Product Description

A grand tour of grand estates shows the classic lines, exquisite craftsmanship, timeless beauty, and sublime color that exemplified the revolutionary Arts and Crafts movement at the dawn of the twentieth century. Its impact on home furnishings of the day is fully detailed in this gloriously illustrated volume-a timely release in view of the current huge revival in popularity of the movement's artistic ideas and standards, including today's trend toward clean, uncluttered interiors. In radical reaction to strict Victorian dictates and grandiose home interiors, visionary designers, led by William Morris, urged a return to the simpler vernacular traditions and emphasis on craftsmanship that had been submerged by the industrial age. The movement spread from England and became international in scope, challenging mass production by substituting simple elegance, originality, and superior quality in all areas of home design. This book takes readers on a room-by-room inspection of the movement's foremost examples, visiting such signature estates as the Gamble House in Pasadena, California, and Standen in East Grinstead, West Sussex, England. Diverse domestic spaces are explored through outstanding original photography and compelling text, revealing how a room's function determined the selection and placement of furniture, textiles, wallpaper, ceramics, and other objects. Profiling the works of Morris, Green and Green, Edwin Lutyens, Gustav Stickley, C.F.A. Voysey, Philip Webb, and Frank Lloyd Wright, among others, this handsome volume explores the individual interpretations that gave the style its enduring substance.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1265148 in Books
• Published on: 2000-09-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 192 pages

From Library Journal
Pioneered by William Morris and grounded in the desire to return to simple design and ornament, the Arts and Crafts movement had enormous impact in England before spreading to Scotland in the work of Charles Rennie Macintosh and to America through Gustav Stickley, Elbert Hubbard, and others. In America, the architecture most closely associated with the movement was the deep porch bungalow, but in England there were fabulous Arts and Crafts estate homes such as Standen and Melsletter House. These are the primary focus for architecture historian Hitchmough. She does not leave out America the Greenes' Gamble House in Pasadena, CA, is given some notice, as is the work of Stickley but it is C.F.A. Voysey and other British builders who shine here. This tour of these grand estates is highlighted by Charles's photographs, as he moves us from room to room, showing grand staircases, dining halls, inglenooks, and massive fireplaces. The various rooms show just how essential full environmental design was to show off William Morris tapestries or William De Morgan tiles, for instance. Though it does have a British bent to it, Hitchmough's work is an essential purchase for any Arts and Crafts collection. Highly recommended. Joseph Hewgley, Nashville P.L.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
William Morris is getting great press; the arts-and-crafts movement of the turn of the century has been revitalized because of its honesty and simplicity. British expert and period chronicler (Arts and Crafts Gardens, 1997) Hitchmough (with the help of coauthor Martin) concentrates her homage on the particulars of living at the time, in each room, at different events. Research from then-popular magazines--The House and The Craftsman, among others--as well as literature and nonfiction documents enables her to portray^B both the esoteric and the mundane. Readers learn, for instance, that cures for childhood diseases revolve around sleeping outside, and the chintz upholstery covers and matching curtains were considered the perfect decorating choice. Illustrations of English, Scottish, and a few American arts-and-crafts homes seem to be secondary to the text, which is too bad, because many interiors represent first-time visuals for U.S. readers. Select bibliography and visiting hours appended. Barbara Jacobs
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author
Wendy Hitchmough, a writer and architectural historian specializing in early-twentieth-century design, lectures frequently in the United States and Europe. Martin Charles has photographed architecture and historic interiors for many books and magazines. Both the writer and photographer live in England.

Customer Reviews

Can't find its niche
Wendy Hitchmough's "The Arts & Crafts Lifestyle and Design" is a frustrating, yet beautiful-looking book that covers the Arts & Crafts movement by focusing on how it was influenced by changes in popular culture, the advent of scientific "modernity", and anti-Victorian backlash.

The book's layout focuses on each room in the home and why it evolved in the Arts & Crafts style. Taking references from the era's periodicals that covered the style, "The Craftsman" and "The House", Hitchmough provides historical background that seeks to makes sense of the style. Simplicity of design evolved from anti-Victorianism. Cues from nature came from the burgeoning naturalist and conservation movements, along with interest in all things Asian. Older building practices were combined with new advances.

The lifestyle portions of the book point out how radically different from Victorian ideals was the new movement. The roles of the master and mistress of the home showed them as more at tune with the outside world, more aware of personal health and fitness, and far more sexually aware (more about this further on.) How the Arts & Crafts home functioned from day to day is discussed in detail, as well.

The book covers the style as best portrayed in Britain and the United States. Designers from both sides of the pond are detailed. The lush photography of Martin Charles wraps up the pretty package.

But there are distinct problems with the book. It doesn't have a real niche. It's too wordy and historical to be a good coffee table book. The layout of chapters by room, while possibly good for highlighting the lifestyle choices, makes this a hard book to use as a reference manual for the style. There are glaring limitations, too. Far too much focus is given to a few designers and homes that drove the movement - it is not as broad an overview of all designers and practices as one would like. And while the lifestyle portions are interesting, there seems to be an overt focus on sexuality that I found peculiar for a book of this type.

In short, I believe the book tries to accomplish too much and therefore fails to excel in any one aspect. By trying to shoehorn several books into one, the author has given us the average of other works. And that is less than fully satisfying for those of us looking for more in-depth analysis.

Still, for anyone seeking an overview of Arts & Crafts design and concepts as espoused in the lifestyle of the era, this is as good a place to start as any. The quality and design of the book raise it an extra star, saving it from being merely fair.

Discussion of the Arts and Crafts Lifestyle
The Arts and Crafts Lifestyle and Design is a historical perspective on the design principles and the lifestyle (i.e. how the houses were used) by people involved in this design movement. It is very well written with wonderful photographs. It is, however, organized in a manner as to make using this book for research on the artists or the designs difficult. Rather than highlighting individual artists of the movement and their work, it is arranged by the basic rooms of the houses. For example, dining rooms are discussed using various designers and houses. I would have found it more useful had the individual houses or each artist been discussed more and in the same location in the book. The book does bring to light the changes in the structure of Victorian society and houses with that of the Arts and Crafts Movement.