Design Reform Movements: Arts and Crafts & Gothic Revival
Review of the Great Exhibition
The Great Exhibition and the Crystal Palace showcased Great Britain's empirical power.
It displayed a wide array of resources and achievements available to the British Empire.
Joseph Paxton's design was considered a marvel of engineering and building.
Gothic Revival and A.W.N. Pugin
A.W.N. Pugin (p u g I n) displayed the "Medieval Court" at the Great Exhibition.
He had a utopian vision of a handcrafted world in the Gothic style.
Pugin admired the guild system of medieval Gothic cathedral construction, where different guilds of craftsmen collaborated.
He was concerned with the appearance of objects and architecture and believed Gothic revival was the true English national style and the true Catholic style due to his conversion to Roman Catholicism.
Pugin sought to define and revive English design by looking back to what he considered its architectural height.
Authored "True Principles of Pointed or Christian Architecture," which influenced builders.
Pugin's Design Principles
Two overriding principles:
No unnecessary features in a building, ensuring convenience, construction, or propriety.
All ornament should enrich the essential construction of the building and serve a purpose.
Advocated for honest use of materials, seeking truth in design.
Gothic Elements
Terms like quatrefoil, clustered columns, crockets, and cusps are commonly used.
Examples include rose windows with arches, points, quatrefoils, and trifoils.
Examples of Gothic Revival
The Houses of Parliament at the Palace of Westminster and Big Ben were designed by A.W.N. Pugin and Sir Charles Barry (designed from 1844 and completed in 1852).
Pugin passed away in 1852, barely seeing the project's completion.
Pugin designed the interiors, incorporating strong Gothic architectural elements reminiscent of a church.
Highclere Castle (1842), known as Downton Abbey, exemplifies Gothic revival with its arches, points, and textile displays.
Pugin's Commentary on Society
Pugin created a print contrasting a medieval town with a modern industrial town (1836).
The medieval town's highest points were church spires, symbolizing the importance of religion.
The industrial town's highest points were buildings and smokestacks, suggesting a shift in values and priorities.
Truth to Materiality and Construction
A table designed by Pugin in 1847 exemplifies truth to materiality by using oak and exposing the construction.
Decorative elements serve functional purposes, such as supporting the table.
A.W.N. Pugin’s Motto Red Plate
Features the motto "waste not, want not," promoting pious consumption.
Decorated with wheat shafts, referencing bread.
Incorporates Gothic elements like text and rose window designs.
Made of colored clay (encaustic design) where the color is imbued into the material, ensuring honesty.
Wallpaper Designs
Pugin's geometric design for the Palace of Westminster wallpaper contrasts with a design featuring trompe l'oeil architectural elements.
Pugen's design is flat and two-dimensional, in line with his pursuit of truth in materiality.
Owen Jones
Owen Jones (o w e n, Jones j o n e s) designed the color scheme and inner design of the Great Exhibition.
He developed color theories and was inspired by his grand tour in the 1830s to ancient ruins in Greece, Italy, Turkey, and Spain.
Inspired by the Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain; he documented its architecture and decorations in a book published in 1842.
Jones recreated the Alhambra Court at Sydenham's Crystal Palace in 1860.
The Grammar of Ornament
Published "The Grammar of Ornament" in 1856.
The book contains lithographs of various cultures' patterns to inspire designers.
Jones sought to identify an ornamental vocabulary, drawing inspiration from Egyptian, Turkish, Moorish, and Spanish designs.
He saw tribal and native ornaments as vital and beautiful due to their purposefulness.
He promoted idealized and conventionalized ornaments rather than accurate depictions of nature, believing that art moves further away the more nature is copied.
Christopher Dresser
Christopher Dresser was a botanist who studied plants and their geometric structures.
He was influenced by Darwin, Pugin, and Owen Jones.
Dresser collaborated with Owen Jones on plant plates.
He sought the underlying structure of plants, moving towards a geometric aesthetic.
Japanese Influence
Japan opened for trade in 1853, significantly impacting Western design.
Dresser traveled to Japan and published "Japan, Its Architecture, Art, and Art Manufacturers."
His book popularized Japonisme, the love of all things Japanese.
Designs by Dresser
Sheffield teapot (1878) and toast rack (1880) showcase geometric forms and abstracted design.
Dresser is considered the first industrial designer, working with manufacturers to realize his designs.
Moral Design Vocabulary
Dresser established principles based on truth, beauty, and power.
Truth criticizes imitation of material.
Beauty describes a sense of timeless perfection in design.
Power implies strength, energy, and force in ornament achievable through knowledge.
Arts and Crafts Movement
John Ruskin is considered the first art historian; he went on a grand tour to Europe. Ruskin completely rejected industrialization, describing it as slavery.
John Ruskin was largely responsible for the philosophical foundation on which the Arts and Crafts movement was built.
He believed that imperfect ornamentation in the Gothic style reflected social conditions that granted workers creative freedom and dignity.
Ruskin argued machine-made objects lack soul, and workers lose their creativity.
He opposed the Victorian age's industrialization, where perfection was valued, but workers were dehumanized.
Ruskin valued imperfections as signs of handmade craftsmanship.
William Morris
William Morris, a student of Ruskin, is considered the father of the Arts and Crafts movement.
He was associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.
Morris became a member of the Socialist Party, viewing the movement as a means to address worker abuse.
In 1865, he founded Morris and Company, producing textiles, wallpapers, tapestries, tiles, furniture, and stained glass.
Morris designed his house, the Red House, with Philip Webb, as an expression of the Arts and Crafts movement.
Medieval Guilds
The Arts and Crafts movement looked back to medieval guilds.
William Morris adopted the Gothic movement's principles but kept it more medieval.
High-pitched roofs and turrets, reminiscent of castles, were common features.
Interiors were a collaboration between Morris and his friends, incorporating Gothic and handmade elements.
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
A group of artists and thinkers who looked back to medieval paintings and storytelling.
They emulated painters like Dante, Michelangelo, and Raphael.
Examples of Pre-Raphaelite Influence
Jane Morris, William Morris's wife, designed the embroidery called "Daisy."
Rosetti painted "Proserpine" (1882), depicting Jane Morris, who had a romantic entanglement with Rosetti that lived together with William.
Rosetti's painting emulates the medieval style with flattened perspective and ethereal qualities.
William Morris Designs
Morris and Co. created a cabinet depicting the legend of Saint George (1862), emulating the medieval style.
Morris became known for wall coverings and textiles, like "Acanthus" and "Brother Rabbit," printed on cotton.
These designs were flat and not meant to imitate real plants or animals.
Sussex Side Chair
One of Morris's popular chairs, Sussex side chair, came in various styles and designs.
The variety of choice reflected a trend during the industrial revolution.
The chair's sparse lines were revolutionary compared to overblown Victorian furniture.
Morris & Co. Weaving Shed
Morris emphasized the importance of handmade textiles using weaving workshops and looms, avoiding machinery.
He mixed design criticism with social criticism, advocating for a society of free craftspeople.
He believed pleasure existed during the Middle Ages because craftsmen used to take pleasure in their work.
Socialist Ideals
Morris joined the Socialist League, studying Karl Marx's theories on alienation between the working class and their products.
The Socialist Party grew due to rising issues of the working class.
The Aesthetic Movement
The Arts and Crafts movement develops into the aesthetic movement.
The aesthetic movement emphasizes surface, color, sheen, and upholds "art for art's sake" and "beauty for beauty's sake."
It divorces art from moral or sociopolitical messages, focusing on color, form, and composition in pursuit of beauty.
Rise of Women's Magazines
Women's magazines like "The House Beautiful" (1878) influenced home decoration, showcasing beautiful and exotic objects.
Oscar Wilde and International Exhibitions
Oscar Wilde, a proponent of the aesthetic movement, developed a public persona based on art for art's sake.
He reacted against cheaply made goods, expressing personal taste and beauty.
The International Exhibition in 1862 featured the Japanese Court, influencing the aesthetic movement.
Japanese Woodcuts
Udigawa Kunisada woodcuts from 1820 inspired artists and designers with their patterns and colors.
The Peacock Room
James McNeil Whistler designed the Peacock Room for Frederick Leland, displaying Japanese and Chinese porcelain.
Whistler painted over leather wall coverings, gilded shelving, and covered the ceiling with a peacock motif.
Leland refused to pay the full fee, leading Whistler to paint a mural of fighting peacocks titled "Art and Money or the Story of the Room."
Sideboard by E.W. Godwin
An example of Japanese influence in furniture design, featuring embossed Japanese paper and leather.
The design reflects concerns with health and hygiene, with open space to reduce dust.
Small Youth Table by E.W. Godwin
An architectural approach to furniture with geometric planes, playing with different geometric planes is also an example of Japanese influence in furniture design.
Comparison to Victorian Parlors
Victorian parlors were filled with textiles, curtains, valances, tassels, and plants, often seen as unhygienic.
Themes Overview
Reviwed all of our themes for this week's lecture by touching on the following aspects:
Gothic Revival and A.W.N. Pugin.
Truth in materials.
John Ruskin, grandfather of the Arts and Crafts movement.
William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement.
*Labor MovementJapan's influence on the aesthetic movement.
Art for Arts sake
Recommendations
Film/Mini-Series:
The Forsyte Saga: follows the story of multiple generations, from about 1850 - 1920, showcasing the changes in art and design through time with a family that commissions an arts and crafts style house.
Books:
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde: rich young man trades his soul for eternal youth by creating art for art's sake.
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair: focuses on labor conditions in the US during the 18th century.