The Bridge to the Twentieth Century: Part I

The Arts and Crafts Movement and Its Heritage

Maggie Merkin

ARTH 230.01

T. Long

            The Arts and Crafts Movement saw momentous change and innovation regarding graphic design techniques and skill. A book design renaissance began: diagrams and symbols began to be printed in brilliant primary colors using woodblocks, and color began to replace traditional alphabet labeling to identify lines, shapes, and forms. This renaissance was the result of the Arts and Crafts Movement that flourished in England during the nineteenth century, as a reaction to the Industrial Revolution. William Morris was the leader of the English Arts and Crafts movement, calling for a “fitness of purpose,” “truth to the nature of materials and methods of production,” and “individual expression by both designer and worker.” He was concerned with the various problems of industrialization and the factory system. Feeling that there was a certain tastelessness of the mass-produced goods and a lack of honest craftsmanship, he strove to reunite the arts with crafts, so that honest work was once again being made, workers could begin to enjoy honing and building their craft, and artistic communities could unite. From this movement came the Century Guild, with a new focus. The goal was to “render all branches of art the sphere, no longer of the tradesman, but of the artist.” The movement would elevate the design arts to that of the level of painting and sculpture. It would soon dismantle, though, in 1888, as it gradually lost the desire for collaboration among artists (and artists became preoccupied with their own personal work). After the Century Guild would come other societies and groups with the arts and crafts as a focus.

 Arthur H. Mackmurdo, peacock design, 1883

William Morris, Rose fabric design, 1883

 William Morris, title page spread from The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, 1896