Bridgewater Review Volume 3 | Issue 1 Article 12 Dec-1984 Cultural Commentary: The American Arts and Crafts Movement (c. 1880-1920) Roger T. Dunn Bridgewater State College, [email protected] Recommended Citation Dunn, Roger T. (1984). Cultural Commentary: The American Arts and Crafts oM vement (c. 1880-1920). Bridgewater Review, 3(1), 23-27. Available at: http://vc.bridgew.edu/br_rev/vol3/iss1/12 This item is available as part of Virtual Commons, the open-access institutional repository of Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Research Notes continued theory with its cost benefit analysis, the mes­ sage is the same -- human beings choose always to act in their own self-interest. Capi­ talism, of course, rests upon the identical The American Arts and assumption. In fact, the market system would not work unless people acted on the basis of Crafts Movement (c. 1880-1920): enlightened self-interest. Hence it serves the market to indoctrinate students with the Its Promise For A Better Life In belief that everyone acts on the basis of self­ interest, and furthermore that it is virtuous The New Twentieth Century /'1' Roger T: Dunn to do so. A 5SUl iate Prqfessor of 1rl The market is served again when psychology transforms wants into needs. Most of what psychology has taught us to In the last quarter ofthe nineteenth century In America the leading exponents of Arts call needs are not necessities but rather there developed in. Europe and America a and Crafts design and social philosophy things that we merely want or desire. By new style in the decorative arts known as the were Elbert Hubbard, who founded the calling them needs we convince ourselves Arts and Crafts movement. It rejected the Roycroft Community of craft workshops in not only that we must have these things, but excesses, pretense and formality of Victorian East Aurora, New York, and Gustav Stickley, what is more, that we are entitled to them. style homes and furnishings. It also found who established a furniture firm and architec­ Wants and desires are under voluntary fault with mass-produced objects in which tural enterprise near Syracuse, New York. control. You can decide to want somethinga the design and application of machine-made They preached an approach to design that little less if it is not immediately attainable. furnishings showed little regard for func­ was followed by many others, including But needs are not to be denied. You are a tion, sturdy construction, pleasing propor­ Stickley's five brothers who also set up their passive victim of your needs. If you need tions, the natural beauty of materials or the own companies. The ideas and designs of something, you are condemned to suffer skills of hand-craftsmanship. Hubbard and Stickley were promulgated by their respective magazines, The Philistine until you get it. Such attitudes ofcourse play The new style, fathered by William Morris and The Craftsman. as well as in other right into the hand of the advertising in England, was concerned with the social widely circulated pUblications. industry whose job it is to create in the issues ofindustrial life, and sought to improve buying public more and more needs for the lifestyle of the average family living in That philosophy and lifestyle remain so more and more products. They want us to the burgeoning urban environment. Increas­ much a part of our present world that we believe that we have a need for their ingly, people served in factories, but were scarcely think of associating them with the products, better still, that we have a right to little served in return by factory-made objects now historic objects of the Arts and Crafts their products. "You owe it to yourself," or factory life. Morris and other leaders of period. Forexample, the movement promoted they tell us, "to use the very best.""You need the movement felt that the traditional virtues the idea of suburban living to allow city this car!" Nissan Sentra blatantly an­ of self-esteem, pride in work, family and workers to stay in contact with the land and nounces. To the extent that psychology community values could be re-established enjoy the healthier country environment. textbooks proclaim a scientific foundation by surrounding the average person with Throughout the nation, suburban homes for the notion that we are a bundle of needs, objects and an environment that expressed and neighborhoods still bear witness they pander for an economic system that integrity, honesty, and purposefulness in to their origins in the realization of this ideal survives by selling more and more throw design and function. as well as in the design aesthetic of the away products to fewer and fewer continued on Page 26 consumers. Finally the market is served by a psychology that takes as its aim the prediction and control of behavior. This fetish of predictability is a phenomenon of the last fifty years or so, ofthe second halfof psychology's century-long existence. And it is a typically American phenomenon. The founders of our discipline were not concerned with prediction and control. There are many other entirely worthy goals for a science of psychology. But in America psychology has been coopted by the market system -- a system that prospers or crashes depending upon the accuracy of its predictions. The business of Wall Street is prediction. Since textbooks announce the business of psychology to be the same, may we not be permitted to speculate that they are in business together, with psychology of course being a subsidiary division of Wall Street. L;"';ng Room by The Unitea Crafts 23 ~ ~ ... ... ~ ~ .,., I'. >: ... -<:>'" '" 0 ""0 Cl:; Cl:; -<:>""' ""' 0 ""0 0 0 -t: -t: Q.., Q.., Oval-Top Table, circa 1912 Charles P. Lambert Co., Grand Rapids and Holland Michigan Vase, circa 1905 Oak - height, 29"; width. 48"; depth, 19'//' - Private Collection Adelaide Alsop Robineau, Syracuse. New York POllery, yellow with blue crystalline glaze - height 4'//' Collection by Robert Toke and Roger Wilson - SellIe, circa 1910 L. & 1. G. Stickley Furniture Company Fayelleville. N. Y. Oak wah leather cushions; height. 34"; width. 76"; depth, 31" - Collecrion of Dennis Mirchell and Ann Sweet 24 Server, 1901 - Gustav S/lcktey, Craftsman Workshops, Eastwood (Syracuse), N. Y. Oak; height, 37"; width, 60"; depth, 16 1/1" Collection of Paul Fiore, Backyard Gallery ~ <::s :so ;;: -e '"Q <:t:: ,., <S -e ..:: Q 0 :::- ~ Q.. ~ <::s \:l l:: Ii:'" s;,'" <::s ~ 'c;> ;;;- ~... ::s Q <> ~ ..,§-... Q 0 ~ Q.. Desk, circa 1905 Roycrofr Shops, East Aurora, New York 1 Mahogany; height, 40'/z"; width, 40"; depth, 26 //' Col/ection of Raben L. Conanr Williams, - Craftsmen Gallery, Inc. "A merican BeaLlty" 'Vase, circa 1911 Roycroft Copper Shop, Easy Aurora, N. Y. Copper; height, 12'/z"; diameter, 6" Colleerion of Roger L. Conanr Williams Crafrsmen Gallery, Inc. 25 The CraJismm~ Mal" 1903 A I.IRRARY 1:-/ AI> ORDll'ARY HOl;SE FITTEU COMPLETELY WITH CRAFT~~lA:< FL'R:<iSIII:-/GS. movement. Further, it was believed that those made of copper, brass or even bronze, more pleasant, lighter, and closer to family each family should own its own home -- a whose natural warm tones were seen to activity. situation that would contribute to the develop­ particularly complement the oak -- a wood With its aim of improving the lifestyle of ment ofself-esteem, responsibility and various often used in the simple woodwork and the ordinary individual, it is no surprise to other desirable character traits. floors as well as the furnishings. Copper discover that the Arts and Crafts movement especially was liberally used for hardware Houses were designed to meet the needs of considered itself a "democratic art", a label and accessories ofall kinds, including smoking families without extravagant space and which takes on more meaning when it is sets, bookends, candlesticks, and the like. ornamentation; simplicity, economy, comfort, realized that art and taste were viewed as the and "hygiene" (cleanliness achieved through A select display of pottery by such firms as exclusive domains of the monied classes at ease ofmaintenance) were important. Innova­ Rookwood, Marblehead or Grueby, or ceramic the turn of the century. The socialist William tions in house plans featured kitchens located tiles incorporated into room decoration, Morris first expounded the need for a demo­ close to dining areas, and the latter sometimes particularly around the fireplace were the cratic art in 1877, and the Arts and Crafts combined with the open space of the living only reminders of the extravagant displays movement developed to serve the middle room. In turn, the living room, with the of diverse objects of the typical Victorian class. Similarly, Gustav Stickley "realized fireplace as its focus, was the center offamily interior. Walls, usually painted in subdued that the twentieth century, then a few years activity. The Victorian parlor, associated or greyed hues, were often partly wainscoted distant, was to be, like the thirteenth, distinc­ with a stuffy formality and crusty appoint­ and further elaborated with various kinds of tively an Age of the People." His perception ments oflittle necessity (but voracious collectors built-ins, including bookcases, inglenooks, of who would dominate the new century of dust), vanished along with carved wood­ window seats, and china cabinets. affected his concept of what he called the work and high ceilings. Intimacy, comfort, Rarely wallpapered, pattern was often intro­ Craftsman home, just as he hoped the Crafts­ and informal living shaped the plans of the duced on walls with a stenciled border near man home would help to shape and reinforce Arts and Crafts homes, where subdued earth the ceiling. the values and tastes of its inhabitants: colors and the natural hues and textures of materials replaced the heavy ornamentation The Arts and Craf.ts home consciously But they in whose interest I make my plea for a and busy patterns of wallpapers, upholsteries, looked ahead to twentieth century living.