The Art & Craft movement was developed at the end of the 19th centuryto fight against both negative effects of the Industrialisation on artistic creation, the traditional craft declin and the miserable condition of theworking class.
It defends a revival of the traditional working craft, aiming a return to amore simple life and an improvment of the daily life through decorative arts.
If, it represents for many people having a ideal life in the country side,the spirit of the movement has nevertheless an urban and sophisticated dimension supported by an intellectual elite and artists living in International capitals such as London, Vienna, Budapest, Chicago or Tokyo.
From the 1880's, the Art & Craft move reaches the United States In the 1897 fall, the first Art & Craft brotherwood was bornThe Stickley brothers on the East coast, Charles Limbert near Chicagoand the Greene brothers in California will take some of the ideas defendedby the most important English representative people of Art & Craft.
There are original features coming from the american production.
Renewing with their origins, craft man and designers are influenced bythe Indian vernacular tradition, admiring their way of living in harmony with nature.
They are also inspired by Japanese art, developing a more commercialapproach of the revival of the art and craft.
The Art & Craft movement slowly disapeared towards 1910 replacing by the industrial design of Raymond Loewy that was developed a couple of years later.

“A severely plain and rectilinear style which was visually enriched only be expressed structural features and the warm tones of the wood”
Gustav Stickley

Many thanks to John Toomey for his help and support.
Marine Garnier