The Arts and Crafts movement who reacted against the new modern ways of designing in the sass and decided to reflect back to more traditional forms f both style and methods of craftsmanship in creating furniture and other household goods, including wallpapers and even tapestries.
Arts and Crafts were primarily a reaction against the industrial designers like Michael Tone (1796-1871) a German designer and cabinet maker as well as Josef Hoffmann (1870-1956) and Christopher Dresser (1834-1904) a Scottish designer and theories It was a reaction against industrial design in general because Arts and Crafts was opposed to the machine and its practitioners wanted to revert back to Old fashioned ways, like hand carved wood and painted furniture.
They believed in simple furniture made from good quality work- almost like the work Of the Shaker group who were an anonymous religious group known for their simple ways of living and furniture design, the main difference between Shaker and Arts and Crafts was that Arts and Crafts – in traditional Victorian style, liked to use decoration-.
Art Nouveau was influenced by the Arts and Crafts handiwork and craftsmanship and it is something both groups share in common however Art Nouveau did not neglect using the machines available to them to help aid heir creations. Arts and Crafts did not believe in using the machine and this was heavily instilled upon the movements leader, William Morris (1834-1896) a socialist and textile designer who throughout his life had great success in most creative outlets that he would venture into.
Morris was famous for his wallpapers that mostly featured motifs of nature- mostly flowers and birds as well as tapestries like Woodpecker (1885), however these designs were usually expensive and it wasn’t long until Morris had decided to venture down into something else. It was common at this time that architects not only design the buildings but also the furnishings inside and this was no different to those involved in the Arts and Crafts movements practitioners like Charles F. Voyages (1857-1941) and Philip Webb (1 831-1915).
Webb is probably best known for his work on Morris’ Red House (1860) in Bequeathal however Webb also played a significant role in creating furnishings for the House, one especially being an Oxblood Red Dresser (1860), this was made for the purpose of Morris’ future children but also used as a functional storage unit. Webb had also created an ebonies wood Side Board (1861) which was painted and gilt with panels postdated leather. The sideboard had brass and copper handles with floral patterns among the body and shelves of the board.
As mentioned before nature was a common motif shared by most of the Arts and Crafts designers. The Arts and Crafts movement had a great deal of importance between 1850 and 1918 and went on to influence both directly and indirectly Art Nouveau designers like Charles Rennin Mackintosh (1868-1928) a Scottish designer and Architect best known for his work on the Willow Tea Rooms here he not only designed the building but also its furniture including his famous high backed chair Which he produced many times both With back splats along with other designs.
It also influenced designers like French designers Rene© Illiquid (MM 945) and Hector Gummier (1867-1942). And it was Morris who particularly influenced American designer Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933). Tiffany was especially influenced by Morris particularly in Tiffany use of nature within his works, especially flowers which played a great role in most of Tiffany glass work creations- particularly his own stained glass windows. Tiffany had painted landscapes onto glass as well as using different colored glass blended together to create his own glass paintings.
It is probably best to say that Art Nouveau was inspired by Arts and Crafts and that is vhf it is clear that there are many similarities in their work regardless of their approaches taken. The main difference is the techniques in creation used as it can be seen that Arts and Crafts opted for a more traditional method and also style whereas Art Nouveau was able to create quality premium pieces but also being able to use the technology that was readily available to them at the time.
