ARTS &

MOVEMENT
OBI OBIORA JEFFREY | ARC 4

WILLIAM MORRIS An English textile designer, artist, writer, and socialist. He was the major pioneer of the Arts and Craft Movement which was inspired by John Ruskins philosophy of rejecting industrial manufacture of decorative arts and architecture in favour of a return to hand-craftsmanship, creating art that should be affordable and hand-made with no hierarchy of artistic mediums.

HISTORY
The Arts and Crafts movement emerged during the late Victorian period in England, the most industrialized country in the world at that time and flourished from around 1860 till 1930. Arts and Crafts designers sought to improve standards of decorative design, believed to have been debased by mechanization, and to create environments in which beautiful and fine workmanship governed.

HISTORY
The movement was inspired by the social reform concerns of thinkers such as Walter Crane and John Ruskin, together with the ideals of reformer and designer, William Morris. The main vision was that of a society in which the worker could take pride in his craftsmanship and skill in producing original and unique yet simple beautiful objects that exhibited the result of fine craftsmanship, as opposed to the shoddy products of mechanized mass production.

HISTORY
The Arts and Crafts movement was also seen as an extension of the spirit of the Luddite Rebellion which was a violent revolt of the Luddites (a social movement of 19th-century English textile artisans) who found themselves suddenly unemployed since they could no longer compete with machines which needed less (and less skilled) labour for more productivity. The movement was a rather metaphorical rebellion than physical and was rather more successful as it represented a turning point.

CABBAGE AND VINE TAPESTRY BY WILLIAM MORRIS (1879)

PHILOSOPHY
Technology reduced quality Man had become less creative as his craft skills had been removed from the manufacturing process due to the exploitation of workers in the industrial revolution. One aim of the movement was to put man back in to the design and manufacturing process so that craft skills and good honest design would again be central to the manufacturing process.

THE WOODPECKER BY WILLIAM MORRIS AND CO. (1885)

PHILOSOPHY
Arts and Crafts objects Were simple in form, Were without unnecessary decoration, how they were constructed was often still visible,(exposure of structure) emphasized the qualities of the materials used ("truth to material"), had patterns inspired by British flora and fauna.

THE LIMITED-EDITION HAWTHORN LAMP FROM WILLIAM MORRIS STUDIO

INFLUENCES
Medieval Guilds provided a model for the ideal craft production system. Aesthetic ideas were also borrowed from Medieval European, African and Islamic sources. Japanese ideas were also incorporated early Arts and Crafts forms. The forms of Arts and Crafts style were typically rectilinear and angular, with stylized decorative motifs remeniscent of medieval and Islamic design. The Arts and Craft Movement futher inspired The Art Nouveau and the Bauhaus style.

JAPANESE WEDDING KIMONO

A TYPICAL EXAMPLE OF AFRICAN POTTERY

MISSION STYLE (AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFT MOVEMENT)

The Arts and Crafts movement which initially developed in England during the latter half of the 19th century, was subsequently taken up by American designers, with somewhat different results. In the United States, the Arts and Crafts style was also known as Mission style. The movement in America contributed largely to the design and building functional furniture in Chicago pioneered by Gustav Stickley who was also the publisher of an Arts and Craft periodical publication called the Craftsman. Another such publication was the Fra which also preached building designs by Arts and Crafts architects and furnishing and decorating it appropriately.

ARCHITECTURE
As the movement grew in influence, architecture, furniture making and the decorative arts, such as interior design, started displaying the simplicity of craft approach. Arts and Crafts architecture sought a spiritual connection with the surrounding natural and manmade environment.

THE WILLIAM MORRIS CHAIR 1886

THE "ARTICHOKE" WALLPAPER BY JOHN HENRY DEARLE 1897

TYPICAL METALWORK OF THE ARTS AND CRAFT MOVEMENT

ARCHITECTURE
Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow (1845) by Architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

CHARLES RENNIE MACKINTOSH 1868 - 1928

ARCHITECTURE

THE GLASGOW SCHOOL OF ART

LIBRARY INTERIOR SHOWING CRAFTED LIGHTS

NORTH FACADE OVERVIEW

SKYLIGHTED MUSEUM INTERIOR

CUSTOM CRAFTED CHANDELIER

ARCHITECTURE

THE GLASGOW SCHOOL OF ART The building is influenced by Scottish baronial architecture (volumetric masses of heavy masonry), Arts and Craft motifs (floral and geometric motifs in the iron work and tiles) and modern materials and techniques (large, braced windows). FRONTAL PROFILE With its long floor plan, the (SHOWING TOWER-LIKE corridor spannibg along the spine MASONRY WALLS AND LARGE WINDOW) link large art studios along the north side (along the street) and smaller ancillary rooms and offices on the back side.

ARCHITECTURE

THE GLASGOW SCHOOL OF ART Stone and iron railing along the faade Large windows Arts and Craft floral and geometric motifs bring scale and color to the rooms in details of mantelpieces, lighting fixtures, carpets, furniture, and crockery. Presence of mezzanine over timber supports in library. Tower-like masonry walls FRONTAL PROFILE OF THE GLASGOW SCHOOL OF ART Significant combination of (SHOWING ARCHED craftsmanship and industrial LAMPSTAND, IRON RAIL AND LARGE WINDOW) technology

ARCHITECTURE
Red House, Bexleyheath, London (1859) by Architect Phillip Webb and William Morris.

PHILIP WEBB 1831 - 1915

ARCHITECTURE

THE RED HOUSE

This building is a good example of the early Arts and Crafts style. Some of its features include wellproportioned solid forms, wide porches, steep roof, pointed window arches, brick fireplaces, emphasis on natural materials and hand crafted metal and wooden fittings. An early example of a garden as a series of exterior rooms

EXTERNAL VIEW

STAINED GLASS WINDOW PANES

ARCHITECTURE

THE RED HOUSE Influenced by William Butterfield's Gothic Revival using clay tiling, corbelled brick work, rubbed brick arches and circular openings, as a way of articulating an openended form of vernacular expression.

INTERIOR STAIRWAY DISPLAYING GOTHIC INFLUENCE

INTERIOR SHOWING HAND-CRAFTED FURNITURE AND UPHOLSTERY

ARCHITECTURE
The Gamble House designed by two brothers, Architects Charles Sumner Greene and Henry Mather Greene

ARCHITECTURE

THE GAMBLE HOUSE

An Arts and Crafts Movement masterpiece, this building reveals Japanese aesthetic influence. Timber is the major material (structural platform framing, flooring, walls and furniture), whereas other materials like shingles, bricks and stones are used at the roof, garden walls and paths respectively. Soft landscape dominates the exterior with gardens, lawns, trees and hedges

TIMBER FRAME STRUCTURE

EXPOSED RAFTERS

ARCHITECTURE
All furniture, built-in cabinetry, paneling, wood carvings, rugs, lighting, leaded stained glass, accessories and landscaping are all customdesigned by the architects, in the true hand-crafted spirit of the Arts and Crafts Movement.
INTERIOR SHOWING CUSTOM UPHOLSTRY, FURNITURE AND LIGHT FITTINGS

THE GAMBLE HOUSE

LEADED ART GLASS ENTRY DOORS DESIGNED BY CHARLES GREENE

HAND CRAFTED LAMP ON THE PORCH

REFERENCES

John, F. P., 2005. A History of Interior Design. London: Laurence King Publishing Nicols, F., 2004. Against the Machine: The Hidden Luddite Tradition in Literature, Art, and Individual Lives. Washington: Island Press Wikipedia, 2011. Arts and Crafts Movement. [online] Available at: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arts_and_Crafts_Movement> [Accessed 14 September 2011]. Wikipedia, 2011. Red House (London). [online] Available at: < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_House_(London)> [Accessed 14 September 2011]. Wikipedia, 2011. Gamble House (Pasadena, California). [online] Available at: < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamble_House_(Pasadena,_Calif ornia)> [Accessed 14 September 2011].