History of the Craftsman Movement

The Arts and Crafts movement, also known as the Craftsman movement, was started in England in the 1840’s by architect Augustus Pugin, writer John Ruskin, and artist/designer William Morris. The Craftsman movement’s philosophy supported "honest craftsmanship, natural materials, simple and pure design, and harmonious family life" (Baca’s Romance of the Mission, p.74). Among these three men, William Morris had the greatest impact on the Craftsman movement.

Society and art at that time were being influenced by the Victorian era and the Industrial Revolution. Life had become complex and fast paced with the introduction of mass production and Morris’ intent was to introduce a simpler lifestyle. The Victorian style was gaudy, ornate and uncomfortable, and its furniture was produced by machines in factories, as where the Craftsman style was simplistic and reflected aspects of nature in design, and its products were produced by hand.

Morris used a Gothic theme to change the standards in design because it required handcrafted work that could not be done by machine. He believed that if a craft was required to be handmade and the workers enjoyed working with their hands, then the end product would be a quality piece. He put his theory to work by building his own home. Most of his furnishings and finishing touches were handmade.

Over time, Morris gathered around himself craftsmen who made furniture and did finish work so that England’s population would become more familiar with the Craftsman philosophy and ideas as Craftsman pieces became more common. Morris’ main goal was to reach and affect the common people of Europe, but because he was mainly supported by England’s aristocracy and wealthy upper class and his handcrafted products cost more than the average man could afford, he was not able to do so very effectively. Morris died in 1896.

In the 1880’s, the Craftsman movement’s popularity spread to the United States. In 1899, architect Frank Lloyd Wright was quite popular in America and his styles incorporated Craftsman ideas. At this same time Gustav Stickley began to manufacture Craftsman furniture and to publish his magazine, "The Craftsman," which shared many of Morris’ views and made available to its members Craftsman style house plans. For the first twenty years of the 1900’s, the Craftsman style dominated America’s industry, especially the furniture industry.

In the 1890’s, the Craftsman style had become quite popular because it suited the tastes of most people whose lives had become complex with the Industrial Revolution. America’s upper class was not as fond of the Craftsman style, as were middle class families. Once again, the common middle class man was unable to purchase original pieces from famous designers, so they bought cheaper pieces that had been mass-produced in factories.

Straight lines, both horizontal and vertical, governed the Craftsman style. In the East, the Craftsman style was light and appeared aerodynamic, whereas in the West, it was taking on characteristics of the Spanish, Japanese, and Native American styles. Charles and Henry Greene, two architects whose designs reflected much of Morris’ philosophy, played a large role in the Craftsman movement in the West. They did so by incorporating other styles from England, Japan, southern Germany, Switzerland, and Scandinavia into their designs, designing homes with simple interiors. Their furniture was rectilinear with stained glass, leather, and inlays of wood and shell. In the Southwest, the Craftsman movement, the Mission Revival, and the Spanish Colonial Revival complimented each other so much that they meshed into one style that became known as the "Mission" style.

Once World War I started, the Craftsman movement lost its momentum. Advancements in technology gave way to automobiles, motion pictures, airplanes and many more modern inventions. The lifestyle of Americans became even more complex and fast-paced, popularizing other styles.

The Craftsman style started to gain popularity again in the 1980’s. This revival came about with the popularization of the Santa Fe and Cowboy styles. People were slowly moving West, buying older homes, and restoring them. Many of these homes were Craftsman style homes called bungalows. In 1992, the Craftsman style became even more popular with the publication of some informative literature on the Craftsman style and the exhibition of Craftsman furniture in a museum in Southern California. The demand for Craftsman furniture grew like wild fire with the help of modern technology. Today the Craftsman style is quite popular and has incorporated into its design a mixture of Spanish, Moorish, Japanese, Native American, Shaker, and Rustic styles.

Links:

• The Arts and Crafts Movement Review

• American Bungalow Magazine

• The Arts & Crafts Society

• Arts 'N' Crafts.Com

• Bungalow/Craftsman

• The Gamble House

• The Gamble House (second site)

• Frank Lloyd Wright

---------------------------------------------------------------

     Baca, Elmo. (1996). Romance of the Mission. Salt Lake City, UT: Gibbs-Smith Publisher.

     Harvest House Furniture. "Mission Style Classic Pine and Oak." Richmond Hill, Ontario Canada

     Roth, Leland M.

               a.   (1993). Understanding Architecture. NY, NY: HarperCollins Publishers.

               b.   (1979). A Concise History of American Architecture. NY, NY: Harper & Row, Publ., Inc.

     Upton, Dell. (1998). Architecture in the United States. Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press.