The Arts and Crafts movement
flowered in the 1870s and 80s as a
reaction to the decorative excesses of
the mid-nineteenth century. At its
heart was a search for a return to
simplicity, quiet beauty and honesty
of construction. There is no single
recognisable style that represents
Arts and Crafts an interior could be
exotic and precious, with rich
colours and patterns, or homely and
plain, as long as it adhered to the
Arts and Crafts ideal of hand
craftsmanship. The craft workshops
and guilds, created in idealized
imitation of their medieval
counterparts, produced furniture and
textiles, metalwork and ceramics
which raised the status of such
objects from minor household
articles to the decorative arts.
Arts & Crafts Style is a richly
illustrated survey of this middle-class
revolution in aesthetic taste, which
draws together its many different
strands and looks in particular at
how the style was interpreted
internationally, throughout Europe
and America.
Introduction 7
PART ONE
Coherence Out of Chaos
The Search for a New Style 1 3 โข The Choice of Gothic 21
Stained Glass 34 William Morris 36 โข Morris and Company 38
The Victorian Fear of Chaos 43 โข The Martin Brothers 47
William Burges 48
PART TWO
The Exploration of Arts and Crafts Ideals
A New Gospel is Spread 53 โข The Art Chair 68 โข C. R. Ashhee 70
Entertainment 72 โข Private Presses 74 โข Gustav Stickley 76
An Eclectic Style 79 โข E. W. Godwin 90 Christopher Dresser 91
Louis Comfort Tiffany 94
PART THREE
The Popularization of the Movement
The Refinement of the Style 99 โข C F. A. Voysey 112
Gimson and the Barnsleys 1 14 - Wallpapers 1 16 โข Carpets 120
Metalworlc 123 โข A Middle-class Enthusiasm 125 โข Lighting 135
The Hospitable Board 1 38 โข Tiles 140 The Nursery 142
Illustrators 146 โข The Benediction of Good Taste 149
Embroidery 155 โข American Ceramics 156 โข Eashion 158
Jewellery 162
PART FOUR
Into the Twentieth Century
New Departures 167 โข Charles Rennie Mackintosh 176
josef Hoffmann and the Wiener Werkstdtte 180
Richard Riemerschmid 182 โข Textiles 184
A Second Generation Interprets the Style 187
Frank Lloyd Wright 196 โข Greene and Greene 201
Garden Design 202
PART FIVE
The Continuing Influence of the Movement
The Modern Movement is Born 209 A Continuing Legacy 215
British Artist-Potters 224
Bibliography 226
Acknowledgements 229
Index 230