The simple life: The arts and crafts movement in Great Britain

Magazine Antiques, Oct, 1999 by Wendy Kaplan

Gimson had wanted to keep the price of furniture such as the coin cabinet shown in Plate IX to [pounds]5, but his records for 1914 show that the cost of making it alone was more than [pounds]17. The account book states that the cost of labor by the cabinetmaker Harry Davoll was [pounds]14 5s, the cost of the walnut was [pounds]3 1s 4d, and the cost of the lock, 5s.(7) The cabinet can be viewed as an archetypal arts and crafts project. It was commissioned by Violet Cooper, the sister of the arts and crafts metalsmith John Paul Cooper (1869-1923), who made drawer handles for Gimson. It was made of solid wood, with the only ornament being the geometric arrangement of the walnut panels and the exposed dovetails and joints. The shape of the stretchers suggests a hayrake used for the final clearing of fields in Gloucestershire. The cabinet is an outstanding example of the compromises necessitated even in the best of circumstances for work attempting to abide by arts and crafts ideals. The cabinet could only be afforded by a fairly wealthy client, and, although it was designed by Gimson, he did not make it. Moreover, while Davoll had overall responsibility for the fabrication, other craftsmen in the shop also worked on it.

Together with the quest for a democratic art, uniting designer and maker proved the most elusive arts and crafts goal and was not achieved at the other great venture in the Cotswolds, Charles Robert Ashbee's Guild of Handicraft. Established in 1888 in the slums of London's East End, the guild moved to Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, in 1902, where it continued to pursue the objectives set forth in a company catalogue: "(1) a fair rate of wages, (2) a co-operative system among its members, (3) good working conditions."(8)

Ashbee was the arts and crafts leader most emphatic about the need for people to take joy in their work, yet to a great extent he controlled the design aspects of the guild's production. For a few years before its dissolution as a limited company in 1908, however, the guild did approach the utopian dream of rural self-sufficiency, where art and life were fully integrated and a happy band of craftsmen-comrades worked joyfully together. Each member's shares were apportioned according to length of service. Drama, music, and calisthenics were practiced by the members and taught to the local population, along with classes in furniture making, metalwork, and other crafts. The guild ran a limited-edition press, made furniture, silver objects [ILLUSTRATION FOR PLATES XI, XIA OMITTED], jewelry, and objects of wrought iron, and a wide range of other metals.

In 1915, Ashbee lamented the demise of the arts and crafts movements glory years. "We have taken a great social movement and turned it into a tiresome little aristocracy working with high skill for the very rich," he wrote in his journal.(9) But even as early as 1898 Ashbee was aware of the difficulty of combining handwork and accessibility to a large public. In that year he agreed to design a group of cast-iron fireplace surrounds for the Falkirk Iron Company [ILLUSTRATION FOR PLATE VIII OMITTED]. Despite being cast, and therefore intended for mass production, the fireplaces were included in the 1898 exhibition Art Metal Work held in London. The journal House noted