Paul Kersten's Decorative Leather Work By Octave Uzanne THE
decorative arts have assumed considerable importance of late
years in Germany, and during the recent Paris International
Exhibition it came somewhat as a surprise to find, in the German
sections of goldsmith's work, pottery, furniture, etc., evidence
of real progress in industrial art on the part of those who
hitherto had certainly not been distinguished for good taste and
decorative harmony. Germany now takes a foremost place among the
nations who are striving to create new forms of decorative art
designed to embellish life by means of the ornamentation of the
dwelling-house and its furniture. The advance made in respect of
pewter-work, jewellery, faience, and porcelain was well known
and generally recognised, but the Germans were held to be behind
England, France, Belgium, and certain Scandinavian centres in
the matter of artistic binding. All we knew was that interesting
and curious experiments had been made by Voigt and Collin, of
Berlin, by Graf