Product Description

Though the functional beauty of the Arts and Crafts movement has long been a part of American culture, it is now revitalized by simplicity seekers trying to counteract the fast pace of contemporary living. The elegant simplicity of Craftsman ideals is time defying, as the rooms and furnishings of The Beautiful Necessity: Decorting With Arts and Crafts will reveal. From the traditional--Greene and Greene, Gustav Stickley, Frank Lloyd Wright, and others--to the contemporary--Berkely Mills, Warren Hiles, East/West Furniture Design, and more--the Arts and Crafts movement is represented. All 140 exquisite photographs demonstrate how the Craftsman style has brought stunning warmth yet utilitarian ease to homes past and present. (20000101)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #243117 in Books
• Published on: 2004-02-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

Review
The book is filled with lavish color photographs and discusses how the Arts & Crafts movement came into being, how -- San Francisco Chronicle, January 1, 2000

The book is filled with lavish color photographs and discusses how the Arts & Crafts movement came into being, how it was expressed in various regions of the country, and how current devotees can re-create its interior features. (San Francisco Chronicle )

The book is filled with lavish color photographs and discusses how the Arts & Crafts movement came into being, how it was expressed in various regions of the country, and how current devotees can re-create its interior features. (San Francisco Chronicle 20000101)

About the Author
Bruce Smith lover of history and historical writing, write on the Arts and Crafts movement, bungalows, craft, and food. Smith was the editor of American Bungalow News and associate editor of American Bungalow magazine. Smith co-owns The Arts and Crafts Press in Berkely, California, publishers of The Tabby: A Chronicle of the Arts and Crafts Movement.

Yoshiko Yamamoto, lover of history and historical writing, write on the Arts and Crafts movement, bungalows, craft, and food. Yamamoto is both a student of life and of history. Yamamoto co-owns The Arts and Crafts Press in Berkely, California, publishers of The Tabby: A Chronicle of the Arts and Crafts Movement.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Home space. It is the space where people dance, sit, read, sleep, share meals with family and friends, laugh, feel secure, face the world. The idea of space changed drastically with houses built under the influence of the Arts and Crafts movement. Interior opened up, floor plans become more asymmetrical, the uses of space became more flexible, small spaces assumed new meanings, life within the house flowed more freely, and there was a strong bonding made between space withing the home and with the natural world outside.

Customer Reviews

Arts and Crafts Revealed
This book was a pleasant surprise. Purchasing what I thought would be a good idea book for an upcoming remodel of my basement, I ended up with a general schooling of the driving forces behind the Arts & Crafts movement. The illustrations exposed the styles of many of the great names of the era. I now have a more thorough understanding of this revolt against the machine and can better appreciate the efforts of Morris, Stickley, Hubbard, and others to save the craftsman. The resources at the end of the book are a treasure trove of suppliers for all things Arts & Crafts.

Simply Wonderful - 5 stars+
In the midst of a big arts and crafts kick I decided to bring home a bunch of books on the subject from my library. The Beautiful Necessity is the third such work I have reviewed recently, and I have to recommend it as a wonderful book. I really like the arrangement and presentation of the chapters, and the color photographs are well selected and beautiful. One of my bigger pet peeves with books like this is their tendency to be too regional in scope. Often a book purporting to cover a subject like arts and crafts interiors will focus too narrowly on just California Greene and Greene houses or just on New York Stickley houses. This book is great because it gives equal effort to showcasing interiors from Eastern, Midwestern, and Western examples of arts and crafts homes. I also commend the authors on their excellent resource guide in the back of the book. One can use this guide to find 10 sources each for everything from architects to antiques dealers, and carpeting to metalwork. There is even an extensive list of historic a&c homes that are open for public tours.

If you enjoy and/or collect books on this topic, I highly recommend this title as a "must have". You won't be disappointed.

Good book for the Arts and Crafts fan.
We've had this book in our pile of Arts and Crafts reference material for a while and it still gets picked up once in a while for ideas of just to look at all the great photographs. As a previous reviewer mentions (and I agree completely with the assessment!) this book doesn't cover just one region. Too many Arts and Crafts book authors waste time writing a book about the style and then spend the entire book looking at one or two homes. If I see one more book naming itself in such a manner to lead the reader to believe that it is contains broad information about the style yet features nothing but pictures of the Greene and Greene "Gamble House" I'm going to scream! (authors take note!)

One thing I would mention to readers about this book is that it covers predominantly the American style of Arts and Crafts. While it does contain information about the individuals that began the movement in Europe and the reflections of those influences in the American version, it does not cover all of the style. The authors have done a great job presenting the information they have concentrated on, though. The book covers East Coast to West Coast, shows some of the influences that Japanese or Art Nouveau styles had in the movement and presents examples of the work done by several designers well known in the American Arts and Crafts movement such as Stickley, Wright and Greene & Greene. They cover funishings, decorative items such as pottery, leaded glass windows and lighting; along with the overall fit, finish, and philosophy behind building in the Arts and Crafts style. Definitely would recommend this book for your arts and crafts collection. Also recommend "The Arts and Crafts Companion", by Todd, for a bigger picture and more historical information.