Book Recommendation--A&C (long)

I hate to do this...

Don Thompson, Cutler Ridge, South of Miami FL

>but it is available for $25.89 from OVERSTOCK.COM.

Re: Book Recommendation--A&C (long)

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>Thanks, Wiley, sounds great.

I've been doing a lot of thinking about why the A&C movement. For example, William Duffield says it came about as a way to make furniture using the new power tools, therefore the designs are too something, just not pleasing; and I've heard that Ian Kirby says no, it can be much more than that, basing his opinion on William Morris' goals.

Have you formed an opinion on this? Does this book help to elucidate? Is this a UK vs US thing?

Thanks,

Pam

Re: Book Recommendation--A&C (long)

Wiley Horne--Glendora CA

>Hi Pam,

Your question points up why the term 'arts and crafts movement' lumps together too many dissimilar things--some of them almost exact opposites. The movement began in England as an anti-industrial expression, led most notably by William Morris. And though there were different strands of the British movement (I'm including Glasgow), the pieces that we see in picture books all have a great deal of handwork in them. Many of them appear remarkably difficult to execute, requiring very skilled carvers, glaziers, marquetry artists, metalsmiths. So it seems to me that the British movement never left its roots, despite the fact that Sid Barnsley's pieces look very different from the elegant and complex pieces of Ernest Gimson, for example, or C. R. Ashbee.

Now on the American side of the water, Roycroft and especially Greene & Greene maintained the craft emphasis (despite the fact the Hall Brothers who did G&G's production work were heavy into machines). But, still, there was a huge amount of high-skill hand work decorating G&G's furnishings. But Stickley's early beginnings, including the artistic Harvey Ellis influence, morphed over time into the Grand Rapids/mass-production/all-square-all-the-time mode. Soundly made furniture for ordinary people. And then it crashed. So the term 'arts and crafts' when applied to American furniture, could mean anything from Grand Rapids to Greene & Greene.

But in the main, it seems to me that English A&C kept to its crafty anti-mass-production roots, while American A&C morphed into mass production--the very opposite of the original impulse. And I think this is the distinction that Sir. Wm was making, and also perhaps what ian Kirby was getting at.

Wiley

Re: Book Recommendation--A&C (long) *LINK*

Roy

>Hi.

I hope it's alright to jump in to this discussion. Here is a great site with discussions of the origin of the A&C movement in the U.K. and how it was modified in the U.S.


The Arts and Crafts Movement in the American Midwe

Re: I hate to do this...

Wiley Horne--Glendora CA

>Well, I said $31.50 is the price to beat. Now $25.89 is the price to beat!

Amazon doesn't play fair, you know, they got me hooked with that 'one-click' thing (<:). Plus they delivered free on this one, so I was out the door for $31.50.

Wiley

Interesting site, Roy, Thanks.

Dan Donaldson

>

Re: Book Recommendation--A&C (long)

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>I couldn't get it to open until I removed the suffix, "table/html," at which point it opened fine. Interesting looking site.

Re: Book Recommendation--A&C (long)

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>Thanks, Wiley, that's pretty much what I was beginning to think, too. BTW, I got the book used at Amazon, $26.38 plus shipping, saved a couple of bucks.

Pam

Re: I hate to do this...

Don Thompson, Cutler Ridge, South of Miami FL

>I am with you on the One-Click thing. I tend to look for books on Amazon, and it is so easy to just [click] and run.

Re: Book Recommendation--A&C (long)

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>That is a wonderful discussion, I loved it.

Thanks,

Pam