Under the absolutely liberating conditions of "process reproduction"
(see PROCESS) the latest developments in illustration on its lighter
and more popular side are full of French influences, or ready to
follow the wind in any fresh direction, whether to America or Japan;
but on the graver side they show a strong leaning towards the older
traditions of the 'sixties and of Pre-Raphaelitism. The founding by
William Morris of the Kelmscott Press in 1891, through which were
produced a series of decorated and illustrated books, aimed frankly at
a revival of medieval taste. In Morris's books decorative effect and
sense of material claimed mastery over the whole scheme, and subdued
the illustrations to a sort of glorious captivity into which no breath
of modern spirit could be breathed. The illustrations of Burne-Jones
filled with a happy touch of archaism the decorative borders of
William Morris; and only a little less happy, apart from their
imaginative inferiority, were the serious efforts of Walter Crane and
one or two others. Directly under the Morris influence arose the
"Birmingham school," with an entire devotion to decorative methods and
still archaic effects which tended sometimes to rather inane
technical results. Among its leaders may be named Arthur Gaskin, C. M.
Gere and E. H. New; while work not dissimilar but more independent in
spirit had already been done by Selwyn Image and H. P. Horne in the
_Century Guild Hobby-Horse_. But far greater originality and force
belonged to the work of a group, known for a time as the
neo-Pre-Raphaelites, which joined to an earnest study of the past a
scrupulously open mind towards more modern influences. Its earliest
expression of existence was the publication of an occasional
periodical, the _Dial_ (1889-1897), but before long its influence
became felt outside its first narrow limits. The technical influence
of Abbey, but still more the emotional and intellectual teaching of
Rossetti and Millais, together with side-influences from the few great
French symbolists, were, apart from their own originality, the forces
which gave distinction to the work of C. S. Ricketts, C. H. Shannon,
R. Savage and their immediate following. Beauty of line, languorous
passion, symbolism full of literary allusions, and a fondness for the
life of any age but the present, are the characteristics of the
school. Their influence fell very much in the same quarters where
Morris found a welcome; but an affinity for the Italian rather than
the German masters (shown especially in the "Vale Press"
publications), and a studied note of world-weariness, kept them
somewhat apart from the sturdy medievalism of Morris, and linked them
intellectually with the decadent school initiated by the wayward
genius of Aubrey Beardsley. But though broadly men may be classed in
groups, no grouping will supply a formula for all the noteworthy work
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