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 Ruskin’s

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.

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.

HISTORY

‘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)

PHILOSOPHYArts 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

INFLUENCESMedieval 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

TYPICAL METALWORK OF THE ARTS AND CRAFT MOVEMENT

THE "ARTICHOKE" WALLPAPER BY JOHN HENRY DEARLE 1897

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).

•With its long floor plan, the

corridor spannibg along the spine

link large art studios along the

north side (along the street) and

smaller ancillary rooms and

offices on the back side.

FRONTAL PROFILE (SHOWING TOWER-LIKE MASONRY WALLS AND

LARGE WINDOW)

ARCHITECTURE THE GLASGOW SCHOOL OF ART

•Stone and iron railing along the

façade

•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

•Significant combination of

craftsmanship and industrial

technology

FRONTAL PROFILE OF THE GLASGOW SCHOOL OF ART

(SHOWING ARCHED LAMPSTAND, IRON RAIL AND LARGE WINDOW)

ARCHITECTURE

Red House, Bexleyheath, London (1859) by Architect

Phillip Webb and William Morris.

PHILIP WEBB1831 - 1915

ARCHITECTURE THE RED HOUSE

STAINED GLASS WINDOWPANES

•This building is a good

example of the early Arts and

Crafts style. Some of its

features include well-

proportioned 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

ARCHITECTURE

INTERIOR SHOWING HAND-CRAFTED FURNITURE AND UPHOLSTERY

•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 open-

ended form of vernacular expression.

INTERIOR STAIRWAY DISPLAYING GOTHIC INFLUENCE

THE RED HOUSE

ARCHITECTURE

The Gamble House designed by two brothers, Architects

Charles Sumner Greene and Henry Mather Greene

ARCHITECTURE•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

THE GAMBLE HOUSE

EXPOSED RAFTERS

ARCHITECTUREAll furniture, built-in cabinetry,

paneling, wood carvings,

rugs, lighting, leaded stained

glass, accessories and

landscaping are all custom-

designed by the architects, in

the true hand-crafted spirit of

the Arts and Crafts

Movement.

THE GAMBLE HOUSE

LEADED ART GLASS ENTRY DOORS DESIGNED BY CHARLES GREENE

HAND CRAFTED LAMP ON THE PORCH

INTERIOR SHOWING CUSTOM UPHOLSTRY, FURNITURE AND LIGHT FITTINGS

•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].

REFERENCES