1880-1920

The Arts and Crafts movement, is otherwise known as the English aesthetic movement of the second half of the 19th century that represented the beginning of a new appreciation of the decorative arts throughout Europe. The approximate period of which the arts & crafts period occurred between 1880-1920. Prior to the Arts & Crafts era, was the Beaux Arts era, which lasted significantly longer than the arts & crafts movement. There is an overlap in the arts & crafts period, Glasgow school and beaux arts simultaneously occurring in Britain.

There was a small minority in Britain who has become disturbed by the style and craftsmanship of design in interiors during the wake of the industrial revolution and mass produced banal decorative arts. One of the principal authorities of the English aesthetic movements was William Morris, who would soon become a prolific and influential figure in Victorian Britain, which spread throughout Europe, Scotland, Wales and Ireland and eventually the United states, until the movements sad death due to the outbreak of war in 1914. The main influencers of the arts and crafts movement were influenced by Augustus Pugin, writer John Ruskin, and designer William Morris. In Scotland it is associated with key figures such as Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Design reform of the 19th century Britain was a reaction against the decline in standards the reformers associated with machinery and factory-made products. 

Owen Jones, an architect and pioneer of color theory, theories of ornamentation and flat patterning, criticized the items at the great exhibition of 1851, by saying that ornament “must be secondary to the thing decorated”, and encouraged that utility be foremost before ornamentation. The arts & crafts movement went further than the design reformers of the 19^thcentury. They produced ornamentation, with methods of manufacture and social reform, and this was what made the arts & crafts movement a success. It was almost as if beauty without intelligence was their motto in design production. The arts and crafts movement insisted that social and design reform were intertwined, and never separated upon application. 

Pugin, also a reformist, and leader in gothic revival architecture emphasized the truth to material, structure, and function, as did the Arts and Crafts artists. Pugin’s biographer, Rosemary Hill, described his furniture making as “arts and crafts in an embryo”. Thus was the beginning of the appreciation of the importance of craftsmanship. John Ruskin, an admired individual of the pre-Raphaelites,  believed factory-made works to be “dishonest,” and that handwork and craftsmanship merged dignity with labor. Although Ruskin proposed that craft production be chosen over industrial manufacturing, on the slight contrary that Morris’s view was work, without any division of labour rather than work, without any sort of machinery. Gustav Stickley was also another major infuencer in the arts & crafts movement, in the American craftsman design.

To understand the design of the arts & crafts movement, one must go back to Morris’s penchant for Medieval architecture. Morris’s social movement grew out of ideas he developed in the 1850s with the Birmingham Set, at the Universtiy of Oxford, including Edward Jones, who combined a love of romantic literature with a commitment to social reform. After discovering Ruskin, a medieval prose book titled “Morte d’Arthur” set the stage for their early crafts style. Morris vehement insistence of being involved in manufacturing and design was paramount to his success. The great exhibition in 1851 and a few spaces such as the refreshment rooms of the south Kensington Museum in the 1860s had given decorative artists the chance to show their work publicly, but without a regular showcase, they were struggling to exert influence and reach customers. Morris only became actively involved with the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society a number of years after it was set up (between 1891 and his death in 1896), but his ideas were hugely influential to the generation of decorative artists whose work it helped publicize. Morris believed passionately in the importance of creating beautiful, well-made objects that could be used in everyday life, and that were produced in a way that allowed their makers to remain connected both with their product and for homeowners to love their surroundings in their home.

Morris produced handcrafted metalwork, jewelry, wallpaper, textiles, furniture and books. The “firm” was run as an artist’s collaborative, with the painters providing the designs for skilled craftsmen to produce. Because of Morris’s love for reviving the medieval, he did initially produce furniture that were not comfortable. One of these is “Gwendolen’s golden hair”,  by Morris and Edward-Burne Jones, which is an oil painted chair, with Gwendolyn leaning on a striped cushion, which was sold by Morris to Captain James Heathcote as part of his Red House.

More uncomfortable medieval style furniture done by well-known arts & crafts furniture makers like Philip Webb (who designed furniture for Morris’s red house), Sir Robert Stodart Lorimer (scottish) and John Pollard Seddon, (british) all were heavily influenced by medieval design, using wood like oak, embossed and stained leather, mahogany. These were all designed prior to the Viennese secession, and after the Viennese secession in 1897, furniture became more comfortable, such as the infamous Morris adjustable chair.

Furniture done in the arts & crafts era is rectilinear, such as straight lines, with an emphasis on vertical and elongated forms. It is usually made of dark wood like stained oak, and any hardware is made of wood or simple metal shapes. If its upholstered, like an armchair, the covering is leather or some other simple colored natural cloth. Design is maintained to a minimal, while purposely allowing the natural wood to show. In Gustav Stickley’s design for example, Harvey Ellis influenced his evolvement from solid monumental forms to lighter shapes, arches, tapering legs and inlay as decoration. Stickley dropped the inlay except for special orders, however the broader emphasis on less massive forms would remain. He also designed in a lighter willow wood to complement the heavier oak designs. 

Another feature of arts & crafts is exposed pins and dovetail joints, such as rivets, like in Ernest Gimson’s carpentry. Charles Rennie Mackintosh was an important figure in the arts & crafts movement, because of his Craft-based production and a respect for regional tradition allied him with Arts and Crafts thinking. In Art & Crafts, there are international influences, such as from Asia, the middle east, Japan and even Italian renaissance. An example of someone using this  combination is William De Morgan (1839-1917).

De Morgan ran his own workshops and acquired the expertise to fire lustre glazes in the manner of historical ceramics from the Islamic world and Moorish Spain. Sparsely decorated furnished interiors is something that strongly adheres to the arts and crafts principles. Charles Voysey (1857-1941) deliberately designed simple furniture and it was characterized by the subtle use of curves and restrained decoration. This combination of sophisticated, yet informal “less is more” approach. Philip Webb’s (1831-1915) designs set a benchmark for the arts and crafts furniture. Webb, who co-designed the Red House, and was also the architect of the Red House, produced handcrafted restrained designs that were evocative of the medieval era, and later, traditional rural styles. Webb is also the lead designer and decorator on the ‘green’ dining room at the south Kensington museum.

The Greene brothers, Charles and henry Greene, were the most important figures in American architectural history in the 19^th century, because of their interest in synthesizing the best of many worlds into a new California vernacular and the introduction of the bungalow style homes. The adobe and mission forms of the region, the rugged shingle style of Richardson in the Northeast, and the Italian and Japanese architecture (infamous lamps) all played a part in every design in the home. This closer connection with nature, and them being influenced by lifestyle and climate, made them create essentially a work of art, with their approach to crafting with a high level of handwork, and paying close attention to handiwork and detail, with woodwork sourced locally and even from Honduras.

Inspiration Room: The Look and Feel

The above image shows the sitting room at WightWick Manor, which is a Victorian manor house in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. It is a combination of the Aesthetic and Arts & Crafts movement. It  is built in a half-timbered vernacular style, of which the most famous original example. The home is a notable example of the influence of William Morris, with original Morris wallpaper and fabrics, De Morgan tiles, Kempe glass and Pre-Raphaelite works of art, including works by Dante Rosetti, Evelyn De Morgan, Edward Jones, Ford Madox Brown, John Everett Millais and Elizabeth Siddal, most of whom were founders or associated with the pre-Raphaelite move

Wightwick manor was built in 1887, and closely resembles Kelmscott manor which was built during the medieval era of 1570, which I will use as an example of application of Arts & Crafts design. Later additions to Kelmscott manor were made in 1670 with classical motifs and renaissance influence, which continued for several centuries. Kelmscott manor was owned by Morrison as well as Dante Gabriel Rosetti from 1871 onwards. It was not until May Morris’s trustees, and was restored by the society of antiquaries of London in 1960.

Morris’s bedroom has a 17^th century bed with bed hangings a covering embroidered by his daughter May Morris. The painting over the living room’s fireplace was called “the tulip garden”, designed by Peter Bruegel the younger, whose father, a Dutch renaissance painter was famous for painting peasants in landscape scenes.

Theodore Mander, who was the owner of the home, had his wife decorate the interiors with the designs of William Morris and his arts and crafts contemporaries. However, the Pre-Raphaelite collection was mostly assembled after the house was donated to the National Trust, particularly by Geoffrey Mander and his second wife, Rosalie, who was an art historian.

An Ernest William Gimson lookalike chair on the corner is a rocking chair version of it. Gimson was known for his ladder-back chairs, and it was Gardiner who created other designs like the rocking chair version of the Gimson chair. After Gimson’s death, Gardiner made chairs in his own workshops, including the classic Clissett chair. 

A Peter Waals Oak Nest of tables is next to the ladderback Gardiner chair. The tables are made of oak inlay with Ebony. The achievement of Gimson, architect, designer and craftsman, has been compared with that of William Morris. Darker and lighter colored wood is used in the arts & crafts period. Most period Arts & Crafts furniture was clear finished, stained, or fumed to darken it. The simplicity of the furniture along with the rectilinear style of the furniture is true to Morris’s medieval style. ^[1]

What is noticeable about this room, is that it is similar to the tapestry room at Kelmscott, where the curtain fabrics, as well as the upholstery and carpeting can be a mixture of different styles. Of course, Morris’s love for flowers, leaves and vines were observed from hi gardens or on walks in the countryside. Rather than life-like illustrations, his drawings are subtly stylized versions. Islamic art did have an influence on Morris, to which he said, “To us pattern designers, Persia has become a holy land, for there in the process of time our art was perfected, and thence above all places it spread to cover for a while the world, east and west.”

Colors of an arts & crafts room range from primaries (red, blue, yellow) and their intermediates. Mossy, olive green is the poster child, but eggplant is close behind. Also, deep vermilion reds for leatherwork, gray and green washes on wood and copper. 

What seems like an Edwardian chair on the left is also upholstered with Morris’s fabric. Many of his designs were inspired by 16th- and 17th-century Italian silks, and ‘Peacock and Dragon‘, an imposing yet popular design from 1878, used striking, medieval-style figuration. Besides the combination of different furniture styles, a mixture of different style like medieval, nature-inspired, Asian, and Middle Eastern are what makes a Morrison style room authentic.^[1]

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Three furniture examples + One decorative object

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Warrington Taylor, a business manager of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co., found the country version of this chair in the workshop of Ephraim Colman, a carpenter in Herstmonceaux, Sussex, 

in 1866. He sent a sketch to Webb, who developed Taylor’s sketch into the adjustable-back armchair, produce by the firm in 1869. Philip Webb had designed this chair for Morris, and it became known as the iconic “Morris Chair”. With a few modifications by Webb, the chair was put into production and the reclining chair, ever since known as the Morris chair, was born. It remained a staple in the Morris & Co. line until the firm closed it’s doors in 1940.

Within years of the first chair, dozens if not hundreds of versions of the Morris chair were being produced in factories and small shops from Vienna to San Francisco. Morris chairs are quite comfortable, because they are adjustable and cushioned. It is interesting to note that Morris chairs in England and on the Continent seemed to have evolved exclusively with fabric cushions. Frank Llyod wright copied Morris’s chair to a prairie school form. Philip Webb was a significant influence in Morris’s life. Just like Morris, he created beautiful artefacts, and was a co-founder with Morris for the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings in 1877. Webb designed the Red House in Bexleyheath Kent, and the Standen house, with Morris interiors. His use of vernacular architecture demonstrated his commitment to “the art of common building. 

Webb was sometimes known as the father of the arts & crafts movement. His work became the germ of modernism as though he took influence from the Gothic Revival movement, he didn’t let this steer him and instead, he almost mixed styles and created his own. He chose comfortable and traditional, he didn’t move too much towards the Victorian elaborate designs nor the Gothic styles, he does tend to use traditional English styles with the red brick (Red House) sash windows, Tudor like chimneys etc. He associated with many of the pre-Raphaelites and friends of them, such as George Howard. Webb had built homes such as Green Lane house and Four Gables, including his house at 1 Palace Green. St Martin’s church was unlike most other Victorian churches, which was also built with Morris’s influenced in stained glass. His accomplishments in trying to preserve and maintain the beautiful Arts & Crafts style, is extremely important with regards to vernacular architecture. 

According to V&A museum, these chairs with adjustable metal rachets have been made in Britain since the 1670s. Simpler version like these, use a wooden rail and notches in the arms. It combines an ebonized finish, evidence of contemporary interest in Japanese design, with bobbin turning on the legs, a traditional technique in English furniture. The original covers are made of ‘Utrecht Velvet’, a stamped woolen plush sold by Morris and Company for upholstery and for wall hangings.

Webb adapted this design for his armchair which remained in the firm’s stock after it became Morris & Co. in 1875. The cushions are covered in ‘Violet and Colombine’, a wool and mohair fabric designed by William Morris in 1883 and exhibited for the first time that year on the Morris & Co. stand at the Foreign Fair in Boston, U.S.A.

The original owner of this armchair was William Kenrick (1831-1919), a Birmingham industrialist and a collector of pottery and porcelain. He commissioned a new house, The Grove, Harborne, which was built in 1877-8. One small, paneled room from it survives in the Museum’s collections (Museum no.W.4-1962). Kenrick may have ordered this comfortable armchair in the 1880s for either his smoking room or his library.

This Morris inspired cabinet was designed by J.P.Seddon (1827-1906), and included the metalwork and inlay, in 1861 for his own use. Seddon had the desk made at this father’s cabinet-making firm. The panels were commissioned by him from Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Co.Ford Madox Brown designed the panel representing “’Architecture’, suggested the overall theme. The  ‘Painting’ and ‘Sculpture’ panels were by Edward Burne-Jones (1833-1898), while Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882) was responsible for ‘Music’ and ‘Gardening’. All three artist

were part of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. Edward Jones, worked with, and was a partner in Morris & Co. Burne-Jones worked in crafts; including designing ceramic tiles, jewelry, tapestries and mosaics.

The medieval inspired cabinetry is explained by Pollard’s interest on churches, as well as being a pupil of Thomas Leverton Donaldson, however Seddon was more interested in Ruskin’s gothic revivalism of gothic architecture. Seddon was an accomplished architect, who focused on restoring of churches, and even designed the imperium monumental halls, to be added to Westminster abbey.

This vernacular design, made of Oak, inlaid with various woods with painted metalwork and painted panels are typical of arts and crafts type of wood design. It is based on the medieval king Ren, of Anjou France. It was inspired by a novel by Sir Walter Scott and decorated in the medieval manner with painting.  

The cabinet depicts scenes from the life of the Medieval King René of Anjou, a notable patron of the arts, as imagined in Sir Walter Scott’s novel ‘Anne of Geierstein’ (Edinburgh, 1829).Ford Madox Brown, one of Morris’s partners, suggested the theme for the larger panels which depict imaginary incidents in the honeymoon of King René of Anjou, inspired by Anne of Geierstein, (Edinburgh, 1829), a novel by Sir Walter Scott. Brown painted the Architecture panel, showing the king and his queen seated on a bench, with architectural drawings and tools. Edward Burne-Jones, another of Morris’s partners, painted the two large central panels, painting with the king seated and drawing, and Sculpture, showing the king carving a statue. Music, 

painted by D.G. Rossetti, also one of Morris’s partners, shows the king kissing his queen who is seated at an organ. 

The same four designs were used for four panels of stained glass, made by Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. c. 1863 for The Hill, Witley, home of the artist Myles Birket Foster. These stained-glass panels are also in the Museum (Museum Nos. Circ. 516 to Circ. 519-1963)

The third item is by George Washington Henry Jack. Jack, though born in New York, spent his life in England and was in Philip Webb’s office from 1880 to 1900. Not only an architect, but he 

also designed in several media for Morris and Co. from about 1880 until 1896 and was a talented woodcarver, including designing stained glass and mosaics.

In the 3rd Arts and Crafts Society exhibition, under his own name rather than Morris & Co., Jack exhibited several pieces including a panel of carved Italian walnut, which was probably later given by Jack to Charles Canning Winmill and from thence to the Cheltenham Museum and Art Gallery. One of his finest pieces of carved furniture was executed in 1892, an inlaid walnut chest bearing the inscription ‘Hunting and slaying is my praying, my life is the dove’s betraying GJ 1892’. It was exhibited at the 4th Arts and Crafts Exhibition held in 1893. 

Jack’s diary entry for Saturday 10 January 1892 recorded that he spent 2 hours carving a ‘bird panel’ and on Thursday 4 February ‘Morris’s carrier called and took away 4 pieces of carving to be made up as a cabinet’. The cabinet, which is in the form of a chest with a fall front and interior drawers, was made by William Thatcher. It was illustrated in the Cabinet Maker and Art Furnisher of November 1893 who declared ‘Mr George Jack, whose name in earlier exhibitions generally appeared in conjunction with that of Mr William Morris, has done not a little to put good furniture in evidence at the New Gallery.  The chest was also exhibited in the Anglo-French Exhibition at the Louvre in 1914 but failed to sell and remained in the family until given to the V&A.British art & crafts were mostly medieval, heavy pieces, influenced by the vernacular architecture of the English countryside as well as by natural motifs. Wooden furniture pieces like cabinets, washstands and desks often highlighted a single decorative inlay, such as earthenware mosaic, or a single wood carving depicting a naturalistic scene. Along with qualified architects and professionals working with Morris’s company, 

The vernacular design, intricate carvings and appreciation of nature is what makes these arts and crafts pieces valuable over time.

In 1901 Jack first began teaching wood carving at the Royal College of Art, from 1904 at the School of Art Woodcarving, Exhibition Road and from 1908 at the Central School of Arts and Crafts, Southampton Row. ‘He sometimes produced designs for his pupils to execute; including a satin walnut settle with carving of the story of Little Red Riding Hood by Mary Grace Mead, exhibited in the 1910 Arts and Crafts Exhibition. Other pupils for whom Jack produced designs were Muriel Moller, Harry Snowden and Naomi Simmons. His retirement from teaching at the RCA was marked by the presentation of an unfinished settle leg by him, funded by a group of Jack’s well-wishers.

This Greene and Greene lamp is found in the Blacker House in Pasadena. It was the largest of the “ultimate bungalows” designed by Greene and Greene. The lantern resembles a Japanese type of lamp and is one of the six shades from the living room of the Blacker House. The panels of lighting fixture were made by Emil Lange. The lamp has designs of water lilies and leaves in a palette of cream, green and brown and are asymmetrically arranged to reflect 

Japanese influence. Surrounding the leaded glass are delicately curving ribs that terminate in a modified C-scroll. Greene and Greene design are characterized by spare, understated, and elegant forms with subtle decoration. The lamp resembles a Louis Comfort Tiffany lamp, which is located in Pasadena, California. 

It was at the world Colombian exhibition in Chicago, that the brothers saw Japanese architecture for the first time. This admiration would carry on with them in application, throughout their career in architecture. This resembles a Louis Comfort Tiffany lamp like the one found between 1904-1915. 

C. Three additional furniture pieces + two decorative objects + one lighting fixture

This is an Ernest Glimson chairs, designed by Gimson in about 1905. It was made by either Edward Gardiner, who was employed by Gimson as a chair-maker and wood-turner, or by Gimson himself. The chair is an example of the influential Arts and Crafts furniture produced in the Cotswolds in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The chair is made of yew and has a rush seat. The distinctive beaded ornament of the stretchers, uprights and back spindles, is known as bobbin turning so-called because the shape resembles the bobbins used in some forms of textile weaving. 

The chair is made of yew and has a rush seat. The distinctive beaded ornament of the stretchers, uprights and back spindles, is known as bobbin turning so-called because the shape resembles the bobbins used in some forms of textile weaving. The use of bobbin-turned elements, popular in seventeenth-century British furniture, and the relatively simple form of the chair reflect Gimson’s interest in traditional crafts and manufacturing techniques.

This chair was designed by Arthur Macmundo, an architect and designer, who knew John Ruskin and William Morris. He designed this chair for the century guild and used the same serpentine shapes on his book Wren’s city churches, published in 1883. This is a dining chair, as suggested by its shape and practical leather upholstery, which is a copy of the original covering. The chair combines two completely different styles. While the legs and seat are both based on Georgian furniture of the 1780s, the serpentine design of the back is highly innovative. Made of mahogany, and incorporating fretwork, this is combination of styles is very arts and crafts, but unique for the movement. 

This altar table was designed by the architect Philip Webb (1831–1915) in 1897 for the Rochester and Southwark Diocesan Deaconess Institution, a religious community and theological college for women at Clapham Common, London. Isabella Gilmore, the sister of the designer William Morris, was a Deaconess, and commissioned the piece. Webb was a close friend and associate of William Morris.

Webb designed the chapel and all its fittings. The altar cross, candlesticks a cloth for the altar table and a lectern are now in the V&A collection. The cloth was embroidered by May Morris, William’s daughter.

William De Morgan was a creative tile genius, English potter and novelist. A lifelong friend of William Morris, he designed tiles, stained glass and furniture for Morris & Co. from 1863 to 1872. His tiles often recall medieval or Islamic designs patterns. He applied with innovative glazes and firing techniques. Galleons and fish were common motifs, as were “fantastical” birds and animals. Many of De Morgan’s tiles were designed to create intricate patterns when several were laid together. Hand painted tiles became popular during the arts and crafts period from 1860 onwards. De Morgan learned the art of fire glazing and pattern transfer. 

He also worked with Persian palettes of dark blue, turquoise, manganese, purple, green, Indian red, and lemon yellow. This study and application of iznik ware, influenced his unmistakable style, in which fantastic creatures entwined with rhythmic geometric motifs floating under luminous glazes.

This vase is representative of the high-quality work by de Morgan, and it is signed by the decorator Joe Juster, an employee of de Morgan whose work is not represented in the Museum. The vase’s painted design of swimming fish is cleverly enhanced by both the form and the palette of the vase, which suggests the watery depths inhabited by the fish. The overall decorative scheme is very typical of de Morgan’s work, but as the vase does not bear the factory mark, it can only be attributed to de Morgan’s workshop, even though it bears the initials of Joe Juster who worked for de Morgan.

William Howson Taylor set his sights on the highest ideals of the potter’s art, as he saw them, and was particularly attracted by 18th-century Chinese forms and the most technically complex and most sought-after glazes. This baluster-shaped vase and lid, and the rich ‘flambé’, or more accurately, ‘flammée’ glaze, was made for the collectors’ market. It was made to take pride of 

place in an exquisite home, where it would be marveled at, and lovingly stroked by its appreciative and much-envied owner.

The Ruskin pottery, which is the manufacturer of the pottery, is a porcelaneous stoneware so finely thrown that its thinness rivals some true porcelains. The violent reaction within the glaze transfer into an unpredictable range of red, purples, blues, lilacs and greens. The material is a porcelaneous stoneware glazed at high temperatures.

The artist-designer Louis Comfort Tiffany designed this leaded-glass shade made by his firm Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company around 1899. The shade displays zigzag patterning featured on Native American baskets, which is reinforced by the bold colors of red, black, and yellow. The lamp hung at “Wawapek,” the home of Robert and Emily de Forest, in Cold Spring Harbor, New York, across the harbor from Laurelton Hall, Tiffany’s country estate.

Emily de Forest recalled that her husband had asked Tiffany for a floral shade, to which he responded, “That is not what you need for your hall, you need an Indian Basket.” The stylistic motif of the lamp complemented the de Forests’ large collection of Native American baskets and Pueblo Indian pottery.^[1]

Three Fabrics

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It was not until a commission in 1890 to decorate the interiors of Stanmore Hall in Middlesex, the last he worked on, that Morris was able to achieve his most important ambition, the production of a set of narrative tapestries in the medieval manner. Returning to the kind of Arthurian subject that Morris had so loved as a young man, he, Burne-Jones and Dearle used their wealthy client’s large budget to create a set of lavish tapestries based on the theme of the Search for the Holy Grail.^[1]

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Among Morris’s first designs for printing on fabric, Marigold was originally intended for use on wallpaper, as seen in the image below. It was one of only a few patterns that clients could buy as both textile and wallpaper; it was also printed on linoleum. The wide variety of media available in Marigold speaks to the broad decorative application of its lively organic pattern. Here, blossoms and vines spread with ordered freedom, generating a sense of movement, and demonstrating Morris’s revolutionary principle of “rational growth,” which set his designs apart from the formal, rigid patterns of his competitors. The design modifications are probably the work of John Henry Dearle. It has fewer and different colors than the first Marigold produced at Merton Abby in 1883.