Read complete books and articles on: Arts and Crafts (Movement)

Arts and Crafts - term for that general field of applied design in which hand fabrication is dominant. The term was coined in England in the late 19th cent. as a label for the then-current movement directed toward the revivifying of the decorative arts. The chief influence behind this movement was William Morris. By the mid-19th cent., factory processes had almost entirely driven artisans from their ancient trades and threatened to obliterate the techniques they used to produce beautiful objects of utility. The Gothic revival, however, had brought into existence a great body of knowledge concerning the arts of the Middle Ages, and Morris, together with the Pre-Raphaelite painters and a small group of architects and designers, returned to these arts as a rich source of inspiration.

The pupils and followers of Morris multiplied, and proficient artisans developed. Their methods aimed at a practical demonstration not only of Morris's aesthetic creed but also of his ideas concerning socialism and the moral need for integrating beauty with the accessories of daily life. The aesthetic and political aspects of the arts and crafts movement influenced the development of modernism, particularly as they were later reflected in the core philosophy of the Bauhaus. The revival of folk arts has continued to prosper in some quarters, especially in remote communities and among Native Americans of the Southwest and the Eskimos (see North American Native Art).

A less aestheticized version of the arts and crafts movement was important in the United States, where it spread from England and flourished from the late 19th cent. to about 1915. It was prominent in American architecture and design, notably in the buildings and interiors of Greene and Greene and in the "mission-style" oak furniture of Gustav Stickley (1858–1942) and his contemporaries. The movement's precepts were also applied to ceramics, glassware, utensils, and other objects of American daily life. The arts and crafts movement also spread to continental Europe, where it was quite influential during the late 19th and early 20th cent.

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8 of the Best Books and Articles on: Arts and Crafts (Movement)

as selected by Questia librarians

1.

Arts and Crafts Perspectives, in The Architectural Review » Read Now
by Peter Davey. 2 pgs.

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...Arts and crafts perspectives by Peter Davey The exhibition Arts and Crafts von Morris bis Mackintosh at the Institut...occasionally astringent by the odd dash of the Arts...
2.

Design Culture in Liverpool, 1880-1914: The Origins of the Liverpool School of Architecture (Chap. One "The Styling and Ideology of the Arts and Crafts in Liverpool") » Read Now
by Christopher Crouch. 200 pgs.

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By the 1930s the Liverpool School of Architecture was the most famous British school of architecture in the world, promoting modern architecture and city planning internationally. This book looks at the cultural environment in Liverpool at the turn of the twentieth century which enabled such an...
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By the 1930s the Liverpool School of Architecture was the most famous British school of architecture in the world, promoting modern architecture and city planning internationally. This book looks at the cultural environment in Liverpool at the turn of the twentieth century which enabled such an important institution to come to fruition. It examines attitudes towards design practice through the work of patrons, practitioners, institutions and theorists in the city, and considers the way their ideas were formed by national and international trends. From a city microcosm of contesting design aesthetics emerged a unique synthesis that was to exert a profound international influence in architectural and planning design.
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3.

Spaces of Global Cultures: Architecture, Urbanism, Identity (Chap. 10 "Imperialism, Colonialism, and Architects of the Arts and Crafts of Britain") » Read Now
by Anthony D. King. 257 pgs.

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King draws on architectural, urban and built environment writings and evidence in various cities across the world to examine existing theories of globalization and develop new ones. His critical reviewing of theorists and architects including Giddens, Harvey, Hirst, Rogers, Foster, etc. features prominently.
4.

William Morris: Centenary Essays (Chap. 12 "'Every Artist Would Be a Workman, and Every Workman an Artist': Morrisian and Arts and Crafts Ideas and Ideals at the Ontario Educational Association, 1900-1920" and Chap. 13 "The Dilemma of Place: Arts and Crafts Architecture in the Antipodes") » Read Now
by Peter Faulkner, Peter Preston. 300 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library
5.

The Avant-Garde in Interwar England: Medieval Modernism and the London Underground (Chap. 4 "Morris, the Machine and Modernism, 1915-1934") » Read Now
by Michael T. Saler. 242 pgs.

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6.

Handbook of Research and Policy in Art Education ("Arts and Crafts" begins on p. 43) » Read Now
by Elliot W. Eisner, Michael D. Day. 879 pgs.

Collections: Education, Entire Library

The Handbook of Research and Policy in Art Education marks a milestone in the field of art education. Sponsored by the National Art Education Association and assembled by an internationally known group of art educators, this 36-chapter handbook provides an overview of the remarkable progress that...
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The Handbook of Research and Policy in Art Education marks a milestone in the field of art education. Sponsored by the National Art Education Association and assembled by an internationally known group of art educators, this 36-chapter handbook provides an overview of the remarkable progress that has characterized this field in recent decades. Organized into six sections, it profiles and integrates the following elements of this rapidly emerging field: history, policy, learning, curriculum and instruction, assessment, and competing perspectives. Because the scholarly foundations of art education are relatively new and loosely coupled, this handbook provides researchers, students, and policymakers (both inside and outside the field) an invaluable snapshot of its current boundaries and rapidly growing content. In a nutshell, it provides much needed definition and intellectual respectability to a field that as recently as 1960 was more firmly rooted in the world of arts and crafts than in scholarly research.
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7.

Graphic Style: From Victorian to Digital ("Arts and Crafts" begins on p. 31) » Read Now
by Steven Heller, Seymour Chwast. 264 pgs.

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The book to consult for an overview of graphic design styles from the industrial era onward. A quick appreciation of every significant trend from Art Nouveau to Neo-Modern. Now, in an expanded edition with over 700 illustrations, this essential design compendium takes us up to the present day. A new...
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The book to consult for an overview of graphic design styles from the industrial era onward. A quick appreciation of every significant trend from Art Nouveau to Neo-Modern. Now, in an expanded edition with over 700 illustrations, this essential design compendium takes us up to the present day. A new section on the digital era covers everything from typocentric design to the impact of club culture and the Internet.
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8.

Art Nouveau ("Arts and Crafts" begins on p.104) » Read Now
by Edouard Roditi, Robert Schmutzler. 332 pgs.

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...field of the applied arts and even in the architecture...jug and the bottle. The craftsman who made them may indeed...The applied and graphic arts appear to be more...