- By the 1880s the Gothic style was losing its appeal.
The Pre-Raphaelites had influenced artists,
architects, and printers, and furniture makers
with devotion to the natural and organic world.
The return to medieval craft and workshops
appeared to be a better solution to the
inhumane large factories and mills.
This, tied with the relationship between the master
and apprentice began the Arts and Crafts Movement.
After John Ruskin's wife left him
for John Everett Millais, the Pre-Raphaelite painter,
Ruskin turned to William Morris.
He found a kindred spirit in Morris
who looked at the Industrial Revolution's
social issues and believed art and design
could be the way to create a better society.
Ruskin and Morris promoted a return
to the natural world with an emphasis
on skill and handmade.
They believed in a culture of skilled labor
with a master craftsman working
to train an apprentice.
In effect, this was a way to turn time
back to the medieval age,
before industrialization, factories, and urban poverty.
The typical labor structure at the time
created vast differences in wealth.
The factory worker earned barely enough to survive
in terrible poverty and unsanitary conditions,
while the factory owners and leaders of industry
became incredibly wealthy.
In current U.S. dollars, a typical salary
for a factory worker in 1850
was roughly $3,000,
while John Jacob Astor's rent income
alone was 35 million.
The arts and crafts approach of the craft workshop
equalized the relationship between owner and worker
and created a meritocracy.
Those who worked hard and learned a skill
were well rewarded.
In theory, this provided a harmonious way
of working for the entire society.
The consumer was on the other end of the product.
Now he or she would be released
from purchasing mass-market
cheaply made and overly decorated products.
The consumer's life would be greatly enriched
with a house filled with beautiful and well-crafted items
based on simple, natural forms.
An object made with pride
in a friendly economic structure
would create harmony throughout England.
Truth in materials was another belief in the movement.
This reflected the hopeful values
of a more transparent and honest society.
Wood was never painted to look like metal.
A ceramic was allowed to be ceramic.
Metal was hammered and allowed to age.
the idea of imitating one material on another
was the same as a factory owner
lying about the quality of a product.
These ideals found their way into the work.
And they also spawned several groups:
The Century Guild, St. George's Art Society,
The Art Workers' Guild, and even
the American Institute of Graphic Arts.
These provided a platform for artists and designers
to meet and exchange ideas.
They also were committed to maintaining
the standards of craft and excellence
in a mass-produced culture.
The social issues of the time informed
the Gothic style and Pre-Raphaelites,
but the Arts and Crafts Movement expanded
the response from an aesthetic or stylistic answer.
They adopted a set of values and goals
that led to a philosophically holistic concept
and the creation of products, buildings,
furnitures, textiles, and graphics.