ARTS & MOVEMENT OBI OBIORA JEFFREY | ARC 4
ARTS&
MOVEMENT
OBI OBIORA JEFFREY | ARC 4
WILLIAM MORRIS
An English textile designer, artist,
writer, and socialist. He was the
major pioneer of the Arts and
Craft Movement which was
inspired by John Ruskin’s
philosophy of rejecting industrial
manufacture of decorative arts
and architecture in favour of a
return to hand-craftsmanship,
creating art that should be
affordable and hand-made with
no hierarchy of artistic mediums.
The Arts and Crafts movement emerged during the late
Victorian period in England, the most industrialized
country in the world at that time and flourished from
around 1860 till 1930.
Arts and Crafts designers sought to improve standards of
decorative design, believed to have been debased by
mechanization, and to create environments in which
beautiful and fine workmanship governed.
HISTORY
The movement was inspired by the social reform
concerns of thinkers such as Walter Crane and John
Ruskin, together with the ideals of reformer and designer,
William Morris.
The main vision was that of a society in which the worker
could take pride in his craftsmanship and skill in
producing original and unique yet simple beautiful
objects that exhibited the result of fine craftsmanship, as
opposed to the shoddy products of mechanized mass
production.
HISTORY
The Arts and Crafts movement was also
seen as an extension of the spirit of the
Luddite Rebellion which was a violent revolt
of the ‘Luddites’ (a social movement of
19th-century English textile artisans) who
found themselves suddenly unemployed
since they could no longer compete with
machines which needed less (and less
skilled) labour for more productivity.
The movement was a rather metaphorical
rebellion than physical and was rather more
successful as it represented a turning point.
HISTORY
‘CABBAGE AND VINE’ TAPESTRY BY
WILLIAM MORRIS (1879)
PHILOSOPHY•Technology reduced quality
•Man had become less creative as
‘his’ craft skills had been removed
from the manufacturing process
due to the exploitation of workers
in the industrial revolution.
•One aim of the movement was to
put ‘man’ back in to the design
and manufacturing process so
that craft skills and good honest
design would again be central to
the manufacturing process.THE WOODPECKER BY
WILLIAM MORRIS AND CO. (1885)
PHILOSOPHYArts and Crafts objects
•Were simple in form,
•Were without unnecessary
decoration,
•how they were constructed was
often still visible,(exposure of
structure)
•emphasized the qualities of the
materials used ("truth to
material"),
•had patterns inspired by British
flora and fauna.
THE LIMITED-EDITION HAWTHORN LAMP FROM
WILLIAM MORRIS’ STUDIO
INFLUENCESMedieval Guilds provided a model
for the ideal craft production system.
Aesthetic ideas were also borrowed
from Medieval European, African
and Islamic sources. Japanese ideas
were also incorporated early Arts
and Crafts forms. The forms of Arts
and Crafts style were typically
rectilinear and angular, with stylized
decorative motifs remeniscent of
medieval and Islamic design.
The Arts and Craft Movement futher
inspired The Art Nouveau and the
Bauhaus style.
JAPANESE WEDDING KIMONO
A TYPICAL EXAMPLE OF AFRICAN POTTERY
MISSION STYLE (AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFT MOVEMENT)
The Arts and Crafts movement which initially developed
in England during the latter half of the 19th century, was
subsequently taken up by American designers, with
somewhat different results. In the United States, the Arts
and Crafts style was also known as Mission style.
The movement in America contributed largely to the
design and building functional furniture in Chicago
pioneered by Gustav Stickley who was also the publisher
of an Arts and Craft periodical publication called the
Craftsman. Another such publication was the Fra which
also preached building designs by Arts and Crafts
architects and furnishing and decorating it
appropriately.
ARCHITECTURE
•As the movement grew in influence, architecture,
furniture making and the decorative arts, such as interior
design, started displaying the simplicity of craft approach.
•Arts and Crafts architecture sought a spiritual connection
with the surrounding natural and manmade environment.
THE WILLIAM MORRIS CHAIR 1886
TYPICAL METALWORK OF THE ARTS AND CRAFT MOVEMENT
THE "ARTICHOKE" WALLPAPER BY JOHN HENRY DEARLE 1897
ARCHITECTURE
Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow (1845) by Architect
Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
CHARLES RENNIE MACKINTOSH
1868 - 1928
ARCHITECTURE THE GLASGOW SCHOOL OF ART
LIBRARY INTERIOR SHOWING CRAFTED LIGHTS
NORTH FACADE OVERVIEW
SKYLIGHTED MUSEUM INTERIOR CUSTOM CRAFTED CHANDELIER
ARCHITECTURE THE GLASGOW SCHOOL OF ART
•The building is influenced by
Scottish baronial architecture
(volumetric masses of heavy
masonry), Arts and Craft motifs
(floral and geometric motifs in the
iron work and tiles) and modern
materials and techniques (large,
braced windows).
•With its long floor plan, the
corridor spannibg along the spine
link large art studios along the
north side (along the street) and
smaller ancillary rooms and
offices on the back side.
FRONTAL PROFILE (SHOWING TOWER-LIKE MASONRY WALLS AND
LARGE WINDOW)
ARCHITECTURE THE GLASGOW SCHOOL OF ART
•Stone and iron railing along the
façade
•Large windows
•Arts and Craft floral and geometric
motifs bring scale and color to the
rooms in details of mantelpieces,
lighting fixtures, carpets, furniture,
and crockery.
•Presence of mezzanine over timber
supports in library.
•Tower-like masonry walls
•Significant combination of
craftsmanship and industrial
technology
FRONTAL PROFILE OF THE GLASGOW SCHOOL OF ART
(SHOWING ARCHED LAMPSTAND, IRON RAIL AND LARGE WINDOW)
ARCHITECTURE
Red House, Bexleyheath, London (1859) by Architect
Phillip Webb and William Morris.
PHILIP WEBB1831 - 1915
ARCHITECTURE THE RED HOUSE
STAINED GLASS WINDOWPANES
•This building is a good
example of the early Arts and
Crafts style. Some of its
features include well-
proportioned solid forms, wide
porches, steep roof, pointed
window arches, brick
fireplaces, emphasis on
natural materials and hand
crafted metal and wooden
fittings.
•An early example of a
garden as a series of exterior
rooms
EXTERNAL VIEW
ARCHITECTURE
INTERIOR SHOWING HAND-CRAFTED FURNITURE AND UPHOLSTERY
•Influenced by William Butterfield's Gothic Revival using
clay tiling, corbelled brick work, rubbed brick arches and
circular openings, as a way of articulating an open-
ended form of vernacular expression.
INTERIOR STAIRWAY DISPLAYING GOTHIC INFLUENCE
THE RED HOUSE
ARCHITECTURE
The Gamble House designed by two brothers, Architects
Charles Sumner Greene and Henry Mather Greene
ARCHITECTURE•An Arts and Crafts Movement
masterpiece, this building
reveals Japanese aesthetic
influence.
•Timber is the major material
(structural platform framing,
flooring, walls and furniture),
whereas other materials like
shingles, bricks and stones are
used at the roof, garden walls
and paths respectively.
•Soft landscape dominates the
exterior with gardens, lawns,
trees and hedges
TIMBER FRAME STRUCTURE
THE GAMBLE HOUSE
EXPOSED RAFTERS
ARCHITECTUREAll furniture, built-in cabinetry,
paneling, wood carvings,
rugs, lighting, leaded stained
glass, accessories and
landscaping are all custom-
designed by the architects, in
the true hand-crafted spirit of
the Arts and Crafts
Movement.
THE GAMBLE HOUSE
LEADED ART GLASS ENTRY DOORS DESIGNED BY CHARLES GREENE
HAND CRAFTED LAMP ON THE PORCH
INTERIOR SHOWING CUSTOM UPHOLSTRY, FURNITURE AND LIGHT FITTINGS
•John, F. P., 2005. A History of Interior Design. London: Laurence
King Publishing
•Nicols, F., 2004. Against the Machine: The Hidden Luddite
Tradition in Literature, Art, and Individual Lives. Washington:
Island Press
•Wikipedia, 2011. Arts and Crafts Movement. [online] Available
at: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arts_and_Crafts_Movement>
[Accessed 14 September 2011].
• Wikipedia, 2011. Red House (London). [online] Available at: <
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_House_(London)> [Accessed
14 September 2011].
•Wikipedia, 2011. Gamble House (Pasadena, California).
[online] Available at: <
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamble_House_(Pasadena,_Calif
ornia)> [Accessed 14 September 2011].
REFERENCES