Arts and Crafts movement
Description
The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and North America. Broadly, the beginning of the movement can be dated to the 1880s, with the term itself first used in 1887, and by about 1920 it can be considered as over in the UK, although the term continued in spurious use for various popular elements in design. Read more ↗
Key Artists
William Morris
The towering founder of the Arts and Crafts movement; established Morris & Co. to champion traditional craftsmanship, natural botanical dyes, and ethical design as a direct revolt against industrial mass production.
John Ruskin
Preeminent Victorian art critic and philosopher whose writings on Gothic architecture and the dignity of human handiwork provided the core moral and intellectual foundations for the movement.
Philip Webb
Leading architect and furniture designer often called the father of Arts and Crafts architecture; designed Red House for Morris and created sturdy, honest oak furnishings.
William De Morgan
Master ceramicist and lifelong collaborator of Morris known for reviving lusterware and designing intricate, Middle Eastern- and nature-inspired tiles and pottery.
Walter Crane
First president of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society, versatile book illustrator, and designer of allegorical wallpapers and textiles characterized by organic, flowing lines.
Charles Robert Ashbee
Influential architect, metalworker, and social reformer who established the Guild and School of Handicraft, pioneering cooperative craftsmanship and elegant silverwork.
Gustav Stickley
Key American leader of the Craftsman style who popularized sturdy, unadorned quartersawn oak furniture through his influential magazine 'The Craftsman'.
Famous Artworks
Fun Facts
The term 'Arts and Crafts' was not coined by William Morris; it was invented in 1887 by bookbinder T. J. Cobden-Sanderson at a meeting to establish the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society in London.
↗ Source: vam.ac.uk
William Morris so detested modern synthetic aniline dyes that he spent years studying 16th-century herbal manuals and personally dipping his hands into vats of fermented indigo dye, earning him the nickname 'the man with the blue hands.'
↗ Source: vam.ac.uk