Overview
This dresser, by New Zealand architect and craftsperson J W Chapman-Taylor (1878–1958), is a fine example of the Arts and Crafts style.
The Arts and Crafts movement began in Britain in the 1850s and 1860s. It sprang from the disillusionment that many architects, artists, designers, and cultural theorists felt with the changes brought by the Industrial Revolution, which had begun about a hundred years earlier. Industrial expansion, they believed, had destroyed traditional values, and led to polluted cities, slums, unhappy workers, and ugly factory-made wares.
Arts and Crafts proponents tried to revive the medieval ideals of honest craftsmanship, seeing the Middle Ages as a time when everything had been made with love and pride. They believed that the values and skills of craftsmanship would improve society as whole. To them, following Arts and Crafts principles was a way of life.
Writer and critic John Ruskin (1819–1900), a leading figure in the movement, wrote that it was vital for society that workers should be craftspeople, finding self-expression in their daily toil. He said that good design should benefit those who made the object, as well as those who used it.
Another leader of the Arts and Crafts movement was William Morris (1834–96). Working with associates, he designed and handcrafted jewellery, wallpaper, textiles, furniture, stained glass and fine books. He believed that the beauty of a piece of art sprang directly from the artist’s enjoyment in producing it.
And artist and designer Walter Crane (1845–1915) wrote in 1887: ‘There is room for the highest qualities in the pattern of a carpet, the design of a wallpaper, a bit of repoussé or wrought iron or wood carving. . . The sincere designer and craftsman with his invention and skill applied to the accessories of everyday life may do more to keep alive the sense of beauty than the greatest painter who ever lived.’(1)
The Arts and Crafts style was distinctive. Those within the movement strived to produce items that had a simple form, were suitable for their purpose and honest to their materials, and not only were handcrafted but looked handcrafted.
In New Zealand, many of the artists who became notable for their work in this style were women. Two of the most well known are Chrystabel Aitken and Annie Buckhurst.
When it came to architecture, Arts and Crafts advocates held that buildings should be made of local materials, be designed to fit within the landscape, and reflect local styles and traditions. In New Zealand, the most famous architect associated with the style was J W Chapman-Taylor (1878–1958), who made the dresser you see here.
The Arts and Crafts movement and the writings of people like Ruskin, Morris, and Crane were hugely influential in Britain, Europe, America, Australia, and New Zealand. Thousands of people learnt crafts such as embroidery, china-painting, repoussé, and wood-carving. By 1900, countries all over the world had craft guilds, artists’ colonies and art schools inspired by Arts and Crafts ideals.
While many flocked to learn handcrafts, others simply enjoyed furnishing their homes in the Arts and Crafts style. Many suburban, middle-class homes were furnished with William Morris-influenced wallpaper, a panel or two of stained glass, repoussé work vases, hand-adzed furniture and pieces of handcrafted pottery.
The Arts and Crafts style continued to be the height of design fashion in England until the outbreak of World War I in 1914. In the US and New Zealand, it was the leading style for interior design until the mid 1920s.
Reference
1. Anscombe, Isabelle (1991). Arts and Crafts Style. Oxford: Phaidon. p 125
Text originally published in Tai Awatea, Te Papa's onfloor multimedia database.