The Thirties - Art Deco and Streamline Style
Federation, the European influence
Contemporary - the Australian way of life
Arts & Craft Movement
The Arts & Crafts Movement was a reaction against the ostentatious, pompous style of High Victorian. In many ways it was a form of nostalgia, a desire to return to the past, but it was also a very gentle attempt to start a social revolution.
branches spontaneously developed within the Arts and Crafts Movement.
Each had it's own character, style, specialisation and leaders.
The major branches in the United Kingdom included The Guild of Handicraft,
The Glasgow School and the Cotswold School. The
Arts and Craft Movement also thrived in the United States of America:
The beginnings of the Arts and Crafts Movement were political rather than artistic, although over the fifty years or so that the Movement survived it became far more commercialised and production based rather than meeting the high ideals of it's founders to make the world a better place.
the Arts & Crafts Movement idealised pre-Industrialised society,
it follows that their style preference was also based very much
on days gone by. This "cult of the Medieval" became fashionable
throughout society, and somewhat ironically ended up decorating
the houses of the wealthy "new money" Industrialists who
the Movement so hated.
The Arts & Craft Movement idealised the past, in particular medieval times. Many of the fonts, embellishments, illustrations and themes are those also used in the Middle Ages.
More information about the Arts & Craft movement is in my Design & Cultures 1 unit (for Furniture and Design for Industry students).
William Morris (1834-1896)
Writer, designer and central figure of the Arts & Crafts Movement. William Morris was a passionate socialist who wanted to improve the lives of the poor in Victorian England. Perhaps unrealistically, he believed that it was possible to accomplish this through a return to traditional craftsmanship, since he and his group blamed industrialisation and mechanisation for many of the social problems in England at that time.
he couldn't find satisfactory furnishings for the home he was having
built, The Red House, William Morris developed the idea of forming a
collective to produce such designs. He founded a company William Morris
& Co that manufactured tapestries, furniture and stained glass.
William Morris was also prolific in bookbinding, engraving and various other forms of what today would be considered Graphic Design. He founded the Kemscott Press in 1893. hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/online/morris
James Cobden Sanderson (1840-1922): Bookbinder and founder
of the Doves Press which published many works of the Arts & Craft
Movement. A dispute as to the authorship of a successful and very fine
Type" finished when Cobden Sanderson threw the type in the
Emery Walker (1851-1933) : Engraver, Type Designer and Printer who worked with Cobden Sanderson on founding the Doves Press.
other Arts & Craft Movement typesetting and printing links:
Contextual factors to consider:
Some key technical innovations:
Meanwhile, in Fine Art:
all graphics, text and design: copyright retrokat.com 2001-4
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