Arts and Crafts
An Island Garden
Sarah Wyman Whitman
(Houghton, Mifflin & Company, 1894)
The Garden Bluebook
(Doubleday, Doran & Company, 1929)
Glimpses of Authors
(Houghton, Mifflin Company, 1922)
Arts and Crafts Movement was not so much a highly organized
group or style as a variety of individuals who shared common
attitudes towards the creation of the everyday object.
Arts and Crafts was at its root a reaction against industrialization.
Followers saw contemporary manufacturing practices as soulless
and dehumanizing, and they sought to revive techniques
of handcrafting in an effort to recognize the individual
creativity of every decorative artist. Coming out of the
traditions of Aestheticism, they also wanted to elevate
the decorative arts to the level of fine arts and focused
primarily on areas like furniture making, jewelry and ceramics
rather than on the traditional fine arts like painting
Ruskin was an early influence on the movement,
particularly in such writings as The Stones of Venice (1851-53),
which denounced industrial manufacturing. William Morris
was another important early leader. In 1861, partially
as a reaction to what he saw as a lack of well made decorative
objects, he founded the design firm Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co.,
which created many types of high quality goods and quickly
gained an international reputation for the excellence and
creativity of its work.
Other workshops and artist
colonies sprang up throughout Europe and America that held
a shared desire to return to hand-craftsmanship. Chicago,
upstate New York, and Cincinatti were some of the centers
in the United States. Formal groups such as the Art Workers'
Guild (1884) and the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society
(1888) solidified some of the intentions of those involved.
In fact, it wasn't until of the founding of the latter
organization that the term "Arts and Crafts" came
into use. Various publications aided the dialogue within
the movement; the most influential in the United States
was The Craftsman, published by Gustav Stickley, a well-known
The Man of Sorrows
(The Roycrofters, 1909)
Bookmaking played an important role in the Arts and Crafts Movement, primarily through the influence of William Morris and his Kelmscott Press, founded in 1890. Like other decorative arts, there was a rising concern over the detrimental effects of mass production on book design. Morris sought to rectify this through the founding of his press, which emphasized high quality hand production: handmade papers, heavy inking, original typefaces, and designs that looked back to medieval illuminated manuscripts and incunabula and often included elaborate wood engravings (for examples, see the Kelmscott exhibit at the University of Glasgow). Others followed suit in creating private presses, including American presses like the Roycroft Press of Elbert Hubbard. Covers of these books were often simple paper covered boards or plain soft vellum, but there were also some stamped leather bindings (see pba02335).
Given the emphasis on handcrafting,
there was much debate as to whether or not mass production
and contemporary manufacturing processes could have a place
within Arts and Crafts. In America, there was more integration
of craftsman values and industrialization. While there
were "pure" workshops that made entirely handmade
goods there were also a number of hybrid manufacturers
that adhered to design ideals of the movement while keeping
prices lower through use of machinery division of labor.
In the words of Leslie Greene Bowman, "American businessmen
packaged arts and crafts into a consumer proposition." (34)
From this it is evident how mass produced publishers'
bindings could have a place within the Arts and Crafts
Movement. In fact there were a number of well-known cover
designers who were active within the movement. William
Bradley and Sarah Wyman Whitman were both founding members
of the Boston Society of Arts and Crafts (1897), the first
formal Arts and Crafts group in America. Bradley even ran
his own private press for a period of time, the Wayside
Press, and he is a good example of the overlap between
Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau (for example, see pbw01228).
Sarah Wyman Whitman's covers show her interest in a simplified
style and handcrafted appearance. Walter Crane was an English
designer and illustrator who was also active in the Arts
and Crafts Movement. From 1891-1892 he visited the United
States and executed a few illustration and design commissions
for publishers (see pba02464). He also exhibited in Boston,
where his presence may have encouraged the Arts and Crafts
The Old Garden and Other Verses
(Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1894)
Because there is not a definitive style for
Arts and Crafts, identifying covers that show its influence
is not a hard and fast science. In some respects the move
away from gaudy 1880s cover style to more simple restrained
designs in the 90s probably shows the general impact of
Arts and Crafts. As with the aforementioned designers,
it is most clear when biographical facts show the personal
connections with the movement itself.
In general, though, Arts and Crafts influence can be seen
in covers with simple, flat, symmetrical designs with abstracted
plant motifs, sometimes with a folk art feel to them. Sometimes
there is a geometric element, as in The Welding,
created by William James Jordan, who was influenced by
the Glasgow School in Scotland. They are typically published
from the 1890s onwards as late as the 1930s. As mentioned
earlier, there is some overlap between Art Nouveau
and Arts and Crafts. In general, however, Arts and Crafts
does not focus as much on the sinuous elegant curve, instead
pursuing a simpler handcrafted feel.
Search the PBO database
for Arts and Crafts
The Arts & Crafts Movement: Artists Craftsmen & Designers 1890-1930.
London: Fine Art Society, 1973.
Bowman, Leslie Green. American Arts
and Crafts. Virtue in Design. Boston: Bulfinch
Clark, Robert Judson, ed. The Arts
and Crafts Movement in America 1876-1916. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University press, 1972.
Crawford, Alan. "Arts and Crafts Movement." Dictionary
of Art. Edited by Jane Turner.
New York: Grove, 1996. (online version is available at some colleges and
Crichton, Laurie W. Book Decoration
in America, 1890-1910. A Guide to an Exhibition. Williamstown, Mass.: Williams College, 1979.
Finlay, Nancy. Artists of the Book
in Boston, 1890-1910. Cambridge: Harvard College
Thompson, Susan Otis. American
Book Design and William Morris. New York: R.R.