The Arts and Crafts MovementCobden-Sanderson, T. J. (Thomas James)
History
The Arts and Crafts Movement
Cobden-Sanderson, T. J. (Thomas James)
Arts and crafts movement
Perhaps, in view of the results which have flowed from it, and at this
distance of time, I may for a moment dwell particularly on the lecture
on Letterpress Printing. It was at my urgent request that Mr. Walker
overcame his reluctance to speak in public, and I therefore claim for
myself the honour of being the real author of The Kelmscott Press! for
it was in consequence of this lecture given by Mr. Emery Walker at my
request, and the lantern slides of beautiful old founts of type and MS.
by which it was illustrated, that William Morris was induced to turn
again his attention to printing, and this time, as a printer, to
produce, in friendly collaboration with Mr. Walker, that splendid
series of printed books which has inspired printing with a new life,
and enriched the libraries of the world with books as nobly conceived
and executed as any that distinguish the great age of Printing itself.
The 'Notes,' to which reference has already been made, occupied a
little more than a third of the Catalogue, and treated of:
Textiles,
Decorative Painting and Design,
Wall papers,
Fictiles,
Metal work,
Stone and Wood carving,
Furniture,
Stained and Table glass,
Printing, and
Bookbinding:
and as they contain the doctrines of the new movement so far as it was
applicable to the crafts of which they treated, it may be worth while
to turn over a few pages and to see what those doctrines are.
Mr. Morris, who writes on Textiles, opens at once on his subject.
'There are,' he says, 'several ways of ornamenting a woven cloth.' He
then enumerates the ways as follows: (1) Real Tapestry; (2) Carpet
weaving; (3) Mechanical weaving; (4) Printing or Painting; and (5)
Embroidery; and proceeds under each head to lay down principles,
accordant with the particular method, for the production of the
ornament required, and concludes his note with some general maxims
applicable to all the methods alike, as thus, 'Never forget the
material you are working with, and try always to use it for doing what
it can do best: if you feel yourself hampered by the material in which
you are working, instead of being helped by it, you have so far not
learned your business, any more than a would-be poet has, who complains
of the hardship of writing in measure and rhyme. The special
limitations of the material should be a pleasure to you, not a
hindrance: a designer, therefore, should always thoroughly understand
the processes of the special manufacture he is dealing with, or the
result will be a mere _tour-de-force_. On the other hand it is the
pleasure in understanding the capabilities of a special material, and
using them for suggesting (not imitating) natural beauty and incident,
that gives the _raison d'être_ of decorative art.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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