Inspired by John Ruskin and William Morris, the Arts and Crafts Movement promoted the ideals of craftsmanship, individualism, and the integration of art into everyday life. Taking its name from the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society, founded in England in 1888, the movement initially responded to Victorian mass-production and inappropriate ornamentation by celebrating the simpler forms of traditional decorative arts and reasserting the value of hand craftsmanship. Through its evolution and dissemination to wider Europe, America, and its reverberations in Japan, the Arts and Crafts Movement affected the decorative arts, interior design, and architecture over several decades.This downloadable audio guide focuses on more than 25 of the finest examples of the Arts and Crafts Movement dating from 1880-1928. On view at the de Young Museum in San Francisco from March 18, 2006 to June 18, 2006, these objects are part of the exhibition entitled "International Arts and Crafts: William Morris to Frank Lloyd Wright" and include: textiles, stained glass, furniture, ceramics, metalwork, jewelry, books, architecture, photography, paintings, and sculpture. Altogether they serve to illustrate how Arts and Crafts became the first British design movement to have widespread and recognizable international influence.
Highlights include objects by influential British designers such as Voysey, Mackintosh, Ashbee, Morris, and Baillie Scott; a group of Russian objects that have not heretofore been exhibited in the Unites States; the Frank Lloyd Wright Tree of Life Window; and Japanese objects by craftsmen of the Mingei (Folk Crafts) movement.
To follow the tour, first download the track list, which identifies the objects on display.
