Arts and Crafts movement

The Arts and Crafts Movement began in Britain around 1880 and quickly spread to
America, Europe and Japan. Inspired by the ideas of John Ruskin and William
Morris, it advocated a revival of traditional handicrafts, a return to a simpler way of
life and an improvement in the design of ordinary domestic objectsThe Arts and
Crafts movement was an international movement in the decorative and fine arts that
began in Britain and flourished in Europe and North America between about 1880
and 1920, emerging in Japan in the 1920s.

Arts and crafts (c.1860 to 1910)

The arts and crafts movement was made up of English designers and writers who wanted a
return to well-made, handcrafted goods instead of mass-produced, poor quality machine-
made items.
Inspired by socialist principles and led by William Morris, the members of the movement
used the medieval system of trades and guilds to set up their own companies to sell their
goods. Unfortunately, it had the reverse effect and, apart from the wealthy middle classes,
hardly anyone could afford their designs.
Visually, the style has much in common with its contemporary art nouveau and it played a
role in the founding of Bauhaus and modernism.

Arts and Crafts style houses are often large and rambling with
distinctive, complex floor plans. They share a number of design details
in common with the Tudor style including half-timbering, stucco siding
combined with shingle, cantilevered or projecting second stories, and
bands of small-paned casement windows. The example above was
designed by architect William Northrop Dudley as his residence in
Waverly, Massachusetts and featured in House Beautiful in 1908.
The essential difference is the streamlined simplicity and almost spartan
use of ornamentation in conjunction with a high degree of
craftsmanship and excellent quality materials.

arts and crafts style

The term "Arts and Crafts" refers to the early 19th-century British and American
movement to revive handicrafts. The movement was also the inspiration behind
theCraftsman and bungalow styles. English reformer William Morris was one of the
founders of the Arts and Crafts Movement in the late 1880s.

What is the difference between an art and a craft

Most people do not see any difference between art and craft as they are both
considered to be forms of creativity. ... Art is a form of work that is the expression of
emotions. Craft is a form of work, which results in a tangible output, for example,
moulding and carving.
Characteristics
Truth to materials
Preserving and emphasising the natural qualities of the materials used to make
objects was one of the most important principles of Arts and Crafts style.

Simple forms
Simple forms were one of the hallmarks of the Arts and Crafts style. There was no
extravagant or superfluous decoration and the actual construction of the object was
often exposed.

Natural motifs
Nature was an important source of Arts and Crafts motifs. The patterns used were
inspired by the flora and fauna of the British countryside.

The vernacular
The vernacular, or domestic, traditions of the British countryside provided the main
inspiration for the Arts and Crafts Movement. Many of those involved set up
workshops in rural areas and revived old techniques.
Simple form and shape : Simple forms were one of the hallmarks of the Arts and Crafts style.
There was no extravagant or superfluous decoration and the actual construction of the object
was often exposed.

Natural motifs : Nature was an important source of Arts and Crafts motifs. The patterns used
were inspired by the flora and fauna of the British countryside.

• Asymmetrical, often with complex plans, extensions, or cantilevered second floors

• Multiple, steeply pitched gabled roofs with upper roofs extended to cover open porches or verandas
• Hipped or gabled dormers
• Siding is often wood shingled, but brick and stucco were also used in combination
• Large chimneys with multiple flues
• Small scale casement windows often with small leaded panes, sometimes in ribbons or with transoms.
Exterior window trim is minimal or nonexistent
• Vertical board doors at entries, sometimes with carved beams
• Staining was often preferred over painted finishes indoors and out

• Built of natural materials. Craftsman homes are typically built of real wood, stone
and brick.
• Built-in furniture and light fixtures. Built-ins were the hallmark feature of the Arts
and Crafts era. Built-in cabinets allowed the furnishings to be part of the
architecture, ensuring design unity and economic use of space. Even the light
fixtures are often part of the design.
• Fireplace. A fireplace was the symbol of family in the Arts and Crafts movement, so
most homes feature a dominant fireplace in the living room and a large exterior
chimney.
• Porches. Most homes in the Craftsman style have porches with thick square or
round columns and stone porch supports.
 • Low-pitched roofs. The homes typically have a low roof with wide eaves and
triangular brackets.
• Exposed beams. The beams on the porch and inside the house are often exposed.
• Open floor plan. The Arts and Crafts Movement rejected the small, boxy rooms like
those in Victorian houses.

Style
• handmade
• simple forms with little ornamentation
• beauty of natural materials
• copper and pewter - often with a hammered finish
• stylised flowers, allegories from the Bible and literature, upside down hearts, Celtic
motifs

Influences
• medieval styles - the Gothic revival led by AN Pugin
• socialism - the ideas of John Ruskin and early Marx, especially the dehumanising
effects of industrialization
• the Orient - the pared-down quality of Japanese art

The names
• William Morris - set up own company with fellow artists called Morris, Marshall,
Faulkner & Co in 1861, (later just Morris & Co), which produced everything from
furniture and textiles to wallpaper and jewellery
• William de Morgan - glass, tiles and pottery
• CFA Voysey - wallpaper, textiles and silverware
• Richard Norman Shaw - architect

SOCIAL REFORM OF ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT

Change in Working condition

Belief in restorative

power of craftsmanship

Simple life

Art as a way of life

Principles
Design unity
Joy in labor
Individualism
Buildings and Interiors
The Red House
The Red House, in Bexleyheath, was designed in 1858-1860 by Philip Webb for his friend
William Morris. Webb rejected the grand classical style and instead found inspiration in
British vernacular architecture. With its well-proportioned solid forms, deep porches, steep
roof, pointed window arches, brick fireplaces and wooden fittings, The Red House
characterises the early Arts and Crafts style.
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/redhouse
37 Cheyne Walk, London
37 Cheyne Walk was built by C.R. Ashbee in 1893-1894. It was the home of his mother and
sister and also contained Ashbee's architectural offices. The house was known as The
Ancient Magpie and Stump after a public house which once stood on the site.
The Orchard, Chorleywood
C.F.A. Voysey designed The Orchard in Chorleywood for himself and his wife in 1899. Like
other Arts and Crafts designers, Voysey was interested in vernacular traditions. With its
sparse decoration and plain and simple furnishings, The Orchard was very different from the
usual dark and cluttered Victorian interior. This simplicity anticipates 20th-century modern
styles.

Ideals from the Arts and Crafts Movement

The truth and beauty in these simple ideals can be an inspiration in today's busy and often
crazy world. Here are a few Craftsman Style ideals for you to enjoy and use as you see fit
simple, refined aesthetics (beauty)
simple, functional design (utility)
living simply
social reform (individuals more rational; society more harmonious)
the virtue of a well decorated middle class home
handcrafted objects
high quality craftsmanship
The joy of working and crafting with one's own hands
Creating objects well designed and affordable to all

Creating harmony with nature

Using and sustaining natural materials
Maintaining a sense of space and environment
 Staying spiritually connected to home and nature

Creating space for inner peace away from jobs and factories

Architecture
In the nineteenth century the taste in design for buildings moved away from Classical
styles.
In the place of classical styles the new architectural styles of, first, Gothic Revival, and
then Arts and Crafts emerged
Arts and Crafts architecture followed these principles, allowing the function of the building
and the activities within it to determine the outer shape and the construction, leaving out
excessive ornamental features.

One departure from Gothic style was that Arts and Crafts buildings tended to have
graceful curved arches rather than pointed and many were designed on a modest scale, in
styles reminiscent of the manorial halls and half timbered cottages of Tudor or Elizabethan
England.

The preference for local slate, and red brick, for English Oak and for the cosy Inglenook
fireplace rather than ornate lead roofs and carved marble chimney piece defined the Arts
and Crafts style
There was also a contrast in values between classical architecture and Arts and Crafts.
Classical architecture was seen as being built by slave labour or, in more recent times, by
wage slaves, whereas Arts and Crafts relied on a partnership between designer and
craftsman in which the craftsman was highly respected alongside the artist and architect .
There was too a greater concern for equality, and a concern to improve the quality of life
which a building could provide for its occupants.

Features of the arts and crafts movement houses

• Porch with thick square or round columns

• Stone porch supports

•Wood ,stone, stucco : sliding low pitched roof, wide eaves with triangular brackets.

•Exposed roof rafters Exterior chimney made with stone

Open floor plans; few hallways

Beamed ceilings

windows with stained or leaded glass

Dark wood wainscoting and moldings

Built-in cabinets ,shelves and seating's

 Numerous windows

ARCHITECTS
WILLIAM MORRIS (1834 –1896)
William Morris was the central figure in the Arts and Crafts Movement and one of the most
important and influential designers in British History. In 1861 he founded his first company
which produced a wide range of decorative objects for the home including furniture, fabrics,
wallpaper and stained glass. Morris was also renowned as a poet and writer and in 1890 he
became a printer, setting up the Kelmscott Press. Morris combined his artistic skills with
strong political beliefs. A committed conservationist and Socialist, he dedicated his life to
the idea that art should improve the lives of ordinary people.

Morris was a brilliant two dimensional pattern designer.

In 1861 he founded his first company which produced a wide range of decorative objects for
the home including furniture, fabrics, wallpaper and stained glass.
William Morris was the central figure in the Arts and Crafts Movement and one of the most
important and influential designers in British History.

William Morris was an artist designer, printer, typographer, bookbinder, craftsman, poet,
writer, and champion of socialist ideals.
Founder of Morris & company ,The kelmscott press
Morris combined his artistic skills with strong political beliefs.

A committed conservationist and Socialist, he dedicated his life to the idea that art should
improve the lives of ordinary people
He believes that nature was perfect example of God’s creation.

Inspired by
- pre Raphaelite brotherhood

-writings of John Ruskin

WORKS
TRELLIS Wallpaper designer by Morris

The Red House

The Red House, in Bexleyheath, was designed in 1858-1860 by Philip Webb for his friend William
Morris.

Webb rejected the grand classical style and instead found inspiration in British vernacular architecture.
With its well-proportioned solid forms, deep porches, steep roof, pointed window arches, brick
fireplaces and wooden fittings,
 The Red House characterizes the early Arts and Crafts style named because of its red brick and tile
construction

Commissioned by Morris, Philip Web built the Red House at Bexley Heath in Kent. The emphasis on basic
form, sound materials and good craftsmanship had great appeal to architects who in turn contributed to
a poetic phase of European architecture.

In building the house, every brick and tile was carefully selected and placed to give variation of colour
and to avoid the impression of any mechanical uniformity.

The Red House perhaps the best known building associated with the Arts and Crafts movement and
appears in virtually every book relating to Arts and Crafts

The interior design included murals by Burne-Jones and Rossetti and massive furniture designed by Webb
and by Morris

the use of exposed red brick for the exterior both gave the house its name and reveals the innate beauty
of the construction materials. Morris and Webb valued the specific beauty of natural materials, which
they saw as far superior to and healthier than industrially produced materials. Red House is L-shaped,
with the rooms laid out for maximum efficiency and clarity.

L-shaped plan also allows the house to embrace the gardens as a part of the domestic sphere, as well as
creates an asymmetry that is typical of traditional Gothic structures that were built over long periods of
time.

C R ASHBEE (1863 –1942)

Charles Robert Ashbee was a major figure in the Arts and Crafts Movement. He designed
many important pieces of jewellery and silver tableware for the Guild of Handicraft, which
he established in 1888 in the East End of London. The Guild's work is characterised by plain
surfaces of hammered silver, flowing wirework and coloured stones in simple settings. In
1902 Ashbee moved the Guild out of London to found an experimental community in
Chipping Camden in the Cotswolds.

Influenced by
socialism of William Morris (established guild and school of handicraft in 1888 in the slums of white
chapel)

Works of John Ruskin

Charles Robert Ashbee was a major figure in the Arts and Crafts Movement.

He designed many important pieces of jewelry and silver tableware for the Guild of Handicraft, which
he established in 1888 in the East End of London.

The Guild's work is characterized by plain surfaces of hammered silver, flowing wirework and colored
stones in simple settings.

WORKS
C R ASHBEE SILVER MOUNTED DECANTER

C R ASHBEE MAHOGANY VENEERED ETAGÈRE

W.R Lethaby (1857-1931)
Influenced by

His father and lay preacher

Society of protection of ancient buildings

WORKS
W R LETHABY BUILDING AT COLMORE ROW

Phillip web
• Architect of the first arts and crafts building – the Red house

Philip Webb is often called the father of the Arts & Crafts movement. Famous for his comfortable,
unpretentious country homes, Philip Webb also designed furniture, wallpaper, tapestries, and stained
glass.

Architects CONTRIBUTIONS
• The important contribution of architects such as Pugin and Voysey stems from their involvement in the
design of furnishing and decoration.

• They continued their interest after the building structure was complete, and followed through into
interior design and decorative art.

This interest beyond the architectural started early in the history of the movement when architects were
unable to find the right kind of furniture to match the new style of buildings which they had designed.
Neither the furniture available from manufacturers at the time, nor the antique furniture which could be
acquired fitted in with the new styles and so architects designed furniture and fittings to match the
buildings and interiors which they had created.

These architect- designers left their personal touch on the smallest detail of the design inside and
outside of the building.

As well as including designs for furniture ,they often designed the light fittings, wallpaper, door
furniture, and even keys, window latches ,doorbells and clocks. the design for a clock by Charles Voysey.

The objects made during the arts and crafts movement were smaller, affordable such as textiles,
pottery, furniture etc.

INFLUENCE ON
America (1890-1916)

• The movement flourished on the East Coast, in the Midwest and in California, and included
major figures such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Charles and Henry Greene, and Gustav Stickley.

• Despite its European origins, the movement acquired a particularly American form and
expression that reflected the confidence of the relatively young nation.

• Exchanges of ideas between Britain and America were frequent and visible. The work of
Ruskin, Morris, Ashbee and Baillie Scott was well known and had a significant influence.
• But American Arts and Crafts designers took a much more commercial approach to Arts and
Crafts, but maintained a strong sense of individuality and national identity in their work.

EXAMPLES

DAVID B GAMBLE HOUSE House at West Sussex, England, Designed by Charles Sumner
Greene and Henry Mather Greene (1908)

MILLARD HOUSE HOUSE F L Wright

WAINWRIGHT BUILDING Louis Sullivan (1890-91)

Europe (1890-1914)
• Across Europe, the Arts and Crafts Movement saw a revival of traditional techniques and
materials and the creation of new forms that were both ageless and innovative.

• Arts and Crafts ideals developed in a number of regions, including Russia, Scandinavia,
Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
• However, the British model was thought to be too anti-industrial in spirit. In Germany it was
legitimate to use technology as a means of achieving efficient production, so long as quality was
maintained in the end product. In retrospect, the German interpretation of Arts and Crafts proved
to be one of the most long-lasting and influential.

The Decline of Arts and Crafts

Despite its high ideals, the Arts and Crafts Movement was essentially flawed.

Their opposition to modern methods of production and the tendency to look back to the
medieval world, rather than forward to a progressive era of complete mechanization, was what
eventually sounded the death knell of the movement.

They could only fail in their socialist ideal of producing affordable quality hand-crafted design
for the masses as the production costs of their designs were so high that they could only be
purchased by the wealthy.

Also, any movement which continually looks to the past for its inspiration must have a limited
life span. There are only so many ways you can reinterpret the past without becoming repetitive.

However,in time the English Arts and Crafts movement came to stress craftsmanship at the
expense of mass market pricing.
The result was exquisitely made and decorated pieces that could only be afforded by the very
wealthy.

Thus the idea of art for the people was lost, and only relatively few craftsman could be
employed making these fine pieces.

This evolved English Arts and Crafts style came to be known as "Aesthetic Style." It shared
some characteristics with the French/Belgian Art Nouveau movement.