Arts and Crafts
The Arts and Crafts Movement is, without a doubt, one of the most influential art movements in modern art. The movement came into being in the early 1860s in Britain. The movement was led by William Morris, who doubled up as an artist and a medievalist (Hosea 17). William established the Arts and Crafts Movement in response to the impoverishment of craftsmanship caused by the Industrial revolution. The artist believed that the industrial revolution brought with it negative social and aesthetic outcomes to the art and the artists who believed and valued their craft. The industrial revolution brought about significant changes that threatened the survival of individual art (Hosea 17). Technological advances and the reliability of new raw materials, including steel and machines, gradually substituted men in industries. Artists were forced to think of their position and craftsmanship if they were to be replaced by machines.
Apart from the impoverishment of craftsmanship, the industrial revolution resulted in great social imbalance and pollution. As the cities continued to develop, charcoal-fueled factories increased, leading to atmospheric pollution. Many people, among them architects and artists, moved to the countryside to escape the unconducive urban environment. The artists’ biggest fear became a reality in 1845 when T.B Jordan created the first wood carving tool that could make decorations in wood more efficiently and accurately than man. The machine could produce identical decorations making it possible to produce ready-made furniture on a large scale. Custom-made items became scarce as machines took over work previously done by artists and craftsmen. In other words, craftsmanship was slowly dying. Mechanized art was rejected and criticized by John Ruskin, who cited poor quality and lack of creativity (Penick et al. 3). As a writer and an art expert, John Ruskin emphasized the importance and need to preserve individual artistry and designs. This criticism led to the establishment of the Arts and Crafts movement led by William Morris. Its main aim was to promote decorative arts and hand-craftsmanship.
Proponents of the Art and Craft movement were united by a unanimous set of aesthetics that aimed to reiterate the significance of individual craftsmanship and designs in the world of art in the wake of the industrial revolution. However, the arts and Crafts movement was not concerned about style but were defined by a common ideal: to restore and revive craftsmanship and individual decorations that were gradually being diminished despite the uninspiring quality of mechanized art. They drew inspiration from the medieval period and time was presumed to be the only period where pure craftsmanship was practiced. The crafts and Arts movement also drew inspiration from vernacular civilizations and crafts imported from Asia. The movement, however, failed to live up to its promise to produce affordable art for the masses; its handmade designs were too expensive and only affordable to the rich. According to Penick et al. (10) the Arts and Crafts Movement “failed in its quest for a democratic art”. Therefore, the major impact of the Art and Crafts Movement was their ideology and not necessarily a specific style or design.
Glasgow School
An artistic style is a unique form of art. Nouveau was developed in the 1890s (Glasgow Style). The Glasgow Style, however not a formally recognized movement as such, as its proponents lacked a definitive style or ideology like other art movements. The practitioners of Glasgow school came together after being rejected by the hierarchy of genres and their dislike of the traditional academic art under the jurisdiction of the Royal Scottish Academy. Another unifying factor about the Glasgow style is that its practitioners were from Glasgow or associated with the Glasgow School of Art. The designs of the movement were majorly influenced by other movements, including the Celtic Revival, Continental Art Nouvea and the Arts and Crafts movement (Glasgow Style). This influence resulted from their exposure to numerous styles, including landscape painting, impressionism, and German art. They, however, developed an inclination towards naturalism, a style associated with the Hage School. Common mediums used for the Glasgow style include metal, glass, textiles, ceramics, stained glass, and interiors. In short, Glasgow School refers to a non-uniform group of liberal artists responsible for introducing modern art to Glasgow.
The formation of the Glasgow School was a reaction to the conservative approach toward art under the Royal Scottish Academy. The revolution, however, came about in the 1880s when the leadership mandate shifted to young and open-minded artists associated with Glasgow. This period experienced an influx of art exhibitions, with the Royal Scottish Academy showcasing thousands of arts from different artists during the annual art exhibition held at the institution. However, the fact that there was only one institution, the Royal Scottish Academy, all the success was attributed to Edinburgh. This worked against the private artists who mostly had installed studios in the city as it was difficult for them to make an impression. This saw the formation of the Glasgow Institute as an alternative exhibition body in the early 1860s. A step up to this was a gradual pop of more radicalized artists who later formed the Glasgow School movement. The founder of Glasgow school was known as Charles Rennie Mackintosh (Glasgow Style). He started the school together with a few of his compatriots who included his wife Margret, France MacDonald and Herbert MacNair.
The Glasgow School became a dominant force in the 1880s with an intimated style of portrait art and landscape painting. The fact that Glasgow school came as an influence of other movements gives equally mixed features in terms of aesthetics. This group was the fast one in Scotland to carry out Plein air painting which was done in the open air. Its effect was predetermined but remarkable. Its decorative style was hailed as having achieved “decorative harmony.” The painting was not simply a representation of objects but rather a depiction of art in its own right. The artist generally used subtle tones of purple, green and pink. Whereas and black and white colors were used as contrasts. Different artists also influenced the use of color, leading to diverging utilization of color.
Gothic Revival
Gothic Art denotes a distinct style of European art related to architecture, sculpture, and other associated minor forms of art that bridged the gap between the medieval period and the early renaissance. The style was more pronounced in churches and hence regarded as a public form of religious art. This means that the Gothic style’s main form of expression was primarily architecture, as evident in numerous Gothic cathedrals in countries such as France, England, and Italy. The Gothic revival started in England back in the eighteenth century. Serious pursuance for its revival, however, was seen in the nineteenth century, a period when neo-Gothic movements sort to restore the ancient style of art that was different from the then-dominant classical styles (Borngasser and Klein 33). The movement had a great impact on the whole of the United Kingdom. Its influence was great that the 19th and 20th centuries saw more Gothic Architecture than the medieval period behind its inspiration.
The Gothic style is believed to have originated at the Abbey of Saint-Dennis, located in Paris, in 1140. Gothic art gradually became an exclusive religious art and is attributed to the massive growth and power of the Roman Church. Both the practitioners and the public became inspired by the expressions of the art and the style, creating a strong link between art and religion. It thrived throughout the period until 1520 when the last major mark of the style was on Henry the Seventh Chapple located at Westminster. However, the style continued progressing on a small scale through the architectural designing of cathedral building projects that were still ongoing and on religious buildings constructed in rural areas of Germany, Spain, France, England, and the Netherlands. Gothic architecture continued to survive due to its deep-rooted links to religion as the only accepted Christian art (Borngasser and Klein 33). A good example is the Basilica of San Petronio, which was completed in 1390. Carlo Rinaldi built the church’s vault in the Gothic Context without paying consideration to the then-architectural designs. The revival of Gothic was inspired by the rise of romanticism, which revived the interest and awareness of the medieval ages. Renowned artists, including Robert Adam, provided pictorial presentations of Gothic art.
The younger generation took Gothic architectural ideas more seriously. This coincided with the revival of the Church of England, which saw the need to construct numerous churches to accommodate the growing membership. The notion that only Gothic art was appropriate for churches came into play. The numerous churches built in England marked the Gothic revival (Borngasser and Klein 37). The Gothic style was characterized by a medieval aesthetic defined by arches, small stained-glass windows and vaulted ceilings. Aesthetics offered by the Gothic style invoked a sublime sense of transcendent vastness by belittling the mortal man who may enter the building that is purposefully made vastly. This is one of the reasons why the Gothic style was preferred in designing cathedrals and churches. Although the Gothic style originated in the medieval ages, it is an exceptional genre that continues to fascinate to this age.
Works Cited
Borngässer, Barbara, and Bruno Klein, eds. Global Gothic: Gothic Church Buildings in th e 20th and 21st Centuries. Vol. 20. Leuven University Press, 2022. Glasgow Style. ArtUK. Web.
Hosea, Birgitta. “Made by hand.” The Crafty Animator. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2019. 17-43.
Penick, Monica, Christopher Long, and Harry Ransom Center, eds. The rise of everyday design: The arts and crafts movement in Britain and America. Yale University Press, 2019.