online)
• Willing’s 1906, vol. 33, p. 206

Works Cited

• COPAC: Consortium of Online Public Access Catalogues. Library Hub Discover, JISC.
• “Gift Books for Adults.” The Review of Reviews, vol. 2, no. 12, Dec. 1890, pp. 613-21. Google Books.
• “Half-Year’s Art.” Supplement to Igdrasil, vol. 1, no. 6, June 1890, pp. i-vi. Google Books.
• Index to the Periodical Literature of the World (Covering the Year 1893). The Review of Reviews, 1894. Google Books.
• Mitchell’s Newspaper Press Directory and Advertiser’s Guide. C. Mitchell, 1895.
• “New Books.” The Woman’s World, vol. 3, 1890, pp. 211-12. Google Books.
• NSTC (Nineteenth-Century Short Title Catalogue), in C19: The Nineteenth-Century Index, Chadwyck-Heaney, 2020. ProQuest.
• Roberts, Helene E. “British Art Periodicals of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries.” Victorian Periodicals Newsletter, no. 9, 1970, pp. 1–183. JSTOR.
• Stewart, James D., editor. British Union-Catalogue of Periodicals. 4 vols. Butterworths, 1968.
• The Waterloo Directory of English Newspapers and Periodicals: 1800-1900, edited by John S. North. North Waterloo Academic Press, 2009.
• Willing’s (Late May’s) British and Irish Press Guide, and Advertiser’s Directory and Handbook. Willing’s Press Service. HathiTrust.