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Book review: THE ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT IN EUROPE AND AMERICA
by:
Kylie Winkworth
WENDY KAPLAN AND OTHERS,
THE ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT IN EUROPE AND AMERICA: DESIGN FOR THE MODERN WORLD
(London: Thames and Hudson in association with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2004).
328 pp. ISBN: 0 500 238154. ﾣ39.95
This splendid book cum exhibition catalogue is an important addition to the vast literature on the arts and crafts movement. The particular virtue of this publication lies in its survey of the diverse manifestations and motivations of the arts and crafts movement across Europe and America. Thoughtful essays from leading scholars explore the movement in the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Scandinavia, Belgium, France and the United States. Striking photographs of familiar and unusual objects are actually discussed in the text. And theres a detailed exhibition checklist at the back, a true measure of excellence in museum catalogues.
Wendy Kaplans introduction lays out the thesis for these essays and the exhibition, which is currently on show at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The arts and crafts movement was not so much a style as an approach to the making of objects. While the movement had a broadly recognisable design vocabulary, some common sources of inspiration and shared some philosophical preoccupations, each country crafted distinctive responses to the challenges of mass production, industrialisation, urbanisation and the expression of national identity in an imperial and increasingly globalised world.
Alan Crawfords essay on the United Kingdom sets the context and
summarises the work and ideas of the leading artists and thinkers: Ruskin, William Morris, Philip Webb, Burne-Jones, Walter Crane and Charles Rennie Mackintosh. He also highlights some of the sub-strands in the British movement, looking at arts and crafts made in Ireland and Scotland and major regional cities such as Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow. Reflecting on the
distinguishing features of the arts and crafts movement in Britain, Crawford nominates its anti-industrial character and links with the British upper middle class. They were not just customers for tasteful design. The movement shared some of the gentrys preoccupations and anxieties, such as a romantic interest in the past, a love of the countryside and a disdain for trade.
Where the arts and crafts movement in Britain was by and large for the gentry and reflected their values, in the United States it took on a democratic character and had a less conflicted relationship with mass production. While in the yet to be industrialised countries of Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, the arts and crafts movement served nationalist aspirations, drawing inspiration from traditional folk crafts, dress, archaeology and vernacular building styles.
Wendy Kaplan identifies three broad strands linking arts and crafts movements around the world: art and industry, design and national identity and the unity of art and lifethe total work of art. Puzzles and contradictions must be expected in such a broad church. Socialism for the gentry is just one of many unresolved tensions in the arts and crafts movement. This book shows an eclectic range of work that points up some of the contradictions in a movement that values modernity and tradition, the mass produced and the handmade and that links the sinuous organic lines of the French and Belgian schools with the severe geometry of Wiener Werkst￤tte.
Australians with an interest in decorative arts and design will enjoy reflecting on our part in this international movement. There is the obvious British influence in the genteel taste of the South Australian Barr Smiths, one of Morris and Cos biggest clients; a French and nationalist strand in the works of Lucien Henry using native flora; and there is the American character of the Californian bungalow, and the popularity of mass produced mission-style furniture and do-it-yourself craft guides. In common with arts and crafts movements around the world, our museums played an important role in design education, technical training, collecting the best contemporary and historic crafts and elevating popular taste. This makes it all the more surprising that none of our museums organised a similar exhibition during the Centenary of Federation, despite millions spent on exhibitions and new museums. If ever there was a blockbuster in waiting it is this subject. |
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