The Design of the Arts and Crafts Movement

In this blog essay, I will discuss the characteristics and influences of the Arts and Craft movement, which was founded by William Morris in England during the latter half of the 19th century. This movement can be described as a revolt versus the concept of mass production and a return to the traditional methods decoration.

Art is often a reaction of the current events that affect artists and society. The Arts and Craft Movement was a reaction to the poor quality of design during the Industrial revolution. The Great London exhibition of 1851 was the brainchild of Prince Albert and boasted the latest technologies of that time, which was the the prime of the industrial revolution. However, it hid away the darker side of this industrialized uprising. Sympathizers of the Arts and Crafts movements often criticized the way that workers had become machines, and that the lack of creativity was drying out the pride of craftsmanship.

William Morris, 
photographed by Frederick 
Hollyer, 1884.

The Arts and Crafts movement was developed from the views of people such as William Morris (1834 - 1896). The movement challenged industrialism, inspired by the concerns of philosophers and artists such as Walter Crane and John Ruskin. By 1880, the movement started out in Britain. As it bounded a vast range of like-minded societies, it quickly spread across Europe and America before popping out in Japan as the Mingei movement. At this time, Morris had become an internationally renowned and commercially successful designer and manufacturer. He was a poet and artist, who believed in a combination simplicity, good design and craft work. He believed that industrially manufactured items lacked the honesty of traditional craft work. His views and opinions were also supported by the artist / influential social intellectual, John Ruskin (1819 - 1900). ("The Arts & Crafts Movement - Victoria And Albert Museum")

A photograph of John Ruskin

A photograph of Walter Crane

New guilds and societies began to take up Morris's ideas, presenting for the first time a unified approach among architects, painters, sculptors and designers. The Arts and Crafts movement pushed forward advances in economy and society. Morris believed that the industrial revolution had stolen away creativity from the mind, after all the hours spent doing the same objectives in factories over and over again, turning the mind into an automated machine. The Arts and Craft movement promoted a vision of a culture where the working class was not butchered by the working conditions and pressure placed on them by factories, industrialization and mass production. Being a socialist and conservationist, Morris combined his skills with strong political beliefs. He contributed to the idea that art should improve the lives of ordinary people.

Workers inside Burnley Ironworks, 
("The Days When Cotton Was King")

In 1881, William Morris founded his own guild, which produced a wide range of domestic decorative objects. By 1890 he became a printer and established a print shop by January of 1891, in Hammersmith. his guild produced 53 hand-decorated books in the span of seven years. An example of such books would be the Klemscott Chaucer, housing the works of Geoffrey Choucer, which took four years to complete. The book contains 87 wood engraved illustrations by the Pre-Raphaelite painter Edward Burne-Jones (1833-98). The Golden Type was the serif font designed by Morris, inspired by Nicholas Jenson's ancient designs (1420-1480).

The opening pages of 'The Klemscott Chaucer'

In its eyes of the Movement, the worker was to take pride in his skill and craftsmanship. This movement left impacts on other art movements of simplicity in design, such as Bauhaus and Modernism. The Grammar of Ornament is book published by Owen Jones during this period, which was a source of historic design elements, heavily inspired  by Medieval and Islamic cultures. Gothic Revival had a strong influence on the Arts and Craft movement. Craft guilds were formed, showing great interest in medieval styles, strong colours, straightforward use of materials and simple function, if any at all.

The Grammar of Ornament, 
by Owen Jones

Arts and craft designs were characterized by simplicity of form, function and decoration. American arts and craft would be closely linked to the work of Morris along with the second generation of designers such as Charles Robert Ashbee, who designed important pieces of jewelry and silver tableware for the Guild of Handicraft.

Charles Robert Ashbee

The British Arts and Crafts movement eventually became known as the Aesthetic Style, which shared some characteristic with Art Nouveau, which originated from France and Belgium. In the United states, however, Arts and Crafts Furniture were termed as ‘Mission style’. Interiors of mission style were ornate with Native American designs and items such as rugs, pottery and baskets. However, since the products of the craftsmanship where expensive, the exquisite pieces could only be afforded by the wealthy as a result of mass market pricing. ("Arts And Crafts Movement: Origins, History, Aesthetics")

The people behind the movement believed that aesthetics should also be applied to objects of function. Hence, the goal of this movement was to create a design that was "for the people and by the people, and a source of pleasure to the maker and the user”. ("The Arts And Crafts Movement")

Screen, John Henry Dearle (designer), Morris & Co.

 (manufacturer), 1885-1910. 

A Design from the Arts and Craft Period

Another typical design

References

AP Art History. (2011). Arts and Crafts Movement. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYjNO2Y4m6c [Accessed 20 Dec. 2016].

Artyfactory.com. (2016). William Morris - The Arts and Crafts Movement. [online] Available at: http://www.artyfactory.com/art_appreciation/graphic_designers/william_morris.html [Accessed 7 Dec. 2016].

Char.txa.cornell.edu. (2016). The Arts and Crafts Movement. [online] Available at: http://char.txa.cornell.edu/art/decart/artcraft/artcraft.htm [Accessed 5 Dec. 2016].

Dinmore, H. (2016). A Study of John Ruskin. [online] Reframingthevictorians.blogspot.com.mt. Available at: http://reframingthevictorians.blogspot.com.mt/2014/12/normal-0-false-false-false-en-us-ja-x.html [Accessed 7 Dec. 2016].

Ebooktreasures.org. (2016). The Kelmscott Chaucer. [online] Available at: http://www.ebooktreasures.org/the-kelmscott-chaucer/ [Accessed 24 Dec. 2016].

Lancashire Telegraph. (2016). The days when cotton was King. [online] Available at: http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/11537029.The_days_when_cotton_was_King/ [Accessed 8 Dec. 2016].

Modernist Australia. (2016). Of Modernism and Mondrian. [online] Available at: http://modaustralia.squarespace.com/news/indexphp/2013/12/of-modernism-and-mondrian [Accessed 8 Dec. 2016].

Vam.ac.uk. (2016). Arts & Crafts: Britain 1880 - 1914 - Victoria and Albert Museum. [online] Available at: http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/a/arts-and-crafts-britain-1880-1914/ [Accessed 8 Dec. 2016].

Vam.ac.uk. (2016). The Arts & Crafts Movement - Victoria and Albert Museum. [online] Available at: http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/t/the-arts-and-crafts-movement/ [Accessed 6 Dec. 2016].

Visual-arts-cork.com. (2016). Arts and Crafts Movement: Origins, History, Aesthetics. [online] Available at: http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/history-of-art/arts-and-crafts.htm [Accessed 6 Dec. 2016].