William Morris, Arts & Crafts and Why Arts & Crafts is Not Craftsman
Morris De Morgan Arts & Crafts Pre-Raphaelite Victorian Medieval
Morris De Morgan Arts & Crafts Pre-Raphaelite Victorian Medieval
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Our art is the work of a small minority composed of educated persons, fully conscious of their aim of producing beauty, and distinguished from the great body of workmen by that aim. ~William Morris
Margaret Macdonald - The Four Queens
Arts & Crafts Catalog List William De Morgan Arts & Crafts Tiles
Arts and Crafts is not Craftsman; it predates Craftsman style by 80 years and began on the other side of the Atlantic. The confusion of American Craftsman style with Arts & Crafts is a common misunderstanding because they have the same roots in William Morris. Morris, father of the Arts & Crafts movement, died in 1896 so missed the usual turn-of-the-century date referenced for the Arts & Crafts movement.
Morris preferred a simpler, more honest style by Victorian standards; he wanted to elevate the decorative arts to the level of fine art. Gustave Stickley designed and sold mass-produced house plans in his catalog, Craftsman Homes, as well as his own mass-produced furniture -- hence Craftsman-style.
William De Morgan Tree of Knowledge on 6x8 inch tiles with Pratt and Larson field tiles.
Early American Arts and Crafts homes, however, were more Morris in their philosophy and these are also called Craftsman, more in keeping with the medieval roots of the German word kraft than the early 20th century mass-produced style. The similarities are the use of natural materials and motifs.
While Morris was an inspiration to Stickley and many who came after, it's difficult to conceive him as being a Stickley fan. Arts and Crafts is a philosophy. Craftsman is a style. Morris applied that philosophy to Red House, the first Arts & Crafts home, full of medieval inspirations.
The medieval undertones of Arts & Crafts abound at Kelmscott, Morris's final and most beloved home. Kelmscott Manor is Tudor, but so identified with Morris, so full of Morris & Co. and Arts and Crafts furnishings, that its name evokes Pre-Raphaelite Arts & Crafts ideals and the values the underlie Arts & Crafts decorative arts.
Any home can incorporate Arts & Crafts -- Morris would like that. But not every home can be called Craftsman.
Blue and White William Morris Poppy Tiles, installed in Kelmscott House study fireplace, London
Arts and Crafts has been called the Decorative Arts wings of the Pre-Raphaelite movement.
At the center of Arts & Crafts, is a philosophy, and a reactionary one at that: To elevate the decorative arts to the level of fine art, and to make them personal and accessible.
When William Morris (the Soul of Arts & Crafts) built Red House, his first married home, it became a gathering place for a circle of Pre-Raphaelite artists, Burne-Jones, Rossetti, and others. Red House was designed by William Morris in collaboration with his friend, architect Philip Webb.
William Morris Designs and Overview
William De Morgan Designs and Overview
William De Morgan Gallery and Catalog
Red House, was the only house commissioned by William Morris and the first independent architectural work of his close friend and collaborator, Philip Webb. William and Jane moved to Red House when Morris was 26, and Jane a mere 19. Inspired by a summer tour of the cathedrals of northern France with his friend, Edward Burne-Jones, Morris built Red House, and indeed the Arts & Crafts Movement, inspired by medieval values of craftsmanship that elevated decorative arts. At that time, Morris had fairly recently come into his inheritance and little expense was spared.
Red House was built along the path that Chaucer's pilgrims would have traveled, and this theme was carried through much of its design. It became a place where classical medieval images and themes abounded. The Morrises lived at Red House for five years from 1860-65. Both daughter, Jenny and May, were born at Red House. Morris and his Pre-Raphaelite friends spent much of their free time decorating and furnishing Red House, designing the medieval garden.
One of the first Arts & Crafts pieces: The William Morris St. George cabinet 1861-1862 - designed by his friend Philip Webb and painted by Morris himself and his friends, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Edward Burne-Jones for Red House, Morris's first married home.
Book of Hours, Herbals, Codices, and Crowns
Bestiary: Dragons, Unicorns, Unusual Pets
Medieval Codices, Gardens and Herbals
Conceived with friends after a dinner at Red House, 'The Firm' (Morris, Marshall, and Faulkner) later dissolved, and Morris & Co. was born. 'The Firm' offerings included tile, furniture, embroideries, stained glass, created by Morris's Pre-Raphaelite friends and their friends and families.
Pre-Raphaelite ceramics master, William De Morgan, began his career in stained glass at Morris & Co. but his interests and gift lay in ceramics. After working with Mrrosi for several years, he was inspired establish his own tileworks, where he continued to produce decorative ceramics for Morris and others. His work came to define Arts & Crafts ceramics. His later work especially show a stylized element characteristic of Art Nouveau.
William De Morgan peacock fireplace tiles
William Morris Brother Rabbit Kitchen
William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones Fairy Tale Fireplace Tiles
Alas, these terms are used interchangeably, sometimes drawing boundaries where there are none, and at others blurring differences. We have:
English Arts and Crafts - the simplified, naturalistic, medieval-inspired William Morris philosophy and style. A simple, near austere, style by Victorian standards.
American Arts and Crafts - a term that embraces both East Coast traditional Arts and Crafts and the clean lines of Roycroft Arts & Crafts style of Elbert Hubbard's community of artisans and craftsman, as well as many Mediterranean-influence California Arts and Crafts home and buildings
Stickley Craftsman Style - An early 20th century style, popularized by Gustav Stickley with mass produced architectural plans and furniture advertised in his magazine-catalog, The Craftsman
Mission Style - Another name for Craftsman style in the Southwest -- a Stickley Craftsman furtniture salesman told a newspaper reporter that the table in his catalog could be seen "in a Spanish Mission in Southern California." The newspaper printed it as Mission style and the name stuck.
California Arts and Crafts - Nothing mass-produced about these. Think Greene & Greene and Gamble House. Yet also called Craftsman.
My Arts & Crafts tiles are wonderful, of course, but they draw from the work of William Morris and a larger circle from English Arts & Crafts to early Art Nouveau: William De Morgan, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Walter Crane. I also have some fin-de-siècle California Arts and Crafts botanicals based on those commissioned of A.R. Valentien by Ellen Browning Scripps. For later Amerian Arts & Crafts and Craftsman tiles, you might like:
Pratt & Larson Craftsman tiles (These work well as field tile with my tiles
Frank Lloyd Wright tiles at Motawi Tileworks
William De Morgan Persian Fish Frieze
The Arts & Crafts design philosophy underpins Arts and Crafts, Craftsman, and, to a lesser extent, Art Nouveau / Jugenstil. The tiles of William De Morgan, who began his career in the decorative arts working for William Morris, work well in both Victorian and Arts and Crafts homes. De Morgan first worked in stained glass at Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Co. before his interests shifted to pottery.
You would think that his early designs would reflect more Victorian tastes and his later, more stylized designs, with Art Nouveau and American Arts and Crafts -- However, early designs evolved and I find myself having to examine the glaze and color to confirm the De Morgan "period", rather than the style of the design. (see William Morris and William De Morgan Tulip and Trellis to compare the styles. Both were implemented by De Morgan, but Morris's influence is clearer in the earlier version).
William De Morgan Ships and Galleons Fireplace
Later De Morgan tiles fit in with American Arts & Crafts, Craftsman, and Art Nouveau styles. Tiles based on Glasgow Arts & Crafts principal, Charles Rennie Mackintosh or Cincinnati ceramics master turned California botanical artist, AR Valentien, are at home in Arts & Crafts, Art Nouveau, and California Arts & Crafts or Craftsman homes.
These tiles show De Morgan moving away from Morris's symmetical and natural forms to a more asymmetric and stylized form:
Fantastic Creatures a la Art Nouveau
Peacock and Salamander fireplace panels
Art Nouveau grew out of the mid-century Pre-Raphaelite Arts & Crafts movement and took hold in the 1890s, at a time when Morris's artist attentions had shifted to Kelmscott Press. (see the Kelmscott Chaucer tiles.)
Walter Crane Tiles: Flora's Train
Walter Crane and William Morris: Flower Tiles
Persian Garden of Fantastic Birds
Inspired by Morris and his Pre-Raphaelite friends, the Arts & Crafts movement in Scotland in the late 1880s was centered in Glasgow. Like Morris, they worked across media, working in needlework, metal, carvings, and more. Glasgow school influences fused Celtic Revival, Arts & Crafts, and continental influences that came to define Art Nouveau.
Margaret Macdonald 'Four Queens' Art Nouveau tiles
Jessie M. King Mermaid Backsplash
Charles Rennie Mackintosh Flowers
Hannah Moore Walton Pre-Raphaelite Painted Tile
As we've already seen, not all American Arts & Crafts are Craftsman. This is especially true in California. California Arts & Crafts style is more in keeping with the medieval tradition of kraft that was beloved by Morris and the Pre-Raphaelites. The Gamble House in Pasadena, California, the Roycroft furnishings that still exist, and the Rockwood pottery of AR Valentien exemplify the Arts & Crafts philosophy. None of these were ever mass-produced.
Many of the original California Arts & Crafts homes had carved relief tiles. Morris and De Morgan made a few such as the lions shown, but it is more characteristic of the California style. I do not have any Morris or De Morgan relief tiles, but if you have an idea in mind for a relief tile, contact Steve Moon, my neighbor, across the river at Tile Restoration Center. If he can't make it for you, he can probably point you in the right direction.
California Trees and Wildflowers, A.R. Valentien
