Arts and Crafts Movement
- LAST REVIEWED: 22 February 2023
- LAST MODIFIED: 26 February 2020
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780190922467-0012
- LAST REVIEWED: 22 February 2023
- LAST MODIFIED: 26 February 2020
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780190922467-0012
Introduction
The Arts and Crafts movement emerged in 19th-century England in response to the hardships imposed on workers under a growing factory system. Critics denounced the degrading conditions that labor endured as well as the shoddy quality of goods flooding the market. Calling for a revival of handicraft, the movement’s leaders argued that handcrafted wares were morally superior because of the way they were created and also more beautiful. Inspired by the Middle Ages, Arts and Crafts architects embraced the Gothic revival, joining craftsmen, often in guilds, to ornament and furnish churches, houses, and other buildings. Over time, leaders in the movement encouraged revivals of national and regional traditions, the use of local materials, and simple designs. Preservation of historic buildings also was championed. The Arts and Crafts movement has spawned hundreds of books, some academic and many directed to the popular market. To confuse matters for the serious researcher, more than a few coffee table books have been written by experts and should be consulted. Another challenge is the fact that many publications on the Arts and Crafts movement integrate studies of architecture, interior design, and the decorative arts. These studies are worth exploring as many Arts and Crafts architects were engaged in many manifestations of design, ranging from tile and stained glass to pottery and printing. Yet another challenge is the lack of clarity about what is considered Arts and Crafts architecture. The views promulgated by England’s William Morris and his circle form an accepted basis for the movement. Its flowering in Great Britain is central to the literature, while the transmission of Arts and Crafts ideas to the United States has long been recognized. The influence of Arts and Crafts concepts to movements on the Continent, such as the Viennese Secession and Art Nouveau, is examined in some studies; however, architectural historians usually treat these developments as distinctive and do not position them directly under the Arts and Crafts umbrella. Most authors on American Arts and Crafts architecture have examined particular regions and specific architects. Others have written about various Arts and Crafts styles that took hold at the turn of the 20th century. A few writers have documented the craftsmen who collaborated with the Arts and Crafts architects while others have explored Arts and Crafts themes in garden design.
General Overviews
The standard overviews that introduce the architecture of the Arts and Crafts movement are Davey 1995 and Cumming and Kaplan 2002. Davey writes solely about architecture and at length about Great Britain whereas Cumming and Kaplan address the diversity of the movement, including building design and the crafts, and their book is the better source for information about American architecture. A guidebook by Massey and Maxwell 1998 is unassuming, yet unlike any other source, it documents Arts and Crafts buildings across the United States. Kaplan 1987 is an important exhibition catalogue on the American movement, with essays on architecture and information about craftsmen who specialized in architectural ornament. Two exhibition catalogues, one by Kaplan 2004 and another by Livingstone and Parry 2005, show the extent to which Arts and Crafts ideas influenced designers, including architects, throughout Europe and as far as Japan. Anscombe 1991 is not interpretive but provides useful information.
Anscombe, Isabelle. Arts and Crafts Style. New York: Rizzoli, 1991.
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Accessible and reliable, this well-illustrated volume is directed to the popular market. The history of the movement in Great Britain and the United States is broken into topics that are covered in a few pages each. Although light on architecture, the book presents a context of the movement and includes information about relevant decorative arts such as stained glass and tile.
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Cumming, Elizabeth, and Wendy Kaplan. The Arts and Crafts Movement. Rev. ed. London: Thames and Hudson, 2002.
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The first book to read for an introduction to the movement. Clear, concise, and authoritative, it includes in-depth chapters on Arts and Crafts architecture in Great Britain and the United States. The influence of the movement on the Continent also is presented. Photos are small and mostly black and white. Originally published in 1991.
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Davey, Peter. Arts and Crafts Architecture. London: Phaidon, 1995.
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The most important book on Arts and Crafts architecture even though the one chapter devoted to American architecture is dated and limited to a few individuals. Handsomely produced and illustrated, the text is a pleasure to read and insightful, mainly about developments in Great Britain. Short biographies of lesser-known architects are useful as are chapters on garden design and planning. Originally published in 1980 as Architecture of the Arts and Crafts Movement (New York: Rizzoli).
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Kaplan, Wendy. “The Art That Is Life”: The Arts and Crafts Movement in America, 1875–1920. Ex. cat. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Boston: Little, Brown, 1987.
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Exclusively about the American movement, the authors present a wide variety of regional manifestations. Includes informative essays on Arts and Crafts architecture and the Arts and Crafts home, touching on decoration and furnishings. Catalogue entries provide profiles about craftsmen who designed architectural ornament, including metalwork and stained glass.
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Kaplan, Wendy. The Arts and Crafts Movement in Europe and America, 1880–1920: Design for the Modern World. Ex. cat. Los Angeles County Museum of Art. New York: Thames and Hudson, 2004.
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A major exhibition catalogue with eight essays by leading scholars, each focusing on a different country or related nations. In addition to the United Kingdom and the United States, the authors consider Germany, Austria, Hungary, Scandinavia, Belgium, and France. Architecture is not addressed in any depth, but many examples of decorative arts were designed by architects. Includes contributions by Alan Crawford and others.
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Livingstone, Karen, and Linda Parry, eds. International Arts and Crafts. Ex. cat. Victoria and Albert Museum. London: V&A Publications, 2005.
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Twenty-seven short, authoritative essays, covering the origins of the movement in Britain, the spread of Arts and Crafts ideas to the United States, and their influence throughout Europe and as far as Japan. One essay is devoted to British architecture and gardens. Other essays treat the architecture of the American Midwest and California. Architects’ contributions to the movement in other countries are discussed to a lesser extent.
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Massey, James, and Shirley Maxwell. Arts and Crafts Design in America: A State-by-State Guide. San Francisco: Chronicle, 1998.
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A national survey, unmatched by any other book, on the range of Arts and Crafts buildings in the United States with short entries on thirty-five states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The variety of regional responses to the movement is well illustrated, and less well-known architects receive attention. The authors document buildings designed by women such as Marion Mahony, Julia Morgan, and Mary Colter.
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William Morris
Researchers seeking to understand the Arts and Crafts movement are encouraged to read about its most important theorist, William Morris (b. 1834–d. 1896), an English designer, entrepreneur, author, and social activist. MacCarthy 1995 provides a general and accessible biography. Morris’s role in inspiring Arts and Crafts guilds, in which architects joined forces with craftsmen, is the subject of Stansky 1996. Those wanting to know more about Morris’s thoughts about architecture and his influence on it are advised to consult Miele 1996, which includes Miele’s illuminating introduction and relevant texts by Morris. Morris 2004 (originally published in 1882) is readily available and recommended as it presents many of Morris’s key arguments on architecture and the Arts and Crafts movement. Thompson 1993 discusses Morris, his views, and the architecture of the period at some length. Marsh 2005 discusses Morris and architecture through the lens of the author’s own house, designed by the architect Philip Webb. As founder of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, Morris was a leading figure in the history of preservation. Essays in Miele 2005 assess Morris’s role and describe how preservationists, including architects, contributed to the Arts and Crafts movement.
MacCarthy, Fiona. William Morris: A Life for Our Time. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1995.
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An engaging, solidly researched biography of Morris that’s a reliable starting point for general information. Architecture is one of many subjects running through this narrative; others of interest include Morris’s relationships with other architects and his leadership in historic preservation. MacCarthy is a critical writer, acknowledging the conflicts between Morris’s idealism and the realities of his entrepreneurship.
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Marsh, Jan. William Morris and Red House. London: National Trust, 2005.
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An attractive book about the house in Bexleyheath, Kent, designed for Morris by Philip Webb, built between 1859 and 1860, and decorated by them and other friends, establishing principles of the Arts and Crafts movement. The author presents the history of the house during the years when it was occupied by Morris and follows the story to 2003 when the National Trust acquired it.
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Miele, Chris, ed. William Morris on Architecture. Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996.
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A small paperback anthology of writings by Morris, spanning the years 1856 to 1891. Includes a fine introduction by Miele on Morris and his views on architecture.
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Miele, Chris, ed. From William Morris: Building Conservation and the Arts and Crafts Cult of Authenticity, 1877–1939. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2005.
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A collection of scholarly essays on Morris and the conservation movement in which the authors investigate the relationship among Morris, the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB), and an Arts and Crafts sensibility. Also included are short biographies of early SPAB committee members.
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Morris, William. Hopes and Fears for Art. Kila, MT: Kessinger, 2004.
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A collection of five lectures delivered by Morris between 1878 and 1881 in which he urges the unification of the fine arts of architecture, painting, and sculpture with the decorative arts and makes a call for simplicity in architecture. Originally published in 1882 (London: Ellis and White).
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Thompson, Paul. The Work of William Morris. 3d ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993.
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A readable and standard biography about Morris with a substantial discussion on architecture that relates Morris’s ideas to the buildings that were erected at the time in Victorian England. Also covered are Morris’s interests in preservation and town planning. Later editions published. Originally published in 1967 (London: Heinemann).
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Stansky, Peter. Redesigning the World: William Morris, the 1880s, and the Arts and Crafts. Palo Alto, CA: Society for the Promotion of Science and Scholarship, 1996.
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The history of organizations, inspired by Morris and led mainly by architects, that launched the Arts and Crafts movement, including the Century Guild, the Art Workers’ Guild, and the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society. Originally published in 1985 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press).
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England
Publications about Arts and Crafts architecture in England are frequently integrated with studies about Great Britain, reflecting the fact that the authors include brief examples of the movement in Scotland. Yet these studies are almost entirely devoted to England and English architects. Because impressive works have been written about the Arts and Crafts movements in Scotland and Ireland, they are addressed here separately. Surprisingly little of a comprehensive nature has appeared on English Arts and Crafts architecture in recent years. On the other hand, authors have been publishing some outstanding books on individual English Arts and Crafts architects.
General
Those new to this subject would do well to consult Service 1977, widely available, in order to understand the state of architecture in England in which the Arts and Crafts movement evolved at the turn of the 20th century. Cumming 2002 is recommended for a concise introduction to Arts and Crafts architecture in England. Aslet 2011 offers excellent photographs and a readable text on the country house, a particular interest and specialty of the Arts and Crafts architects. Those wishing to learn more about the leading architects, their professional training, and the influence of their early relationships on their careers as designers should consult Richardson 1983. Drury 2000 offers a study about a less well-known but important group of Arts and Crafts architects who built their projects themselves. For an anthology of texts from the period, see Greensted 2005. Another source of texts, many written by prominent architects, is Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society 1996 in which the contributors discuss the decorative arts and furnishings. Muthesius 1987 is a classic examination, still informative, of English domestic architecture that was written by a German architect and issued in three volumes between 1904 and 1905.
Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society. Arts and Crafts Essays. Introduction by Peter Faulkner. Bristol, UK: Thoemmes, 1996.
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Essays by twenty-two contributors who were prominent in the English Arts and Crafts movement, accompanied by a preface by William Morris, on decorative arts and furnishings. Many contributors were architects or trained as architects. Faulkner provides biographies for each contributor. Originally published in 1893.
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Aslet, Clive. The Arts and Crafts Country House: From the Archives of Country Life. London: Aurum, 2011.
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From the time of its founding in 1897, the English magazine Country Life was aligned with the values of the Arts and Crafts movement. Aslet, a former editor, is an authority on the English country house and writes about its distinctive qualities. An extensively illustrated volume.
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Cumming, Elizabeth. “Architecture in Britain.” In The Arts and Crafts Movement. Rev. ed. Edited by Elizabeth Cumming and Wendy Kaplan, 30–65. London: Thames and Hudson, 2002.
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A short, clear history of Arts and Crafts architecture, mainly in England, describing the shift from the vernacular revival to the Neo-Georgian revival and the renewed interest in Christopher Wren. Brief discussions of garden design and town planning. Originally published in 1991.
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Drury, Michael. Wandering Architects: In Pursuit of an Arts and Crafts Ideal. Stamford, UK: Shaun Tyas, 2000.
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An important study that sheds light on a group of lesser-known architects, associated with Detmar Blow, who chose to construct their buildings themselves, thus fulfilling an Arts and Crafts ideal. Revised edition issued in 2016.
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Greensted, Mary, ed. An Anthology of the Arts and Crafts Movement: Writings by Ashbee, Lethaby, Gimson and Their Contemporaries. Aldershot, UK: Lund Humphries, 2005.
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A collection of published texts and letters by leading Arts and Crafts figures, organized in chapters that are roughly chronological, with introductions by Greensted for each chapter, and with complete citations to the original sources. Greensted is also published as Mary Comino.
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Muthesius, Hermann. The English House. Preface by Julius Posener. Translated by Janet Seligman. New York: Rizzoli, 1987.
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Originally a three-volume opus written by a German architect and admirer of English domestic work. This influential publication remains valuable for its commentary and photographs, including plans and interior decoration. First published in German in 1904–1905; second edition in 1908–1911. English translation, abridged from German, in 1979; paperback in 1987. Edited with introduction and preface to paperback by Dennis Sharp.
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Richardson, Margaret. The Craft Architects. New York: Rizzoli, 1983.
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Published in association with the Royal Institute of British Architects Drawings Collection, this book offers informative insights into the offices of leading Arts and Crafts architects, including Richard Norman Shaw, John Dando Sedding, and Reginald Blomfield, and the training they provided. Illustrated with watercolor renderings, ink drawings, elevations, interiors, and details.
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Service, Alastair. Edwardian Architecture: A Handbook to Building Design in Britain, 1890–1914. New York: Oxford University Press, 1977.
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An authoritative book that is especially valuable for placing Arts and Crafts architecture in context. Discusses how it emerged alongside the Baroque revival and developed in the 20th century at the same time as architecture that reflected French Beaux-Arts influence. Presents the period’s variety of building types, such as public buildings, offices, and factories.
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Studies of Architects
Among the earliest modern publications on an English Arts and Crafts architect is Kornwolf 1972, still an excellent scholarly study of the career of M. H. Baillie Scott. For a lighter approach that includes color photographs, see Haigh 1995. In the 1980s, two well-respected books were issued on C. R. Ashbee. The first was MacCarthy 1981, a highly readable history that traces the move of Ashbee and a group of craftsmen to the Cotswolds to establish an Arts and Crafts community. This book was followed by Crawford 1985, still the authoritative book on Ashbee as an architect and Arts and Crafts visionary. Also released during the 1980s were Comino 1980 on Ernest Gimson and the Barnsley brothers and Rubens 1986 on William Lethaby, both directed to the serious reader. By contrast, the architect C. F. A. Voysey has been the subject of multiple books for the popular market, reflecting a widespread interest in his architecture, his designs for furnishings, and his writings. Hitchmough 1995 offers the best overall treatment of the Voysey publications that are readily available. Edwin Lutyens is another designer who has been discovered by a large readership. Wilhide 2000 is respectable and informative as is Stamp 2001. Since their release, two ambitious volumes have appeared that have been produced for the mass market and are impressively researched and written. These are Kirk 2005 on the career of Philip Webb and Grainger 2011 on the architecture of Ernest George.
Comino, Mary. Gimson and the Barnsleys: “Wonderful Furniture of a Commonplace Kind.” London: Evans Brothers, 1980.
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A short, serious monograph on Ernest Gimson and the brothers Ernest and Sidney Barnsley, who were important furniture designers as well as architects and designers engaged in metalwork and ornamental plaster. Includes both the grand Rodmarton Manor and small cottages. Comino also is published as Mary Greensted.
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Crawford, Alan. C. R. Ashbee: Architect, Designer & Romantic Socialist. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1985.
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A substantial and authoritative study by one of the leading historians of the Arts and Crafts movement in England. Written in three parts, beginning with a biography of C. R. Ashbee, followed by an examination of his pursuits in architecture and crafts such as metalwork and printing, and concluding with an assessment of his influence. Includes a list of architectural works.
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Grainger, Hilary J. The Architecture of Sir Ernest George. Reading, UK: Spire, 2011.
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An oversize, full-color book on Ernest George to appeal to the enthusiast as well as the scholar. A welcome study of a distinguished architect, presenting his projects by building type. Includes illustrations of architectural ornament and building plans as well as examples of George’s watercolors. Includes a list of pupils and assistants and brief biographies of them.
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Haigh, Diane. Baillie Scott: The Artistic House. London: Academy Editions, 1995.
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A handsomely produced book with modern photographs, historic images, and many plans, resulting in an accessible introduction to M. H. Baillie Scott’s work. Of special interest is a chapter on the “Art of Building” that considers tile, plasterwork, and metalwork as well as a selection of fireplaces. Also includes a chapter on Scott’s garden designs.
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Hitchmough, Wendy. C. F. A. Voysey. London: Phaidon, 1995.
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The many aspects of C. F. A. Voysey’s career are brought together in this well-illustrated, comprehensive book that examines Voysey’s life, his architectural works, his designs for wallpaper, textiles, and furniture, and his views as a writer and theorist. Includes lists of Voysey’s architectural projects and his publications.
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Kirk, Sheila. Philip Webb: Pioneer of Arts & Crafts Architecture. London: Academy Editions, 2005.
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A book that is regularly cited by authors on the architecture of the Arts and Crafts movement. Thorough and well written, it is enhanced by modern color photos, archival photos, and building plans. Webb was one of the most influential architects in the development of the movement, and he played an important role in the emerging field of historic preservation.
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Kornwolf, James D. M. H. Baillie Scott and the Arts and Crafts Movement: Pioneers of Modern Design. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1972.
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An early scholarly study of one of England’s leading Arts and Crafts architects with an emphasis on buildings rather than biography. Kornwolf places his subject in the broader context of the period.
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MacCarthy, Fiona. The Simple Life: C. R. Ashbee in the Cotswolds. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1981.
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A narrowly defined study that examines how C. R. Ashbee led a group of craftsmen from London’s East End to the rural town of Chipping Campden in the Cotswolds, where they lived and worked together between 1902 until 1908. A stimulating account, at essence about the hopes and failure of Ashbee and fellow Arts and Crafts theorists.
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Rubens, Godfrey. William Richard Lethaby: His Life and Work. London: Architectural Press, 1986.
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A serious, substantial volume on the many aspects of William Lethaby’s life and professional career. Includes chapters on his career as an architect and craftsman, his leadership in architectural education, his engagement with historic preservation, and his ideas as a writer. Disappointing visual presentation of his buildings.
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Stamp, Gavin. Edwin Lutyens: Country Houses; From the Archives of Country Life. New York: Monacelli, 2001.
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Begins with a forty-page introduction by Stamp, an expert in the field, written in a conversational style. Features black-and-white archival illustrations of twenty-two projects, each with opening commentary, and many interior views that show how the houses were originally furnished.
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Wilhide, Elizabeth. Sir Edwin Lutyens: Designing in the English Tradition. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2000.
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Although directed to the mass market, this coffee table book can serve as a reasonable point of departure for information about Edwin Lutyens. The volume offers a short biography, a section on Lutyens’s architecture that considers how he used materials, space, and light, and a section on “Taste” that focuses on ornament, such as carving and metalwork.
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Scotland and Ireland
Attention to the Arts and Crafts movement in Scotland continues to grow while publications on the movement in Ireland are more recent but increasing. In England and wherever Arts and Crafts movements spread, the proponents were devoted to investigating and affirming national and regional traditions in architecture and the decorative arts. In Scotland and Ireland, advocates sought to emphasize traditions that were distinct from those of England. For an authoritative treatment of the movement in Scotland, including its architecture, Carruthers 2013 is the best source. Of the many publications on the Scottish architect and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Crawford 1995 is recommended for its in-depth study of architecture. Kaplan 1996 addresses Mackintosh from more perspectives and in the context of the Arts and Crafts movement in Glasgow. The Arts and Crafts movement in Ireland is examined in essays and color illustrations in Kreilkamp 2016, an exhibition catalogue centered on the Hiberno-Romanesque revival Honan Chapel in Cork and its furnishings, all of which are placed in the broader history of Ireland during the period of construction.
Carruthers, Annette. The Arts and Crafts Movement in Scotland: A History. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2013.
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A wide-ranging presentation on Scotland’s Arts and Crafts movement, devoting considerable attention to architecture while also addressing stained glass, textiles, metalwork, and other arts. The text covers the work of English architects and designers in Scotland as well as the work of Scots, notably the architect Robert Stodart Lorimer.
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Crawford, Alan. Charles Rennie Mackintosh. London: Thames and Hudson, 1995.
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A readily available paperback by a respected author on the Arts and Crafts movement. Illustrated with photographs of interior as well as exterior views of buildings and with many plans. Chapters integrate Mackintosh’s biography and an accounting of his architectural career.
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Kaplan, Wendy, ed. Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Ex. cat. Glasgow Museums. New York: Abbeville, 1996.
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A large, handsome exhibition catalogue with essays by leading scholars who situate Charles Rennie Mackintosh in context with Glasgow and discuss his career as an architect and a designer in other fields.
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Kreilkamp, Vera, ed. The Arts and Crafts Movement: Making It Irish. Ex. cat. McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College. Chestnut Hill, MA: Boston College, 2016.
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The catalogue centers on the Honan Chapel, built 1915–1916, in Cork, an outstanding, even unique, example of the Irish Arts and Crafts movement. Designed in the Hiberno-Romanesque style, the chapel constituted a statement of Irish nationalism, consecrated in the year of the Easter Rising. Essays on the chapel, stained glass, and other aspects of the Irish Arts and Crafts movement bring together recent scholarship on the larger topic.
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United States
Publications on American architecture and the Arts and Crafts movement focus largely on specific regions, reflecting the fact that the movement promoted an affirmation of the cultural and architectural heritage of various parts of the country. Today authors usually connect regionalism at the turn of the 20th century with the Arts and Crafts movement. Nevertheless, some authors do not, leaving readers to draw their own conclusions about how these studies relate to Arts and Crafts interests, such as vernacular architectural traditions, local building materials, and handcrafted ornament. In addition to studies of particular regions of the United States and “schools” of architects, many publications are devoted to a single architect or firm. The emergence of women as architects and clients at the turn of the 20th century is regularly considered. Authors observe how women often were engaged in pursuits, especially involving the home and its furnishings, encouraged by Arts and Crafts theorists.
New England
Historians of the Arts and Crafts movement frequently identify Boston as a center of the Arts and Crafts movement in the United States, with scholars pointing to the founding in 1897 of the Boston-based Society of Arts and Crafts. Yet publications on the architects associated with the society and the city have been relatively recent. For a comprehensive study, see Meister 2014, which investigates how ideas about the movement from England were transmitted to Boston and developed in the region’s architecture. Several publications on individual architects and partnerships also contribute to this subject. In Cole and Taylor 1990, the career of architect Lois Lilley Howe is examined although her involvement with Boston’s Arts and Crafts proponents is not addressed. In scholarly studies, Floyd 1994, Meister 2003, and Shand-Tucci 2005 discuss the relationship between the region’s Arts and Crafts movement and architects Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow Jr., H. Langford Warren, and Ralph Adams Cram, respectively. Meyer 1997, an ambitious exhibition catalogue on Boston’s Arts and Crafts movement, offers a context for understanding New England’s Arts and Crafts–influenced architecture, while Brandt 2009 provides further context and discusses the roles and attitudes of the architects who promoted Arts and Crafts ideals in Boston.
Brandt, Beverly K. The Craftsman and the Critic: Defining Usefulness and Beauty in Arts and Crafts–Era Boston. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2009.
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An intellectually rigorous book about design criticism in relationship to the activities of the Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston. Although architects are not positioned as front and center, they are treated prominently as critics and design theorists in the Boston organization. Both their attitudes and their buildings are examined.
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Cole, Doris, and Karen Cord Taylor. The Lady Architects: Lois Lilley Howe, Eleanor Manning, and Mary Almy. Edited by Sylvia Moore. New York: Midmarch Arts, 1990.
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A modest volume documenting the career of Lois Lilley Howe, who finished her studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1890, launched a practice in Boston, and subsequently took on female partners. Howe’s involvement in Boston’s Society of Arts and Crafts is not mentioned, but her projects present Arts and Crafts concerns. Lightly illustrated, no notes. Includes a list of works.
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Floyd, Margaret Henderson. Architecture after Richardson: Regionalism before Modernism—Longfellow, Alden, and Harlow in Boston and Pittsburgh. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994.
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An in-depth, scholarly treatment of three architects, including Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow Jr., founder and longtime vice president of Boston’s Society of Arts and Crafts. The craftsmen who were supported by the architects are recognized. Large format and well-illustrated book. Published in association with the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation.
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Meister, Maureen. Architecture and the Arts and Crafts Movement in Boston: Harvard’s H. Langford Warren. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 2003.
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A scholarly monograph that follows H. Langford Warren through his training with H. H. Richardson to his appointment as founder of the architecture program at Harvard to his role as a founder and longtime president of Boston’s Society of Arts and Crafts. Includes a list of works.
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Meister, Maureen. Arts and Crafts Architecture: History and Heritage in New England. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 2014.
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Explores the careers of twelve architects, including Ralph Adams Cram, Lois Lilley Howe, and H. Langford Warren, leaders in Boston’s Society of Arts and Crafts, placing them in context with architect-colleagues in England. Examines the influences of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Charles Eliot Norton. Highlights craftsmen with whom the architects collaborated.
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Meyer, Marilee Boyd. Inspiring Reform: Boston’s Arts and Crafts Movement. Ex. cat. Davis Museum and Cultural Center, Wellesley College. Wellesley, MA: Wellesley College, 1997.
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The catalogue accompanying a major exhibition on the Arts and Crafts movement in Boston, with an introduction and nine essays by leading scholars. Although craftsmen and craft production are the primary interest, the contributors also discuss the architects who were involved. Includes contributions by David Acton and others.
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Shand-Tucci, Douglass. Ralph Adams Cram: An Architect’s Four Quests; Medieval, Modernist, American, Ecumenical. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2005.
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Written by the leading authority on Cram, the text is rambling yet well documented and informative. Cram’s Arts and Crafts outlook is addressed as is his role in employing leading craftsmen.
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New York and New Jersey
The many centers of Arts and Crafts activities in upstate New York received attention at a relatively early date in Ludwig 1983, an exhibition catalogue that highlights Arts and Crafts societies and communities. The same year marked the publication of Oliver 1983, a scholarly monograph on Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue, an architect who began his career with Ralph Adams Cram in Boston, then moved to New York City and established his own practice. These publications were followed by intriguing studies of New York and New Jersey communities that were established drawing upon Arts and Crafts ideas. Essays in Via and Searl 1994 recount the history of Elbert Hubbard’s Roycroft community near Buffalo. Gustav Stickley’s dream for a utopian farm-school at Craftsman Farms is the subject of Hewitt 2001. Klaus 2002 is a scholarly investigation into the planning and construction of Forest Hills Gardens in New York City, inspired by English garden city architects and planned by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., with buildings designed by Grosvenor Atterbury. Byrdcliffe, an arts colony founded in the Catskills, is the subject of a lengthy essay (Robertson 2004). The larger picture of Gustav Stickley’s life and career was the subject of a major 2010 exhibition. The accompanying catalogue includes an essay (Brandt 2010) that examines The Craftsman magazine, published by Stickley, and the residential designs that it featured.
Brandt, Beverly K. “The Paradox of the Craftsman Home.” In Gustav Stickley and the American Arts and Crafts Movement. By Kevin W. Tucker, Beverly K. Brandt, Sally-Anne Huxtable, et al., 66–79. Ex. cat. Dallas Museum of Art. Dallas: Dallas Museum of Art, 2010.
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Analyzes the roughly 210 designs for houses that appeared in Stickley’s The Craftsman magazine, observing how they were stylistically varied, responding to regional traditions and local sites and materials. Considers the paradox for the homeowners who sought to live in simple dwellings, close to nature, while wanting to enjoy modern innovations.
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Hewitt, Mark Alan. Gustav Stickley’s Craftsman Farms: The Quest for an Arts and Crafts Utopia. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2001.
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A monograph about the family residence and farm-school in New Jersey that were conceived as a utopian community by Gustav Stickley, beginning with his purchase of property in 1908 until his bankruptcy in 1914. An extensively researched study of Stickley, American Arts and Crafts architecture, and Arts and Crafts communities.
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Klaus, Susan L. A Modern Arcadia: Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. and the Plan for Forest Hills Gardens. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2002.
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Relates the planning for this model development in Queens, New York City, begun in 1909 and funded by the Sage Foundation, to English Arts and Crafts theorists and garden city architects. In addition to delving into the work of the landscape architect, Klaus discusses the architect Grosvenor Atterbury and his objectives. Published in association with the Library of American Landscape History.
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Ludwig, Coy L. The Arts and Crafts Movement in New York State, 1890s–1920s. Ex. cat. Tyler Art Gallery, State University of New York at Oswego. Hamilton, NY: Gallery Association of New York State, 1983.
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A small yet informative catalogue that touches on many manifestations of the Arts and Crafts movement, mainly in upstate New York, including architecture, with brief profiles of lesser-known architects. Also examined is the furnishing of the Arts and Crafts home.
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Oliver, Richard. Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1983.
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Although more recent work on Goodhue has been published, this volume is the definitive survey of his career. After leaving his partnership with Ralph Adams Cram, Goodhue spent the remainder of his years in New York City. Minimal coverage of his Arts and Crafts involvement yet places him in context with English and American architects, artists, and craftsmen associated with the movement.
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Robertson, Cheryl. “Nature and Artifice in the Architecture of Byrdcliffe.” In Byrdcliffe: An American Arts and Crafts Colony. Edited by Nancy E. Green, 120–159. Ex. cat. Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University, 2004.
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An essay that considers how the mountain setting and simple, wood-boarded cottages of this arts colony in Woodstock, NY, reflect the founder’s devotion to Ruskin. Influences of Voysey and Baillie Scott are also observed.
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Via, Marie, and Marjorie B. Searl, eds. Head, Heart and Hand: Elbert Hubbard and the Roycrofters. Ex. cat. Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 1994.
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The best source on the Roycroft community, founded near Buffalo in East Aurora, NY, by Elbert Hubbard in 1895, that grew to a population of about 500 artists and craftsmen involved in fine printing, furniture production, and metalwork. The buildings for the campus are mentioned and illustrated but not discussed in any depth; however, the influence of Ruskin and Morris receives attention.
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Pennsylvania
In a book about architect William L. Price, Thomas 2000 takes a wide-angle view, examining the central figure of this study in the contexts of Rose Valley, the Arts and Crafts community near Philadelphia that Price founded, and the culture of Philadelphia at the turn of the 20th century. An authoritative volume on American country houses, Hewitt 1990 connects the interests of Philadelphia architects to country houses designed by their counterparts in England. Aurand 1994 is a scholarly volume on Frederick G. Scheibler Jr., an innovative Pittsburgh-based architect.
Aurand, Martin. The Progressive Architecture of Frederick G. Scheibler, Jr. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1994.
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A thought-provoking book about an architect whose houses and apartment buildings are located almost entirely in the Pittsburgh area yet deserve to be known beyond western Pennsylvania. The author shows how Scheibler was forward-thinking and responded to British Arts and Crafts and Germanic architecture of the period. Reprinted in 2015.
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Hewitt, Mark Alan. The Architect and the American Country House, 1890–1940. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1990.
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A discussion of country retreats outside Philadelphia provides insight into how anglophile architects working in the city were inspired by their English counterparts in drawing upon vernacular traditions, especially rural residences. On “The Philadelphia School,” see pp. 197–207.
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Thomas, George E. William L. Price: Arts and Crafts to Modern Design. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2000.
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An analytical book that places its subject in multiple contexts, including the culture of Philadelphia, American architecture, and the Arts and Crafts movement. Includes a section on the Arts and Crafts community of Rose Valley, located near Philadelphia.
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Midwest
A sweeping examination of the architecture of the Prairie School, Brooks 1972 has become a classic, addressing progressive design developments throughout the Midwest. Researchers who seek information about the early work of Frank Lloyd Wright, which is usually associated with the Arts and Crafts movement, will encounter a vast array of publications. For Wright and the Arts and Crafts movement, Alofsin 1993 is scholarly and stimulating, probing the various influences on the architect. Robertson 2005 is widely available and brings together Prairie School architects, including Wright, with their designs in the decorative arts. Barter and Obniski 2009 takes a similar approach. For Walter Burley Griffin, Kruty 1996 provides an introduction to the Prairie School phase of the architect’s career. The Minneapolis-based firm of Purcell and Elmslie, also associated with the Prairie School, is the subject of Gebhard and Gebhard 2006, which is augmented by historical and modern color photographs. In recent years, historians have recognized the Arts and Crafts sympathies of Howard Van Doren Shaw, a Chicago-based architect whose work was more closely aligned with English designs than those of the Prairie School. Cohen 2015 discusses Shaw’s country houses from this perspective.
Alofsin, Anthony. Frank Lloyd Wright: The Lost Years, 1910–1922; A Study of Influence. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993.
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This stimulating monograph centers on the challenge of establishing and interpreting the influences of architects on one another. More specifically, the influence of Arts and Crafts architects on Wright is considered along with other influences, in particular the Viennese Secession. Wright’s interactions with C. R. Ashbee run through the text.
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Barter, Judith A., and Monica Obniski. “Chicago: A Bridge to the Future.” In Apostles of Beauty: Arts and Crafts from Britain to Chicago. Edited by Judith A. Barter, 151–188. Ex. cat. Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2009.
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An excellent and concise introduction to Chicago history and the city’s contribution to the Arts and Crafts movement, which took off formally with the founding of the Chicago Arts and Crafts Society at Hull House in 1897. Prairie School architects are presented in relation to their designs for furniture, textiles, and stained glass. Forward-looking designers are emphasized.
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Brooks, H. Allen. The Prairie School: Frank Lloyd Wright and His Midwest Contemporaries. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1972.
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A foundational book on the Prairie School architects, placing Frank Lloyd Wright in a larger circle. The author looks beyond the “Chicago School” to explore the architecture of the Midwest from 1900 until 1914. Chapters are presented chronologically by period. Reprinted in 2006 with a foreword by Vincent Scully.
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Cohen, Stuart. Inventing the New American House: Howard Van Doren Shaw, Architect. New York: Monacelli, 2015.
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A beautifully illustrated coffee table book with a fifteen-page essay that places Shaw, who worked in revival styles, in the company of Chicago’s Prairie School and English Arts and Crafts architects. The remainder of the book is devoted to entries on Shaw’s houses, including Ragdale (1897) in Lake Forest. An extensive bibliography serves the serious researcher.
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Gebhard, David, and Patricia Gebhard, ed. Purcell and Elmslie: Prairie Progressive Architects. Salt Lake City, UT: Gibbs Smith, 2006.
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This short narrative documents the Minneapolis-based partnership and work of William Gray Purcell and George Grant Elmslie. Well-illustrated with historical and contemporary color photographs and accompanied by a catalogue of projects.
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Kruty, Paul. “Walter Burley Griffin: An Architect of America’s Middle West.” In Walter Burley Griffin in America. Edited by Mati Maldre and Paul Kruty, 15–36. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1996.
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A brief biographical essay sketches the first portion of Griffin’s career. A Prairie School architect, Griffin worked for Frank Lloyd Wright and then established a practice in 1906. Includes information on Griffin’s architect wife, Marion Mahony. Does not discuss Griffin in an Arts and Crafts context and does not follow his career in Australia. While not comprehensive, this book is readily available and includes extensive photographic documentation of his American work.
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Robertson, Cheryl. “Progressive Chicago: Frank Lloyd Wright and the Prairie School.” In International Arts and Crafts. Edited by Karen Livingstone and Linda Parry, 164–181. Ex. cat. Victoria and Albert Museum. London: V & A Publications, 2005.
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An essay that expands on studies of Prairie School architects, describing their design preferences and tying together their approach to buildings with designs for stained glass, tile, furniture, and lighting. In addition to Wright, the author considers work by Purcell and Elmslie and George Washington Maher.
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Northwest
Two ambitious books on the Arts and Crafts movement in the American Northwest take complementary approaches. Kreisman and Mason 2007 provides the broader perspective in a book that is more likely to be used as a reference. Ochsner 2007 narrows the focus on the career of Lionel H. Pries, a prominent Seattle architect and educator. A text that is scholarly and analytical, it explores how Pries absorbed Arts and Crafts ideas and adapted them to his version of modernism.
Kreisman, Lawrence, and Glenn Mason. The Arts and Crafts Movement in the Pacific Northwest. Portland, OR: Timber Press, 2007.
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This examination of the Arts and Crafts movement in Washington and Oregon devotes most of its pages to architecture and includes an exceptional number of historical photographs of interiors. Special attention is given to the region’s bungalows. The authors also discuss other regional interests, including the architecture of Japan, Swiss chalets, and California missions.
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Ochsner, Jeffrey Karl. Lionel H. Pries, Architect, Artist, Educator: From Arts and Crafts to Modern Architecture. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2007.
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A handsomely produced book on Lionel H. Pries, Seattle architect and educator, with historical and modern color photographs supporting a scholarly and analytical text. The author explores how Pries, who started his architectural practice in the 1920s, was shaped by Arts and Crafts attitudes throughout his life, even as he embraced modernism and developed a personal interpretation of it.
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Southwest
Researchers interested in Santa Fe’s John Gaw Meem should consult Bunting 1983 before turning to more recent work. For Mary Colter, a designer-turned-architect whose projects are located in Arizona and New Mexico, the best source is Berke 2002, a solidly researched, well-illustrated biography targeting the popular market.
Berke, Arnold. Mary Colter: Architect of the Southwest. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2002.
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A readable biography written for the mass market, this well-illustrated volume contributes to the literature on women architects and designers who responded to Arts and Crafts concepts. Colter found inspiration in Native American buildings and artifacts, designing projects in Arizona and New Mexico.
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Bunting, Bainbridge. John Gaw Meem: Southwestern Architect. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1983.
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Although not the most recent publication on Santa Fe architect John Gaw Meem, this source is authoritative. Bunting writes about Meem’s “Spanish-Pueblo” and “Territorial” revival buildings, but not in the framework of the Arts and Crafts movement. Black-and-white photographs, some by Ansel Adams.
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California, Statewide
The Arts and Crafts movement in California has been the subject of two distinguished publications, both collections of essays by highly respected contributors. Trapp 1993 is an exhibition catalogue in which several writers address architectural topics, while Winter 1997 is entirely about California architects and their work.
Trapp, Kenneth R., ed. The Arts and Crafts Movement in California: Living the Good Life. Ex. cat. Oakland Museum. New York: Abbeville, 1993.
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A large format catalogue with essays by eight authors covering responses to the movement in the entire state. Writers assess the state’s Arts and Crafts architecture, including the bungalow, as well as garden design, tile, and utopian “place-making.”
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Winter, Robert, ed. Toward a Simpler Way of Life: The Arts and Crafts Architects of California. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997.
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An essential book to consult, its twenty-eight essays examine architects and their practices from the San Francisco Bay area to Southern California, including Pasadena and San Diego. For lesser-known architects, this volume is especially valuable. A variety of Arts and Crafts styles is presented, ranging from Tudor to Mission and Spanish Colonial revivals. Bungalows are also discussed.
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California, San Francisco Bay Area
While valuable as a scholarly study focusing on four San Francisco architects, Longstreth 1983 moves beyond the subject to explore the relationship between the Arts and Crafts movement and the academic eclecticism at the turn of the 20th century. The female architect Julia Morgan has attracted popular interest, and Boutelle 1988 presents a solid narrative and record of projects. For Bernard Maybeck, Woodbridge 1992 offers a good general introduction.
Boutelle, Sara Holmes. Julia Morgan, Architect. New York: Abbeville, 1988.
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A readable, large-format illustrated book that is both biographical and a serious examination of Morgan’s trajectory as an architect practicing in San Francisco. Places Morgan’s work in an Arts and Crafts context.
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Longstreth, Richard. On the Edge of the World: Four Architects in San Francisco at the Turn of the Century. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1983.
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An insightful, scholarly book about San Francisco architects Willis Polk, Ernest Coxhead, A. C. Schweinfurth, and Bernard Maybeck that analyzes how the Arts and Crafts movement served as a complement to the period’s academic eclecticism.
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Woodbridge, Sally B. Bernard Maybeck: Visionary Architect. New York: Abbeville, 1992.
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The best introduction to this San Francisco-based architect in which text, color photos, historical photos, and plans are brought together. The author places Maybeck in an Arts and Crafts community and considers the Arts and Crafts aspects of his buildings.
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California, Southern
The most comprehensive and authoritative study on the Pasadena-based Greene brothers is Bosley 2000. For a serious examination of the multifaceted Spanish Colonial revival in Southern California, see Gebhard 1967. Two more recent biographies document important architects who contributed to the revival—George Washington Smith, the subject of Gebhard 2005, and James Osborne Craig and Mary McLaughlin Craig, the subject of Skewes-Cox and Sweeney 2015. Zipf 2007 is recommended for the author’s exploration of the relationship between female designers and the Arts and Crafts movement, including San Diego architect Hazel Wood Waterman.
Bosley, Edward R. Greene and Greene. London: Phaidon, 2000.
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Written by the leading expert on the Pasadena-based Greene brothers, this volume is extensively illustrated with both historical and modern color photographs. The text follows the unfolding of the brothers’ lives with attention given to their projects and the Arts and Crafts philosophy behind them.
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Gebhard, David. “The Spanish Colonial Revival in Southern California, 1895–1930.” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 26.2 (May 1967): 131–147.
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A scholarly essay that remains unmatched in its analysis of Southern California’s Spanish Colonial revival. The author identifies a series of phases in the revival, beginning with the Mission revival and culminating in a late phase that drew upon influences from Spain, Mexico, and Italy while converging with early modernism.
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Gebhard, Patricia. George Washington Smith: Architect of the Spanish Colonial Revival. Salt Lake City, UT: Gibbs Smith, 2005.
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A well-illustrated book with a short biography of Smith, who practiced in Santa Barbara. Followed by examples of projects and commentary. Includes a catalogue of works and a bibliography.
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Skewes-Cox, Pamela, and Robert L. Sweeney. Spanish Colonial Style: Santa Barbara and the Architecture of James Osborne Craig and Mary McLaughlin Craig. New York: Rizzoli, 2015.
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A large-format, photo-driven book that documents the careers of James Osborne Craig and his wife Mary McLaughlin Craig, who practiced in Santa Barbara. James Osborne Craig designed El Paseo (1921–1922), Santa Barbara’s much-admired Spanish Colonial revival commercial and residential development. The reader must independently discern Arts and Crafts influences in the work discussed. Published in association with the Santa Barbara Historical Society Museum.
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Zipf, Catherine W. Professional Pursuits: Women and the American Arts and Crafts Movement. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2007.
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This scholarly yet readable volume includes a profile of Hazel Wood Waterman, who began practicing in San Diego in 1906. The author sets forth the challenges faced by women as well as the opportunities provided by Arts and Crafts values, such as the emphasis on the home environment. On Waterman, see pp. 30–49.
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Arts and Crafts Styles in the United States
The variety of architectural styles embraced by the Arts and Crafts movement in the United States has led many authors to examine a particular strand. In Wilson 1987, a scholarly essay, the numerous strands are woven together to make sense of this stylistic diversity. For a discussion of the Tudor revival, see Murphy 2015, which opens with an authoritative essay and is followed by examples in American domestic architecture. Ballantyne and Law 2011 is a more extensive study of the Tudor house, presenting its history and meaning in the United Kingdom over the centuries, while also examining revivals in other parts of the world, including the United States. Meister 2014 considers how a group of Arts and Crafts architects designed a range of building types in Gothic and Tudor styles and also explores why the same architects embraced the Colonial revival. Rhoads 1977, written four decades earlier, discusses how certain American architects at the turn of the 20th century were interested in English Arts and Crafts architecture as well as the Colonial revival. A short yet well-researched introduction to the Mediterranean revival house is to be found in Bricker 2008, which illustrates, in text and photographs, examples that draw upon Spanish, Italian, and historical sources from the Southwest. Gellner 2002 is a mass-market book that relates Spanish revival architecture to Arts and Crafts ideas, presenting a mix of building types in addition to grand houses. Kropp 2006 is recommended as a scholarly book that probes the significance of the so-called Spanish style and its detachment from Mexican history and the Mexican population living in Southern California.
Ballantyne, Andrew, and Andrew Law. Tudoresque: In Pursuit of the Ideal Home. London: Reaktion, 2011.
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A scholarly, engaging examination of the Tudor house, identified as “the British style.” Although mainly about the United Kingdom, the book provides American examples and examples in the Far East.
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Bricker, Lauren Weiss. The Mediterranean House in America. New York: Abrams, 2008.
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An oversize, full-color book written by a seasoned scholar. Includes an introductory essay and commentary on representative houses located in New York, Florida, Texas, and California, all supported by extensive notes. Examines Spanish and Italian influences along with adobe buildings of the Southwest.
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Gellner, Arrol. Red Tile Style: America’s Spanish Revival Architecture. New York: Viking Studio, 2002.
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A well-illustrated book without citations; however, the text helpfully takes the reader from England and the origins of the Arts and Crafts movement to California and the involvement of its residents in historic preservation and interest in Spanish Colonial architecture. In addition to large houses, the book includes small houses, apartments, commercial and public buildings, and architectural ornament.
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Kropp, Phoebe S. California Vieja: Culture and Memory in a Modern American Place. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006.
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A provocative study of the Spanish style in Southern California and what the author calls the “dynamics of memory.” She delves into the political aspects of those who promoted and identified the favored style of the region’s architecture as Spanish rather than Mexican. Phoebe S. Kropp also is Phoebe S. K. Young.
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Meister, Maureen. Arts and Crafts Architecture: History and Heritage in New England. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 2014.
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A scholarly book that examines the transmission of Arts and Crafts design ideals from England to New England, beginning with Gothic and related Tudor revival styles in the 1880s. The text also relates how the English Arts and Crafts leaders were engaged in historic preservation, how their interest encouraged similar efforts in New England, and how this interest inspired Colonial revival buildings.
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Murphy, Kevin D. The Tudor Home. New York: Rizzoli, 2015.
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A full-color volume aimed at a popular market while providing an authoritative introduction to the Tudor style, from its origins to its revival in England. Relates the revival to the ideas of Ruskin, Morris, and Arts and Crafts proponents. The substance of the book consists of entries on American houses that are organized by region.
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Rhoads, William Bertholet. The Colonial Revival. New York: Garland, 1977.
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At an early date, Rhoads explored how certain American architects during the 1890s demonstrated an interest in the designs of English Arts and Crafts architects as well as designs relating to the Colonial revival; however, he did not see that the two interests reflected the same ethos. See, in particular, “The Arts and Crafts Movement and Colonial Revival Architecture,” pp. 303–313.
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Wilson, Richard Guy. “American Arts and Crafts Architecture: Radical though Dedicated to the Cause Conservative.” In “The Art That Is Life”: The Arts and Crafts Movement in America, 1875–1920. Edited by Wendy Kaplan, 101–131. Ex. cat. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Boston: Little, Brown, 1987.
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A substantial essay that continues to be an informative source on how American architects responded to Arts and Crafts ideas through a wide range of styles. Buildings based on medieval cottages to Spanish Missions to log cabins are all recognized as reflections of values that originally were articulated by William Morris and English architects.
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The Bungalow
The low-profile bungalow, with its prominent sloping roof and deep veranda, has long been associated with the Arts and Crafts architecture in the United States. Interpreted in many styles, reflecting regional architectural traditions, the bungalow was usually built with local materials, was simple in its design, and connected its interior spaces to the natural landscape through a porch. Lancaster 1985 remains the most exhaustive source on the subject, its text illustrated with black-and-white historical drawings and illustrations. Duscherer 1995 is a book for the popular market, useful for full-color images that show California bungalows built with a variety of materials and in many styles. Winter 1996 is organized to prioritize the color photographs but is informative, successfully showing the many ways in which bungalows have been designed across the United States. King 1984 is a scholarly, interdisciplinary study that examines how the bungalow, erected throughout the world, reflected the economic and social forces that produced it.
Duscherer, Paul. The Bungalow: America’s Arts and Crafts Home. New York: Penguin Studio, 1995.
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A coffee table book with an opening essay that relies heavily on other historians. Examples are all from California. The strength of the book is its illustrations of bungalows in wood, stone, and brick that show how bungalows have drawn upon many influences—from Swiss chalets and English Tudor houses to Spanish Colonial and Japanese architecture.
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King, Anthony D. The Bungalow: The Production of a Global Culture. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1984.
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A scholarly, interdisciplinary study of the bungalow in India, Great Britain, North America, Africa, and Australia, connecting it to the economic and social forces that produced it. The relationship of the bungalow to the Arts and Crafts movement in Britain and the United States is considered.
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Lancaster, Clay. The American Bungalow, 1880s–1920s. New York: Abbeville, 1985.
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The most authoritative book on the subject, supported by historical illustrations and photographs in black and white. Follows the emergence of the American bungalow on the East Coast to its development and widespread popularity in California. Little attention is paid to the connections between the bungalow and the Arts and Crafts movement, although relevant themes are addressed.
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Winter, Robert. American Bungalow Style. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996.
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Written by a leading scholar on California architecture and the Arts and Crafts movement. A full-color book divided into short topics, lacking a sustained development of ideas. Yet it beautifully documents examples from Pennsylvania and Maryland to Illinois, Minnesota, and Iowa to California representing a variety of styles from the Colonial revival to the Spanish Colonial revival. Many interiors included.
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Architectural Ornament
The collaboration between architects and craftsmen was a frequently voiced goal advanced by leading figures in the Arts and Crafts movements of England, Scotland, Ireland, and the United States. This close relationship was fostered through guilds, societies, and small communities. In practice, the craftsmen usually did not receive equal authority in their work, with the architect or professional designer gaining the upper hand, yet the goal was pursued as an ideal well into the 20th century. Tellingly, far less has been written about these craftsmen than about their architect colleagues. The rarity of the studies may be explained by the difficulty for researchers in attributing the craftsmen’s work. Even in their day, craftsmen were less likely to be credited than architects in publications. In the modern literature, a few valuable surveys have been published that highlight the producers of Arts and Crafts stained glass and tile. More authors have focused on individual craftsmen. It is worth noting that architectural ornament and its producers seem to be especially attractive to enthusiasts who have published their findings. Some of these researchers have been careful and dogged in their labors, contributing welcome additions to the literature on the architecture of the Arts and Crafts movement.
Sculpture
A scholarly study of the relationship of architects, craftsmen, and patrons involved in Boston’s Society of Arts and Crafts, Brandt 2009 discusses three sculptors: John Evans, Hugh Cairns, and Johannes Kirchmayer. Prouty 2007 is the work of an amateur historian yet provides extensive and clearly presented documentation on Kirchmayer.
Brandt, Beverly K. The Craftsman and the Critic: Defining Usefulness and Beauty in Arts and Crafts Era Boston. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2009.
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Includes profiles and information about three architectural sculptors: John Evans, Hugh Cairns, and Johannes Kirchmayer, who helped found and run the Society of Arts and Crafts in Boston in 1897. Notes provide references to other sources on the three men. See, especially, pp. 59–60.
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Prouty, F. Shirley. Master Carver: From Germany’s Passion Play Village to America’s Finest Sanctuaries: Johannes Kirchmayer, 1860–1930. Portsmouth, NH: Peter Randall Publishers, 2007.
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A modest book on one of the country’s leading woodcarvers whose work decorates churches throughout the eastern and midwestern United States. Written by an amateur historian, the volume reflects extensive research and features a carefully prepared catalogue of Kirchmayer’s work, with locations of projects, architect collaborators, and references. Foreword by Gerald W. R. Ward.
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Metalwork
A scholarly monograph on the metalworker Henry Wilson, Manton 2009 addresses the extent of his activities as a designer, teacher, and leader in the English Arts and Crafts movement. Falino 1997 is a short biography of Boston-based Frank L. Koralewsky, who worked in iron and steel. The best source for information about the Philadelphia blacksmith Samuel Yellin is Andrews 2000, which includes a biography and a lengthy list of projects by date, clients, and locations.
Andrews, Jack. Samuel Yellin, Metalworker. Ocean Pines, MD: Skipjack Press, 2000.
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An essential resource for information about Samuel Yellin, a blacksmith and metalworker based in Philadelphia whose wrought iron enhances buildings across the United States. Opens with a biography of Yellin, supported by notes. A well-illustrated volume, with historical photographs. Includes an exhaustive list of jobs documented by surviving cards, including clients, dates, and locations of the projects.
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Falino, Jeannine. “Frank L. Koralewsky.” In Inspiring Reform: Boston’s Arts and Crafts Movement. Edited by Marilee Boyd Meyer, 219. Ex. cat. Davis Museum and Cultural Center, Wellesley College. Wellesley, MA: Wellesley College, 1997.
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A short but substantive biographical entry on a leading Boston metalworker who was employed by Frederick Krasser, also a talented craftsman in the same field. Koralewsky produced gates, hinges, and finely ornamented locks in iron and steel for prominent architects and clients. With notes for sources. See also cat. no. 42 and the index for further references.
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Manton, Cyndy. Henry Wilson: Practical Idealist. Cambridge, UK: Lutterworth, 2009.
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An impressive scholarly study of Henry Wilson, an English metalworker whose achievements include the design and fabrication of eighteen-foot tall doors for the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. Trained as an architect, he was editor of the London Architectural Review during its first four years, became a noted teacher, and was president of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society from 1915 to 1922.
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Stained Glass
A foundational work on Arts and Crafts stained glass is Sewter 1974–1975, a history of the stained glass produced by William Morris and others beginning in 1861. For a recent and authoritative survey of stained glass relating to the Arts and Crafts movement in England, Scotland, Ireland, and the United States, see Cormack 2015. Raguin 2003 is an excellent survey of the history of stained glass, providing a basis for the reader to understand the discussion about Arts and Crafts glass.
Cormack, Peter. Arts and Crafts Stained Glass. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2015.
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A scholarly study in an oversize, full-color format, with extensive notes and bibliography. Much of this history is about developments in England, with particular emphasis on stained glass artist Christopher Whall. The work of artists in Scotland and Ireland also receives attention as does the Arts and Crafts glass produced in the United States, with Charles J. Connick featured. Architects who promoted the stained glass artists are discussed.
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Raguin, Virginia Chieffo. Stained Glass: From Its Origins to the Present. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2003.
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Written by a leading scholar of the history of stained glass. A large-format, full-color book in which the text is dominant, providing a sound introduction to the subject. Chapters on medieval and Renaissance glass are helpful to those seeking to understand the basis for the revival in the United Kingdom and the United States. See sections on opalescent, Art Nouveau, and Arts and Crafts glass, pp. 224–257.
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Sewter, A. Charles. The Stained Glass of William Morris and His Circle. 2 vols. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1974–1975.
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Handsomely printed, the two volumes represent an important early study of Victorian stained glass. Examines the work of Morris, Burne-Jones, Rossetti, Webb, and others from the founding of “the firm” in 1861 until its closing in 1940. Analyzes Morris’s inconsistencies in his views and treatment of craftsmen. The second volume is a catalogue of the firm’s output.
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Tile
For a general reference on the legions of producers of Arts and Crafts tiles in the United States, see Karlson 1998, which is extensively illustrated. Two authoritative books that focus on individual tilemakers are Reed 1987, a scholarly examination of the career and work of Henry Chapman Mercer, who settled in Doylestown, near Philadelphia, and Winter 1999, a biography of Pasadena’s Ernest Batchelder that has been packaged for the popular market.
Karlson, Norman. American Art Tile, 1876–1941. New York: Rizzoli, 1998.
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A comprehensive documentation of American art tile, with brief histories of the producers and extensive illustrations, all in color. Written as a reference book and organized by regions of the United States. In each section on a given region, early tile, mainly pertaining to the Aesthetic movement, is mixed in with tile that relates to the later Arts and Crafts movement.
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Reed, Cleota. Henry Chapman Mercer and the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1987.
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The definitive study of one of the most important producers of American Arts and Crafts tile, Henry Chapman Mercer. The book is divided into two parts: the first about Mercer’s life, including his establishment of a tile works in Doylestown, near Philadelphia, and the second about his tile designs and applications. Documents all of Mercer’s tiles.
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Winter, Robert. Batchelder Tilemaker. Los Angeles: Balcony Press, 1999.
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A short, readable biography about Ernest Batchelder, who settled in Pasadena, California, where he built a bungalow and began producing tile in 1910. Authoritative, with notes, and illustrated in color throughout.
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Arts and Crafts Gardens
The appreciation for national and regional architectural traditions shared by Arts and Crafts theorists extended to garden design. In England elements of the gardens of the medieval manor houses were revived, including intimate spaces defined by walls of local stone, bowling greens, clipped shrubs, and densely planted beds of flowers. In the eastern United States, architects followed English examples, while architects in the Midwest and West encouraged building houses in regional styles with complementary gardens. For an introductory survey of Arts and Crafts gardens, see Tankard 2004. Hitchmough 1997 probes the theories and social trends that explain the designs. On Gertrude Jekyll, a renowned English garden designer and author in the early 20th century, see Tankard 2011.
Hitchmough, Wendy. Arts and Crafts Gardens. London: Pavilion, 1997.
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An examination of English Arts and Crafts gardens that connects the ideas behind them to developments in intellectual thought and social trends of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Topics include the influence of Ruskin and Morris, Charles Darwin, spiritualism, and new roles for women.
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Tankard, Judith B. Gardens of the Arts and Crafts Movement: Reality and Imagination. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2004.
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Primarily about English gardens, with the two closing chapters on gardens in the United States. A full-color book aimed at the mass market, it is written by a respected scholar and includes notes and a bibliography. With photographs of the houses associated with the gardens as well as garden plans.
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Tankard, Judith B. Gertrude Jekyll and the Country House Garden: From the Archives of Country Life. New York: Rizzoli, 2011.
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Integrates historical photographs and modern color photographs as the basis for a history of Jekyll, a prominent English garden designer and frequent collaborator with Edwin Lutyens. Chapters are based on the topics of Jekyll’s books. Includes garden plans.
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