Utopian Craftsmen: The arts and crafts movement from the Cotswolds to Chicago

by Lionel Lambourne

The dust jacket is price clipped.

218 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1980

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a subject I’m at all familiar with. Previously my limited knowledge of the Arts and Crafts movement came from an undergrad internship working on an annotated edition of William Morris’s THE EARTHLY PARADISE.

This book was easy to read and covered a lot of ground. I hope I can remember a quarter of the names from its pages. I appreciated the author’s discussion of links between the largely English movement and the American Midwest’s Prairie School. Also the elucidation of the tension between Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau, which I knew nothing about. The plates/illustrations were very good, even in black and white.

Two passing comments re: an artist’s “homosexual proclivities” were distracting for their datedness and apparent irrelevancy. I wasn’t offended so much as puzzled. 🐦

[Virginia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A GREAT OVERVIEW OF THE ARTS & CRAFTS MOVEMENT FOCUSING ON ITS BROAD START IN ENGLAND AND OTHER PARTS OF EUROPE AND THEN CONTINUING TO THE UNITED STATES. TARGETING WRIGHT AND SULLIVAN AS PLAYING A MAJOR PART. DISTINGUISHED THE MOVEMENT FROM ART NOUVEAU AND REALLY SHOWED WHILE IT WAS SHORT LIVED (30 YEARS) MOVEMENT IT DID HAVE LATING EFFECTS. SAW MOVEMENT OF US OF THE BAUHAUS AND ONE ITS LAST EXPRESSIONS. A PERIOD THAT HAS ALWAYS FASCINATED ME SO VERY WORTH WHILE.