1 The Arts and Crafts Movement

Ramaa Narayanan 2009

Arts and Crafts Movement Arts and Crafts Movement: An England based movement; came about prompted by the overriding importance that the mass-produced goods received at the cost of craftsmanship. It germinated about 1850 and dominated by the theories of William Morris. It strove to raise the artistic level of industrial design and to integrate high aesthetic principles with fine workmanship. Arts and Crafts Movement was an Englishbased movement, begun about 1850 and dominated by the theories of William Morris. It strove to raise the artistic level of industrial design and to integrate high aesthetic principles with fine workmanship. founded in 1882 ______________________________________________________________ The enormous expansion of machine production during the later eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries required development of mass consumption for the new or more cheaply manufactured products. From this need for a mass market there arose in the early nineteenth century the credo (of much modern advertising), that only the most ornate, the most unoriginal, and the most vulgar products would sell. By the time of London Exposition of 1851, the vast array of manufactured objects exhibited in Crystal palace represented and even flaunted the degeneration of taste brought on by the emergence of a machine economy. Many causes had been denoted to this degenerated situation; probably no single explanation was entirely adequate. The critical position that the British Arts and Crafts Movement took was highly significant in this regard. The cause was simple. It was the curse of the machine, destroying the values of individual craftsmanship on which high levels of past artistic achievements rested. However, the machine of the nineteenth century could not exist and function independent of human control. The gradual introduction of mechanization, enabled faster, cheaper production, in quantity and to a standardized uniformity factors which meant that the individual was no longer required to know all parts of a process providing one part could be repeated competently, nor to develop and contribute personal creative skills. Mass production and mechanization necessitated the reorganization of the workforce under the factory system. This led in turn to the growth of industrialization, and appalling social conditions for those who laboured to produce wealth , but were given little share of it. Ultimately, the machines gave rise to a society of wealthy manufacturers and humble customers. The Arts and Crafts Movement fought a rear-guard action against the rising tide of commercial vulgarization, by trying to turn back the clock. These were positive reactions against mass-produced designs in the late nineteenth century, articulated by

2 William Morris, John Ruskin and others. These were reflected in the works produced by the Arts and Crafts / Aesthetic Movement. The Arts and Crafts Movement is a movement promoting craftsmanship and a reform of industrial design. It was named after the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society founded in England in 1882. It had its roots in, John Ruskins and William Morriss attempts to reform the decorative arts, emphasizing the potential for good social and moral influence. Fundamental to the various activities of William Morris - lectures, poetry, art work, etc. was the belief that art and society are inextricably linked art for Morris meant not only the fine arts of architecture, sculpture and painting but that great body of art by means of which men have at all times striven to beautify the familiar matter of everyday life. He believed that such art arose from a basic human instinct to create, and was a joy to the maker and user alike in that it satisfied personal creative talent and at the same time enriched society as a whole. But the tradition upon which such art rested the skills of the artist-craftsman, which Morris saw exemplified in medieval workshop practice and guild system had been eroded. Since the Renaissance the concept of the artist as a unique and special genius had led to a diminution in status of the craftsman and an inevitable division between the fine and decorative arts*. The distinction had a particularly adverse effect on applied art** especially during the eighteenth century when the rise of an affluent middle class of then industrial society led to an increased demand for furniture and furnishings. Morris pointed out that the Industrialization had produced a society which denied to the mass of its members the means and opportunity both of creative work and quality of life. These fundamental rights, he believed, could only be restored by an equally radical reorganization through socialism. That would bring about a society in which the public, having control of all resources, would have the power to decide how these could best be used for good of all. The Arts and Crafts Movement - stood for aesthetic standards of simplicity, fitness and propriety. - It was a crusade launched by John Ruskin and William Morris to create an art made by the people, and for the people, a joy to the maker and the user - It was an explicit and almost vehement crusade against machine made objects. - One of the aims of the Arts and Crafts Movement was to recreate the vernacular tradition which had been submerged by the Industrial Revolution. In a nutshell, the tenets of Arts and Crafts Movement are : Fitness to use Honesty of expression Joy of making These values originated to a great extent from William Morris, who had established Morris and Company in 1888. As a designer Morriss ideas were embodied in the work

3 of the firm Morris & Co., which produced stained glass, ceramics, metalwork, furniture, wallpapers, and textiles. The Arts and Crafts Movement spread from England to the United States; and also affected the decorative arts in Germany and Austria. Criticism against the Arts and Crafts Movement : The fallacy of the crusade was described by Hermann Muthesius as Wherever today handicraft is elevated to an ideal, one has to assume that unnatural economic condition conditions prevail. And immediately there comes to mind the peculiar cultural image that William Morris and the English artists socialists have given us of an art of the people for the people which, in the end, produced such expensive things that at the very most only the upper ten thousand could consider buying them. It should be remembered that Morriss solutions concerned with taste, discrimination and a sense of quality. The last word on the ideas and ideals of decorative arts as enshrined in The Arts and Crafts Movement may be cited in the words of William Morris We ought to get to understand the value of intelligent work, the work of mens hands guided by their brains, and to take that though it may be rough, rather than unintelligent work of machines and slaves, though it may be delicate; to refuse altogether to use machinemade work unless where the nature of thing made compels it, or where the machine does what mere human suffering would otherwise have to do; to have a high standard of excellence in wares and not to accept makeshifts for the real things, but rather to go without it; to have no ornament merely for fashions sake, but only because we really think it beautiful cited by Norah Gillow ; Keeper, Willaim Morris Gallery, London 1987 William Morris Morris & Co. Founded 1888 Examples : Wall papers Textiles : Chintze , woven textiles, Embroidery Carpet, rug and tapestry Tiles. Morriss first wallpapers were designed in the early 1860s. They had noticeably geometric pattern structures. These were wood cut prints.These early papers required twelve blocks to print the complete pattern.His wall papers were cut in pear wood and printed on paper using distemper colours. By the late 1860s, Morriss attention turned to textiles printing followed by weaving and embroideries. The early patterns were predominantly, meandering lines flowing across the surface in a loose informal pattern which deliberately concealed the structure of the repeats.By 1876, Morriss interest in weaving led to a more formalized framework for his designs many were based on a vertical turn-over structure adopted from weaving patterns. Naturalistic elements like flowers and leaves became more conventionalized; and elements like

4 flowers and leaves were trained to fit shapes like scrolls, ogees, and ovals. In the last phase, from 1890 to 1896, saw a return to more flowing , less rigid patterns, often with an upward movement swaying from side to side. The same naturalistic elements flowers like daisies, violets, blackthorn sprays etc. were carefully arranged in a symmetrical structure, combining formal design with loose bower like effect. Structure was a crucial element of pattern designing, achieved by means of definite form bounded by firm outline. His pattern structure was marked by the universal acceptance of continuous growth.

* decorative art : Any of the applied art like furniture, ceramics, glass, enamel, textiles, metalwork, etc., when found in a domestic context or contributing to interior decoration. **applied art :Art which is essentially functional, but which is also designed to be aesthetically pleasing. (for example, furniture, metalwork, clocks, textiles, typography, etc.)