Chapter 10: The Arts and Crafts Movement. (1880 to 1910) and its Heritage

Transcription

1 Chapter 10: The Arts and Crafts Movement (1880 to 1910) and its Heritage

2 The Industrial Revolution wasn t all sunshine and rainbows.

3 Many mass produced products were cheaply made and poorly designed.

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7 The anything goes design philosophy often resulted in graphic design that resembled a 19 th century version of do-it-yourself Myspace design.

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9 Arts and Craft movement The Arts and Crafts movement flourished in England during the last decades of the 19th Century as a reaction against the social, moral, and artistic confusion of the Industrial Revolution. Design and a return to handicraft were advocated, the cheap and nasty mass-produced goods were despised. The leader of the Arts and Crafts movement, William Morris ( ), called for a fitness of purpose, truth to the nature of materials and methods of productions, and individual expression by both designer and worker. The writer and artist John Ruskin ( ) inspired the philosophy of this movement. Asking how society could consciously order the lives of its members so as to maintain the largest number of noble and happy human beings, Ruskin rejected the mercantile economy and pointed toward the union of art and labor in service to society, as exemplified in the design and construction of the medieval Gothic cathedral.

10 John Ruskin Writer and artist The union of art and labor, in service to society, would create the largest number of happy human beings. The Arts and Crafts movement was inspired by the philosophy of writer and artist John Ruskin. He felt that industrialization and technology caused a greater separation of art and society, and that separation should be eliminated.

11 William Morris The leading champion of the Arts and Crafts movement was the designer, painter, poet and social reformer William Morris. He rejected to opulence on the Victorian era and urged a return to medieval traditions of design, craftsmanship, and community. Founder of Morris & Company The Kelmscott Press Morris developed the view that art should be both beautiful and functional.

12 William Morris William Morris was a pivotal figure in the Arts and Crafts movement. His deep concern about the problems of industrialization and the factory system led him to implement Ruskin s ideas and address the tastelessness of massproduced goods and the lack of honest craftsmanship, through a reunion of art and craft.

13 William Morris, Rose fabric design, 1883.

14 Red House William Morris had the Red House designed for him and his wife, by the architect Philip Webb. The house was notable for it s L-shaped design, instead of being a rectangular box. During the decorating of the house, Morris discovered the appalling state of Victorian product and furniture design.

15 Red House This led Morris to design and supervise the production of furniture, stained glass and tapestries for his house. As a result of this experience, he established the art decorating firm Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Company, which later became Morris and Company.

16 William Morris, trademark for the Kelmscott Press, 1892.

17 William Morris, trademark for the Kelmscott Press, 1892 It was one of William Morris final attempts to preserve the old relationships between the artist and his art and his society. William Morris, trademark for the Kelmscott Press, The books issued by the Kelmscott Press were expensive Morris designed his own typefaces, made his own paper, and printed by hand but they were beautiful. They were designed to be read slowly, to be appreciated, to be treasured, and thus made an implicit statement about the ideal relationships which ought to exist between the reader, the text, and the author

18 William Morris, trademark for the Kelmscott Press, 1892 Kelmscott Press: Sense of design unity with smallest detail relating to the total concept inspired a whole generation of book designers well into the twentieth century and filtered into commercial printing. Morris reexamination of earlier typefaces and graphic design history touched off a redesign process that resulted in major improvements in the quality and variety of fonts available for designing and printing. The long-range effect of William Morris body of work was a significant upgrade in book design throughout the world.

19 The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, 1896 Eighty-seven woodcut illustrations from drawing by edward burnejones Fourteen large borders and eighteen small frames designed by William Morris William Morris, title page spread from The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, The chaucer typeface, developed specifically for the book by William Morris

20 The Kelmscott Press Morris founded a private press called Kelmscott Press, where the book became an art form whose elements were unified by a strong sense of design. As a book designer, Morris was greatly influence by medieval books. A private press is operated as an artistic or craft-based endeavor, rather than as a purely commercial venture.

21 Charles R. Ashbee, the Essex House Press emblem, c. 1902

22 Essex House Press was founded in 1890 by Charles R. Ashbee ( ), an architect, graphic designer, jeweler, and silversmith. Essex House Press was named after its original location and desolate sec2on of industrial London. Later, the guild moved to a rural village and began the ambitious task of turning the village into a communal society for guild workers and their families. In 1888, Charles R. Ashbee, had founded the Guild of Handicraft inspired by socialism and the Arts and Crafts movement. The emblem for the Essex House Press was a woodcut, and metaphorically related the Guild of Handicraft with a bee seeking a flower.

23 Early 1800 s Book Design William Pickering ( ) was a London bookseller and publisher. His Diamond Classics series, which includes the book shown here, featured works by such authors as Shakespeare, Virgil, and Dante printed in 4½ point type. Pickering advertised this series as "the smallest edition of the Classics ever published." PubliusTerentius Afer, London: William Pickering, ¾" x 3"

24 The Elements of Euclid, 1847 Pickering controlled the book format design, type selection, illustrations and all other visual considerations. Working closely with the printer, he supervised the printing of the books. By working in this manner, Pickering played an important role in separating graphic design from printing production. William Pickering, title page from The Elements of Euclid, A system of color coding brought clarity to the teaching of geometry.

25 William Pickering William Pickering, pages from The Elements of Euclid, Although the ornate initial letters connected this book to the past, its revolutionary layout was far ahead of its time. William Pickering s 1847 edition of Oliver Byrne s The Elements of Euclid, a geometry text, marked a break from tradition because color was used to identify the lines and shapes in the diagrams.

26 Arts & Crafts Movement Legacy Cabinet design for Morris and Company, The cabinet illustrates the honeymoon of the fifteenth-century Italian king René of Anjou, grace this cabinet. The structure and ornamental carving allude to design from the medieval era.

27 Arts & Crafts Movement Legacy Although it eventually gave way to Art Nouveau during the early part of the 20 th Century, the most lasting effect of the Arts and Crafts movement is the commitment to design and quality. The movement resisted the fast, cheap and low quality products that became common during the Industrial Revolution. Good designers and printers today obsess over details, while striving to create the highest quality product.

28 Arthur MacKmurdo Book cover of Arthur Mackmaurdo,Wren's City Churches Arthur Mackmurdo sought inspiration from Renaissance and Japanese art for his designs. Some swirling organic forms, in fact, seem to be pure art nouveau because of these influences.

29 Guilds During this period a number of Guilds emerged, whose members sought to establish democratic artistic communities united for the common good. Among the most important was the Century Guild. The Century Guild Hobby Horse, featured the work of guild members and was the first magazine devoted to the visual arts.

30 Guilds The Century Guild Hobby Horse: Featured the work of guild members. The first finely printed magazine devoted exclusively to the visual arts. Selwyn Image, title page to the Century Guild Hobby Horse, Packing it with detail, Image designed a page within a page that reflects the medieval preoccupation of the Arts and Crafts movement.

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40 Rise of the Private Press The private press movement, which included Kelmscott, Doves, and Essex House Presses, was most concerned with regaining high standards of design, materials, and workmanship.

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43 William Morris, pages 18 and 19 from The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, Beautiful pages of texture and tone contain an order and clarity that make the author s words legible and accessible.

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47 William Addison Dwiggins William Addison Dwiggins ( ) became a book designer who established a house style for the Alfred A. Knopf publishing company and designed hundreds of volumes for the firm. During the early 1920s, Dwiggins first used the term graphic designer to describe his professional activity. Dwiggins designed Caledonia, one of the most widely used typefaces in America.

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51 Figure The Roycroft Press in East Aurora, New York was established by Elbert Hubbard. The Roycrofters produced artistic home furnishings, copperware, leather goods, and printing. Hubbard was criticized for imitating the work of William Morris and tarnishing the whole movement. Nonetheless he brought beauty into the lives of ordinary people in a reaction against the mediocre products of industrial ism.

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62 Rudolf Koch Rudolf Koch, who designed the Neuland typeface and he regarded the alphabet as a supreme spiritual achievement of humanity. A dense texture is achieved in this intuitively designed typeface with unprecedented capital C and S forms. The woodcut-inspired ornaments are used to justify this setting into a crisp rectangle. Rudolf Koch, specimen of Neuland,

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66 Frederic W. Goudy Fonts designed by Frederic Goudy capture the feeling of French and Venetian Renaissance typography. Goudy became interested in art, literature, and typography on a higher plane than mere commercialism. Goudy had a long association with Lanston Monotype Company which commissioned some of his finest typefaces. He designed 122 typefaces.

67 American Type Founders Company American Type Founders Company established an extensive typographic research library and played an important role in reviving past designs. Pages from American Type Founders Specimen Book and Catalogue 1923 display printing demonstrations of its Garamond revival with Cleland ornaments.

68 American Type Founders Company This company established a typographic research library and produced revivals of past typeface designs such as Bodoni and Garamond. Page 45 from American Type Founders Specimen Book and Catalogue 1923, presented the Goudy series of Old Style fonts, including fonts designed by others

69 Morris Benton Morris F. Benton, ( ), head of typeface development at the American Type Founders, designed important revivals of Bodoni and Garamond. Benton designed approximately 225 typefaces, including Century Schoolbook, which he designed after carefully studying human perception and reading comprehension. Century Schoolbook was designed for and widely used in textbooks.

70 Bruce Rogers Bruce Rogers designed Centaur, one of the finest of the numerous fonts inspired by Jenson. It was first used in The Centaur by Maurice de Guerin. Rogers said the ultimate test, in considering the employment or the rejection of an element of design or decoration, would seem to be: does it look as if it were inevitable, or would the page look as well or better for its omission?

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74 Summary The legacy of the Arts and Crafts movement extends beyond visual appearances. Its attitudes about materials, function, and social value became an important inspiration for twentieth-century designers. Its positive impact on graphic design continues a century after William Morris s death through the revivals of earlier typefaces designs, the continued efforts toward excellence in book design and typography, and the private press movement that continues to this day.