ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT

Lesson 11

ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT

Arts and Crafts was an international design

movement that flourished between 1860
and 1910, especially in the second half of
that period.

It was led by the artist and writer William

Morris (18341896) and the
architect Charles Voysey(18571941)
during the 1860s, and was inspired by the
writings of John Ruskin (18191900)
and Augustus Pugin(18121852). It
developed first and most fully in the British
Isles, but spread to Europe and North
America.

It was largely a reaction against the

impoverished state of the decorative arts at
the time and the conditions in which they
were produced.

It stood for traditional craftsmanship using

simple forms and often applied medieval,
romantic or folk styles of decoration. It
advocated economic and social reform and
has been said to be essentially antiindustrial.

ARCHITECTURAL ROOTS

The Arts and Crafts movement began in late

nineteenth century Britain and had roots in the
revival of medieval and Gothic architectural
styles. Leading figures in the early development
of the movement were men from wealthy
families, well educated either at Oxford or
Cambridge University. Almost all of them were
practicing architects or, like William Morris,
trained in architecture.

In the nineteenth century the taste in design for

buildings moved away from Classical styles.
These styles were based on design patterns
which were formulated and expressed in
ancient Greece and Rome, and included certain
rules of proportion and a limited stock of shapes
such as the 'orders' of columns. Classical
elements of this kind had been used in a variety
of ways - from the unconstrained Baroque style
to disciplined Palladianism, but in one form or
another they had dominated the design of large
state buildings, churches, and country houses,
for two hundred years.

PRINCIPLES OF ART AND CRAFTS

MOVEMENT

The function of the building and the activities within it to determine the outer shape and the construction,
leaving out excessive ornamental features.

Buildings tended to have graceful curved arches rather than pointed and many were designed on a
modest scale, in styles reminiscent of the manorial halls and half timbered cottages of Tudor or Elizabethan
England.

The preference for local slate, and red brick, for English Oak and for the cosy Inglenook fireplace rather
than ornate lead roofs and carved marble chimney piece defined the Arts and Crafts style.

Arts and Crafts relied on a partnership between designer and craftsman in which the craftsman was highly
respected alongside the artist and architect . There was too a greater concern for equality, and a concern
to improve the quality of life which a building could provide for its occupants. Charles Voysey for example
took great care in the design of servants accommodation in his houses to ensure they had good light and
space, believing that it would shame any man to have his servants in poor accommodation.

The important contribution of architects such as Pugin and Voysey stems from their involvement in the
design of furnishing and decoration.

They continued their interest after the building structure was complete, and followed through into interior
design and decorative art.

The interest beyond the architectural started early in the history of the movement when architects were
unable to find the right kind of furniture to match the new style of buildings which they had designed.
Neither the furniture available from manufacturers at the time, nor the antique furniture which could be
acquired fitted in with the new styles and so architects designed furniture and fittings to match the buildings
and interiors which they had created.

These architect-designers left their personal

touch on the smallest detail of the design inside
and outside of the building. As well as including
designs for furniture ,they often designed the
light fittings, wallpaper, door furniture, and even
keys, window latches ,doorbells and clocks. See
for example the design for a clock by Charles
Voysey which is shown opposite (with kind
permission of the Royal Institute of British
Architects).

RED HOUSE, KENT

Architect Philip Webb

Location Bexleyheath, in Kent, England

Date 1859 timeline
Building Type house
Construction
masonry, brick
System

Climate temperate
Context rural

Style

English Romantic House, Arts and Crafts, Eclectic

Gothic

Notes Designed for William Morris. Informal plan, romantic

massing, plain red brick.

PLAN

Red House in Bexleyheath in southeast London, England, is a major building of the history of the Arts and
Crafts style and of 19th-century British architecture.

It was designed in 1859 by its owner, William Morris, and the architect Philip Webb, with wall paintings and
stained glass by Edward Burne-Jones.

Morris wanted a home for himself and his new wife, Jane. He also desired to have a "Palace of Art" in
which he and his friends could enjoy producing works of art.

Morris was influenced by Ruskin and other theorists who saw the Gothic as a time of perfection in crafts
and building trades.

The house is of red brick with a steep tiled roof and an emphasis on natural materials. Red House is in a
non-historical, brick-and-tile domestic style. It is now a Grade I listed building.

The garden is also significant, being an early example of the idea of a garden as a series of exterior
"rooms". Morris wanted the garden to be like an integral part of the house.

The "rooms" consisted of a herb garden, a vegetable garden, and two rooms full of old-fashioned flowers.

Red house is L-shaped with rooms laid out for maximum efficiency and clarity.

The L-shaped plan also allows the house to embrace the gardens as a part of the domestic sphere.

It also creates an asymmetry that is typical of traditional Gothic structures that were built over long periods
of time.

Features: decorative arch in the brick work around the fire place .

Stained glass decorated by Morris, his family and their friends in found throughout the house.

The hallway is filled with light from the windows from the staircase to the second floor.

Gothic motifs such as the trefoil and its painted in dragon blood.