Origins
The Arts and Crafts Movement owed its origin to a number of artists, writers, industrialists and philosophers who reacted to the brutality of England’s 19th century Industrial Revolution. Their aims were to beautify practical things, such as houses or furnishings, by emphasising natural materials and individual craftmanship. In their respect for the environment, they anticipated many of the features of the Environmental Movement today.
The Movement found early inspiration from the art critic, social reformer and author, John Ruskin, pictured, (1819-2000), although it was William Morris who gave it practical reality. He combined intellectual and artistic interests with a successful industrial business.
A number of houses were built in the late 19th century, following the principles of the Arts & Crafts Movement, often using Morris’s products. One notable example is Standen, East Grinstead, West Sussex. It was commissioned by Philip and Margaret Beale as an unostentatious house in the country; it was built by Philip Webb, a leading Arts & Crafts architect. It was acquired by the National Trust in 1972, which describes the collection as ‘a fine example of late 19th-century artistic middle-class taste. Many of the rooms contain wallpaper, furniture and textiles by Morris & Co., alongside light fittings by W.A S. Benson, ceramics by William de Morgan, drawings by Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and paintings by George Clausen and William Nicholson. The Beales also bought from furniture makers Collinson & Lock and Liberty, and Standen houses the largest collection of furniture by the pioneering designers Agnes and Rhoda Garrett, as well as Arts & Crafts pieces by Ernest Gimson and C.R. Ashbee.