home

=Welcome to Arts and Crafts 1850-1914=

The **Arts and Crafts Movement** was an international design movement that originated in England and flourished between 1880 and 1910, continuing its influence up to the 1930s. Instigated by the artist and writer William Morris (1834–1896) in the 1860s and inspired by the writings of John Ruskin (1819–1900), it had its earliest and fullest development in the British Isles but spread to Europe and North America as a reaction against the impoverished state of the decorative arts and the conditions under which they were produced. The movement advocated truth to materials and traditional craftsmanship using simple forms and often medieval, romantic or folk styles of decoration. It also proposed economic and social reform and has been seen as essentially anti-industrial.