Arts and Crafts Movement
Victorian was the decorative arts and architecture during the reign of Queen Victoria. This movement brought the arts not only to the wealthy but also the common person. The Victorian-style spread worldwide because it was introduced when there were great advances in the media and communication.
Even though this style was extremely popular there were some negative aspects that came along with it. A lot of the Victorian furniture was made with weak and cheap material. It also was not uncommon for people to combined the style of Victorian with many others. Eventually, peoples rooms became very cluttered and had the look as if it was thrown together.
I learned that the Arts and Craft movement was a reaction against the Victorian movement. William Morrison was the founder of the Arts and Crafts movement. A quote that he said was, "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful". This most definitely defines the characteristics of the Arts and Crafts movement.
One of the major characteristics of the movement was that the furniture was a "simple honest design" this was a great contrast to the elaborately decorated Victorian style. I have added an example of a Victorian chair. It is very elaborate with the woodwork and needle pointed cushions. Below is the Morris chair simple with a solid wood frame. |
| Red House |
One famous house that was designed during the Arts and Crafts movement was the Red House. The Red House was built in 1859 and was completed in 1860. It was designed by William Morris and Philip Web. This house was very significant to the Arts and Crafts movement.
The Victorian and the Arts and Crafts style is still used today. Here are two examples of these styles being used in the current day. I believe that these styles used in the correct way today are absolutely beautiful and elegant as seen in the pictures below.
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| Arts and Crafts |
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| Victorian |
One Step Further
A person that I found interesting in our reading was Henry Greene an architect. Henry Greene was born in Brington, Ohio in 1870. Throughout his work, he was inspired by the Japanese architecture and added the Japenese elements of architecture to Arts and Crafts.He and his brother created the firm Greene and Greene which was a leading firm in the Arts and Crafts movement. The Greene and Greene firm mostly focused on residential homes but also they designed a few commercial buildings.
One of the most famous works that Henry Greene designed with his brother was the Gamble House in Pasadena, California. The house was built in 1908. Not only did they design the house but they also designed the furniture, light fixtures, carpets, linens, picture frames, and silverware. In the interior of the house, they used many different types of woods so that it would create a unique contrast in the different colors of wood. The house was known for its bold joinery and Japanese style. After the house was made it was characterized as a bungalow style house.
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| Gamble House |
ChristyAnne- very thoughtful summary of the Arts and Crafts movement! Very interesting that you chose Henry Greene for your "One Step Further". Well done!
ReplyDeleteChristyanne, it was interesting to see how our blogs differed, as you talked about the Victorian era a little bit more in depth. We seemed to both be interested in William Morris and his influence on the movement. I thought it was interesting that you did additional research on Henry Greene. I did not know that his firm designed not only the architecture of the Gamble House, but also the furniture, light fixtures, carpets, linens, picture frames, and silverware. This is a prime example of the designers of the Arts and Crafts movement placing importance on everything handmade and done with fine craftsmanship.
ReplyDeleteI thought Henry Greene was an interesting choice for your one step further. It was interesting also how he and his brother had the same passion and were successfully able to run a firm together. I also find it interesting how they literally designed basically everything in the Gamble hose even up to the silverware. I wonder how long it took to design all of that and how good it must have felt to have everything about a project under their control as designers.
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