The Arts and Crafts Movement advocated the importance of ornamentation and beauty in the face of dissatisfaction with the increasing number of plain-looking, mass-produced items that were being produced under the influence of the Industrial Revolution.
The 19th century was a period heavily influenced by the Industrial Revolution. All aspects of work, production, daily life, and the arts were affected by the technological innovations of the period, and by the late 19th century, people became dissatisfied with the deterioration of design and manufacturing. The result was the “Arts and Crafts” movement, which encouraged handwork rather than mass production. It encouraged people to make things by hand rather than through mass production, and insisted that things should be useful as well as beautifully decorated, and that handiwork should occupy the same status as works of art. Here is an introduction to this arts movement, which had a major impact in the 19th century.
Origins of the Arts and Crafts Movement
Some of the ideas that characterized the Arts and Crafts Movement can be traced back to the English architect and designer Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin, who lived from 1812 to 1852 and was an important figure in the Gothic Revival style of architecture He was a major figure in the Gothic Revival style of architecture. Like other proponents of the Arts and Crafts movement, Pugin was dissatisfied with the design and architecture of his day. He described it as a “collapse of current taste,” and his goal was to create a Gothic architecture that expressed the Christian values of the Middle Ages.
This idea of the Middle Ages as an ideal model for craftsmanship, design, and architecture later became an important aspect of the Arts and Crafts movement. Pugin also wrote that “design should have no unnecessary features that do not contribute to structure or convenience. He further states that the purpose of decoration should be to “enrich the essential structure.” These two ideas were not only found in successive Arts and Crafts movements, but were also important to 19th century design theory.
In 1851, the World’s Fair was held at the Crystal Palace in London. It marked Britain’s leading position in technology and design. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert organized the exhibition with the help of Henry Cole, who played an important role in reforming industrial design. The designs displayed at the exhibition were criticized for lacking a universal style. The Times wrote, “The lack of any fixed principles in decorative design is evident in this exhibition. The exhibition was also criticized for its decadent use of decoration and its disregard for materials.
There were many problems with design at the time, including industrialization and the resulting decline in quality and aesthetics, lack of uniformity, and low status compared to fine art… The Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society, founded in London in 1887, sought to change society’s perception of design and to raise the status of craft We wanted to elevate it. So the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society, founded in Founded in London in 1887, the Society aimed to change society’s perception of design and to elevate the status of the craft.
The Society not only gave the movement its name, but also created a regular exhibition space for representative decorative arts.
Main Ideas and Concepts
Although the 19th century arts movement was named after the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society, other groups were also part of it. Examples of related groups include the Arts Workers Guild, the Exhibition Society, and other businesses involved in craftsmanship. Although the movement was made up of many different groups, it was unified by a few key ideas and concepts
Objects should be useful and beautiful.
One of the key features of the Arts and Crafts Movement was to “make things beautiful and useful,” as William Morris, a designer active in the 19th century Arts Movement, put it: “There is nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or beautiful.” The designers who put these words into practice wished to use the objects in their homes on a daily basis, while at the same time appreciating their decorative qualities. The result is a movement that combines the ornate shapes that characterize it with practicality and quality.
Criticism of Machinery and the Revival of Medieval Craftsmanship
Another significant feature of the movement, especially in England, was the many negative opinions about machines and the results of the Industrial Revolution. They criticized the “soulless” state of repetitive factory work and machinery and sought to revive the relationship between production and creative craftsmanship. The Middle Ages played an important role for them as an ideal example of this relationship. Proponents of the movement wanted makers to be skilled craftsmen involved in manufacturing from the beginning. They wanted manufacturing to take place in small workshops rather than in large factories.
Unity
The lack of uniformity criticized at the 1851 World’s Fair was overcome by the Arts and Crafts Movement. The emphasis was placed on creating harmonious interiors. In other words, from architecture to tableware, designs were harmonized. Therefore, many designers in the 19th century art movement worked in more than one field, for example, they sometimes designed furniture as well as textiles. This diversity of design can be seen in works associated with the Arts and Crafts Movement, such as wallpaper, glassware, architecture, and books.
Key Figures in the Arts and Crafts Movement
William Morris, one of the most influential figures of the Arts and Crafts Movement, was born in East London in 1834 and studied at Oxford University, where he met the Pre-Raphaelite painter Edward Burne-Jones. Together with Edward Burne-Jones and other friends, Morris founded Morris, Marshall, Faulkner, and Company, an interiors firm dedicated to creating handmade objects inspired by medieval craftsmanship. His work and company made a significant contribution to the Arts and Crafts movement.
John Ruskin was also a central figure in the Arts and Crafts Movement. A philosopher and art critic, he criticized factory production and its effects on society. Ruskin believed that the process of design and production should not be separated, as he believed it harmed both society and the visual quality of objects. His ideas had a profound influence on Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement in general.
Women in the Arts and Crafts Movement
Participation in the 19th century arts movement was not limited to skilled craftsmen. Students and novices were also able to participate in design and production. This open atmosphere also allowed women to participate; even though they were still subject to much discrimination, as they were excluded from the Artists’ Guild until 1964, they were still an important part of the movement.
May Morris was one of the women active in the movement. The daughter of William Morris, an English artisan known especially for her embroidery designs, in 1885, when she was only 23 years old, she became manager of the embroidery department of the Morris Trading Company. She worked on many designs for the Morris Trading Company, some of which were mistakenly attributed to her father William Morris; since women were not allowed to join the Artists’ Guild until 1964, May Morris founded the Artists’ Women’s Guild in 1907.
