Style Definition
A movement which developed in the second half of the 19th century, in
opposition to industrialization and associated social changes. The idea
spread after the Great Exhibition of 1851, which had supposedly shown
off in London the best craftsmanship of the day, but it had earlier
roots in the emphasis which Jean-Jacques Rousseau had placed on
craftsmanship in the 18th century and on the medievalism of Gothic
revivalists like Pugin in the early 19th century. It was articulated in
the writings of Ruskin, whose belief in the moral qualities of art led
him to oppose machine production, and who believed in the ultimate
inspiration of nature, rather than the rehashed historicism of the
period. It was exemplified by the design work of William Morris, through
his firm Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Co., established in 1861. He
employed artists such as Burne Jones and produced many designs himself,
notably for wallpaper, textiles and stained glass, in which natural
inspiration and truth to materials are the paramount considerations. The
movement also inspired a generation of architects, led by Webb (who
designed the Red House for Morris), Shaw, Ashbee and Voysey, who used
vernacular architecture and traditional materials without resorting to
the overt period style of the Queen Anne Movement.
The Arts and Crafts Movement had a strong socialist streak, seen in
Morris's own writings (e.g. News from Nowhere, 1891) and in the numerous
attempts to educate the masses (e.g. Ashbee's Guild and School of Arts
and Crafts established in 1888). But the politics was always tempered by
a nostalgia for the Middle Ages with their craftsmanship, guilds and
religious endeavour. The movement organized exhibitions from 1888, but
by then was already being superseded by the development of Art Nouveau
which shared similar ideas but with a more contemporary outlook.
However, its ideal lingered and is apparent in Gropius' Bauhaus
manifesto.
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