English Arts & Crafts Movement
The 19th century
Arts & Crafts Movement first developed in Britain and began
as a protest group - a rebellion against the fashion for ostentation
and over-elaboration in late Victorian design. Initially inspired
by the Socialist ideas of John Ruskin and William Morris, in 1884
the Art Workers Guild was formed to bring together 'craftsman'
and 'artists' to create a new form of 'applied arts', much in
the way the medieval Guilds had existed, and in 1886 some of its
members formed the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society, after which
the movement is named.
The movement generally refers to a group of craftsmen, artists,
designers and architects who set out to raise the status of the
applied arts to that of the fine arts. These included William
de Morgan, Henry Holiday, Walter Crane, (who had been instrumental
in establishing the Great Exhibition of 1851 in Hyde Park), architect-designer
Philip Webb designers Christopher Dresser and Charles Ashbee,
amongst many others.
It was a uniquely
English movement, and art schools and technical colleges in London,
Glasgow and Birmingham played a particularly important role in
its development; in fact, they continued to promote its philosophies
and ideas through the teaching of art, craft and design in Britain
right up to the 1950s and beyond. By 1880 it was well established
in Britain and thereafter rapidly spread throughout America and
Europe and even emerged in the revival of a Folk Crafts movement
in Japan.
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THE
SUTTON
A fully polished arched insert cast iron fireplace in Arts
& Crafts styling - shown here with a black granite hearth
and pine mantel fire surround.
CLICK
HERE TO SEE
ENLARGED IMAGE
|
Several organisations
arose to promote Arts and Crafts ideas towards the end of the
19th century, including the Century Guild, set up by Arthur Mackmurdo,
Selwyn Image and others, the Art Workers' Guild, the Arts and
Crafts Exhibition Society, (of which Walter Crane as its first
President), the Home Arts and Industries Association and the School
of Handicraft founded in 1888 by Ashbee.
Promotion of the movement also involved the radical design magazines
line The Studio and the Magazine of Art.
 |
THE
WINDSOR
An arched insert cast iron fireplace, in a fully polished
finish, typical of Arts & Crafts design - shown here
with a black granite hearth and pine mantel fire surround.
CLICK
HERE TO SEE
ENLARGED IMAGE
|
Arts & Crafts style was typically simple and elemental, preferring
semiprecious and common materials to the exotic or extravagant,
with the emphasis on good craftsmanship and quality construction
through traditional manufacturing methods, as William Morris had
advocated in the 1860. The exaggerated and opulent finishes and
surface decorations of Victorian design gave way to plain surfaces,
basic shapes and a more geometrical character.
Our own collection
of Cast Iron Fireplaces, Mantels
and Fascias contains many examples
of reproduction Arts & Crafts style and we are proud to be
able to offer them with all the quality and craftsmanship of the
originals. Take a look at example in our large format image Gallery,
and you'll see what we mean.
