Arts and Crafts Movement

The Arts and Crafts Movement was a British movement in art and especially in product design in the middle of the 19th century to about 1920.

History

The Arts and Crafts movement emerged in the mid 19th century and was largely initiated by William Morris, John Ruskin and a group of painters, architects and other artists. Decisive influence also had the magazine founded in 1893, The Studio. My main concern was the reunification of art and crafts with the aim of restoring the full value of the creative arts and crafts.

Their heyday was the Arts and Crafts Movement 1870-1920; their local priorities they had in Britain and in the United States. Prominent representatives were the interior designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh, who designed a chair today often produced with a high back, and the writer and satirist Elbert Hubbard. The movement began as a search for an authentic style of the 19th century. She was a response to the historicism of the Victorian era and as " soulless " can actually be products of the burgeoning industry. Many of their representatives " the machines" were regarded as the root of all evil. This resulted in a return to the qualities of the craft. In order to express the the craft supposedly inherent beauty was given to objects a rustic and rugged look. The central features of the Arts and Crafts movement - simplicity and serious approach to the material - influenced movements such as Art Nouveau, Vienna Secession, the Wiener Werkstätte, German Werkbund and the Bauhaus.

Other important representatives were Walter Crane, Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo, Charles Voysey, Charles Robert Ashbee and William Lethaby.