⠀⋆.˚ ☾⭒.˚⠀’s Reviews > Selected Prose of Oscar Wilde > Status Update

Lefebure concludes his interesting history by stating very clearly his attitude towards machine-made lace. 'It would be an obvious loss to art,' he says, 'should the making of lace by hand become extinct, for machinery, as skilfully devised as possible, cannot do what the hand does.' It can give us 'the results of processes, not the creations of artistic handicraft.' Art is absent 'where formal calculation pretends to supersede emotion'; it is absent 'where no trace can be detected of intelligence guiding handicraft, whose hesitancies even possess peculiar charm… cheapness is never commendable in respect of things which are not absolute necessities; it lowers artistic standard.'