This book, benefiting from recent research and previously unseen photographs, explores one of the most important periods of late 19th century design when craftsmanship and beauty came under threat from the mass production of the urban factory.
Beginning with the Great Exhibition of 1851, which celebrated the Victorian age of mass production, the book examines the birth of the arts and crafts movement, explaining the fundamental principles that governed it and showing how its champion, William Morris, inspired such a strong reaction against industrialism.
The movement quickly spread to both Europe and America and the work of such major contributors as Flank Lloyd Wright, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Emile Galle and Gustav Stickley is discussed and fully illustrated in subsequent chapters.
The second part of the book concentrates on the diverse range of objects, from ceramics to furniture, glass to metalwork, which were influenced by the movement and analyses the new production techniques that were developed by artists during the period.
