Social History Following Hot on the Heels of the Aesthetic Movement

THE BRITISH arts & Craft Movement Social history Following hot on the heels of the Aesthetic Movement, Arts & Crafts Style was a socially progressive art and design movement spearheaded by William Morris, which went on to gather strength in the Arts and Crafts workshops of the Cotswolds and the industrial garden cities of Port Sunlight & Bournville in the early 20th century. Where Aestheticsim was ‘art for arts sake’, the Arts & Crafts Movement was founded on socialist principles. Its pioneers championed the revival of traditional craftsmanship and good quality materials. Arts & Crafts designers believe that individually crafted wares were integral to good interior design and should be both useful as well as pleasing to the eye. An attempt to reform design and decoration as a stand against the ‘sham’ furnishings displayed at the Great Exhibition, Morris and his partners used natural materials, good craftsmanship, simple forms and organic shapes to create their pared back, honest look. A short-lived movement, Arts & Craft style clearly differentiated itself from the historical reproductions of the early Victorian era, with its botanical influences underpinning the sinuous lines of Art Nouveau. Key Dates 1861 Morris, Marshall & Faulkner established (later Morris & Co) 1875 Morris & Co relocates to London 1881 Morris & Co moves to Merton Abbey and the designs take on a more exotic taste 1883 Arthur Lazenby opens Liberty, the retail emporium 1887 Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society founded by Walter Crane 1888 Ashbee forms the Guild of Handicraft in East London 1893 Building starts Bournville, industrial garden city for Cadbury 1896 Wiiliam Morris dies 1899 Building starts at Port Sunlight, Merseyside, industrial garden city for Lever Brothers 1902 The Guild of Handicraft moves to the Cotswolds 1903 First Flight by the Wright Brothers 1914 World War I arts & Craft Movement 1860-1910 Architecture Arts & Craft architecture was a style that rebelled against industrialization and urged for a return to craftsmanship. Like interiors and furnishings at the time, architecture also underwent something of a reformation. The English Vernacular necessitated a return to traditional building techniques, use of local materials and architecture became free of any imposed style. The resulting homes responded to function and human need, were simple in design and free of spurious ornament. Noted architects at the time were Philip Webb, Charles Voysey and William Lethaby. Inspired by medieval and Gothic forms, Arts & Crafts architects were undoubtedly influenced by Ruskin’s Seven Lamps of Architecture (1849), which voiced truth (an honest display of materials and structure), life (buildings should be made by human hands) and memory, (buildings should respect the culture from which they have developed) as three of its key mantras. The Red House, Philip Webb for William Morris arts & Craft Movement 1860-1910 1 2 3 4 5 The gothic inspired well at The Red House,(2) Cragside, transformed by architect Norman Shaw beginning 1869 (3) Moor Crag by Voysey (4) a Voysey house in Bedford Park, London(5) Standen House designed by Philip Webb arts & Craft Movement 1860-1910 Domestic Architecture Towards the end of the century, as industrialists sought to expand, model villages were established with homes built in Arts & Crafts style. Port Sunlight in The Wirral and Bournville Village were constructed to provide good working conditions for employers of Levers and Cadbury and they became the blue print for other garden cities, which were built during the 20th Century. Heavily influenced by the ideas of Morris, local materials and craftsmen constructed homes in a range of architectural styles with features such as half timbering, carved woodwork, pargetting and leaded glazing. The housed importantly included front and back gardens so that employees could enjoy their natural setting and interiors were bright and modern. Arts & Crafts houses at Port Sunlight and Bournville Village built by local craftsmen using local materials and hand building techniques, embracing a number of architectural styles arts & Craft Movement 1860-1910 People William Morris – Designer (1834 – 1896) William Morris, founder of Morris, Marshall & Faulkner (later Morris & Co) is one of the most important and celebrated designers in British history. His artistic talents (as well as being a designer, he was also a skilled poet and writer) were closely intertwined with his political beliefs and he maintained that art in all its forms should improve the lives of ordinary people. His company decorated churches and designed stained glass, textiles, tapestries, and furniture for the home. Most quoted for his maxim ‘have nothing in your house which you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful’; Morris maintained that ‘the true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life’. Ironically, his rejection of machinery kept the prices of his goods high so that at the time only the wealthy few could afford his designs. Phillip Webb – Architect & Designer (1831 – 1915) Famous for his comfortable, unpretentious country homes, Philip Webb also designed furniture, wallpaper, tapestries, and stained glass. He met William Morris during the early part of his career in Oxford and they went on to establish Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co in 1861. Other partners in their interior decorating and furnishing business included artists Edward Burne- Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Webb’s first building commission was for Morris in 1859 – he built The Red house in his characteristically unpretentious and informal style, using bare brickwork and wood panelling, allowing features such as the brass ventilator grilles to be exposed. Honest and practical he local traditions. Webb’s furniture, inspired by the Gothic, is characteristic in its sturdiness, use of oak and exposed joints and hinges. arts & Craft Movement 1860-1910 people CFA Voysey – Architect & Designer (1857 – 1941) An innovate architect and versatile designer, Voysey had a original style which combined simplicity and sophistication. He was an intensely practical man, ordered and direct, all character traits which are evident in his architectural work. ‘There are no tricks in a Voysey house. They are always what they appear to be.’ (voyseysociety.org). Somewhat fairytale like, Voysey buildings typically have whitewashed walls, massive chimneys and sloping buttresses. Well proportioned and celebrated for their economy of space and material together with superb craftsmanship, his homes are acknowledged as being ‘a complete and harmonious integration of interior and exterior’. C R Ashbee – Designer & Silversmith (1863 – 1942) . Following a progressive upbringing (his father a collector of erotic books, his mother a suffragette), Charles Ashbee studied history at Cambridge and was also trained under architect George Bodley a Gothic Revivalist. He set up the Guild of Handicraft in London’s East End in 1888 whose motto was ‘seek not only to set a higher standard of craftsmanship, but at the same time, and in so doing, to protect the status of the craftsman’. He designed many pieces of jewelry, tableware, metalwork, enamelwork and furniture featuring plain surfaces, flowing wirework and stones in simple settings, all typical of the Arts & Crafts style arts & Craft Movement 1860-1910 interiors 1 2 3 (1) Drawing Room Standen House, Sussex by architect Philip Webb (2) Drawing Room, Wightwick Manor, decorated by Morris & Co (3) The Pomegranate Passage at Wightwick Manor in the West Midlands (4) detail at Wightwick Mannor (5) Fireplace in the dining room at Standen House (1892) and (6) Sitting Room at Morris’s The Red House arts & Craft Movement 1860-1910 Interiors 4 5 6 arts & Craft Movement 1860-1910 key features Floors Polished oak or waxed pine with wool rugs with Morris & Co designs WALLS Plain and simple, either painted or with Arts & Craft wallpaper Common paint colours were white, light blue and light green Woodwork painted in the same colour as the walls for harmony Introduction of the picture rail & the plate rack fireplace A key design feature, they had an over-mantle painted the same colour as the walls Sometimes set with shelves and often with copper hoods over the grate Doors Stained and polished oak plank ledge & brace doors Wooden or brass door furniture Windows Casement windows sometimes including stained glass Dressed with simple curtains hung on poles (sometimes with a frilled valance) Fabrics Woven and printed wool, linens & cottons for curtains and cretonnes for upholstery Sometimes hand woven silks and tapestries were used Patterned with animals, plants and botanicals in Morris & Co or Liberty prints Lighting Oil lamps, gasoliers and electric lamps Glass shades and hanging metal pendants lights Table lamps of brass, copper or ceramic furniture Austere, architectural in form with little surface decoration Beautiful dovetail joints and hand made brass hinges were considered decoration enough Strong vertical and horizontal lines reflected the emphasis on simplicity and ‘fit for purpose’ Bleached oak was the most popular material for Arts & Craft furniture Chairs were often high backed with cut out shapes or natural forms set in them Ladder-back chairs and settles had rush seats Refectory style dining tables were wax polished features Simplicity in appearance and materials that celebrate their qualities Natural motifs such as foliage and animals Vernacular forms arts & Craft Movement 1860-1910 Furniture

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