A Revival of Old Arts and Crafts

8/13/2019 A Revival of Old Arts and Crafts

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FYtOM THE WORKSHOP OFGlJSTAVE STICKLEYStkacuse,N.V

U.S.A


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Copyrighted byGustave Stickley


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A Revivalof

Old Arts and Craftsapplied to Wood and Leather.


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Digitized by the Internet Archivein 2011 with funding from

Lyrasis Members and Sloan Foundation

http://www.archive.org/details/chipsfromworkshoOOstic


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Beauty does notimply elaboration or ornament. On thecontrary, simplicity and character andthe dignity which comes of them,are demanded in the interests alike ofpracticality and of art.'tt


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Our object is tosubstitute the luxury of taste for theluxury of costliness.


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Art, speaking broadly,may be defined as a creative operation of theintelligence ; the making of something eitherwith a view to utility or pleasure. Thisdefinition is given in one of the many elemen-tary treatises of the day, which are designedto popularize knowledge. Accepting the defin-ition and advancing a step farther, we mayclaim that artistic creations often attain adouble end. They are useful and, at thesame time, they afford keen sensuous pleasure.They minister to our physical needs and theydeal with questions of harmony of line andcolor.

Carlyle, in his SartorResartus, makes the statement that Orna-ment is the first spiritual need of the barbarousman, And, indeed, we find the savage dec-orating with great care and no little skill hisfew household goods, his weapons and hisclothing. If now this savage belongs to oneof the superior races, he manifests his embry-onic capabilities in the relations between theconstructive and the decorative features of theobject which he creates; in the sweep of hislines ; in his use of dyes and stains. Thuswe find the most ancient sun-dried pottery ofthe Greeks to be modeled upon the subtlestcurves. We find the early inhabitants ofCentral and Northern Europe showing in theirornament the germs which slowly developedinto the splendid art of the Middle Ages.

If it is so proven thatthe intellectual capacity of the races, even insemi-civilization, is clearly discernible in theirornament, it is no less true that the characterof each age, or period, is expressed in theobjects of use and luxury then created.A cogent example ofthis fact lies in the productions of the medi-


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evai crafts. With these objects before oureyes, we realize the meaning of an art devekoped by the people, for the people, as a recip-rocal joy for the maker and the user.And here it would bepossible to go a step farther and declare thatmen can not be civilized and bound togetherin brotherhood, unless they are given a sharein art, which is no mere accident, but ratheran essential and a positive necessity of life.

If we advance still an-other step, we can state with emphasis thatone office of art is to give people pleasure inthe things that they must perforce use / thata second office is to give people pleasure in thethings that they must perforce make.What has been namedthe Century ot Commerce has now given placeto what, in the opinion of hopeful prophets,will be the Century of Education. And thosenow in the forceful and productive period oflife should seek out their duty, and havingfound it, should take up its burden withsteadfast purpose. First of all, it should berecognized that, as has been well said by agreat modern artist-artisan, luxury is the foeof art. This is the first and most stable prin-ciple among those which should be taught tothe coming generation. And the second, inthe form of a commandment from the samesource of wisdom, is like unto it Have nothing in yourhouses that you do not know to be useful, orbelieve to be ornamental.In common with allother governing principles, these just namedare to be accepted in spirit, rather than inletter. Luxury is a relative term. The su-perfluity of one man is the necessity of hisneighbor. The person whose relations arefew and whose life is restricted, does not re-quire the complex environment of one whom


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political, social, or financial standing placeswithin the constant view of the world atlarge. Again, luxury and richness are notsynonyms. Luxury is the tempter of theidle. Richness in an object created by theartist, or art-artisan, is oftenest the product ofthe perfect union and co-operation of the brain,the hand, and the pleasure of the creator ; aswe may find by examining the householdfurniture and utensils handed down to us fromthe Middle Ages. In these, whether destinedfor the king, or the yeoman, we see the samehonesty of material, the same thoroughness ofconstruction, the same skill in decoration, thesame delicacy, care and inventive quality.Therefore, we view with equal delight theking's throne, the chorister's stall, the yeo-man's chimney-seat, and the peasant's bed, ormarriage-chest. This is because they are allproducts of an art developed by the people,for the people, as a reciprocal joy for themaker and the user.

In order, then, to bringon an age of artistic activity, of widely-dif-fused artistic knowledge, which shall be sim-ilar in character to the Middle Ages, themaker and user must understand and valueeach other. The maker must bend his ener-gies to produce objects uniting in themselvesthe qualities of utility, of adaptability to place,of comfort, and of artistic effect. The usermust choose with discretion the objects whichshall create his home; carefully providingthat they express his station in life and hisown individuality ; furthermore, that they re-spond to his every-day needs.

Let us imagine a mem-ber of our great middle class, an individualneither hampered by poverty, nor oppressedby riches, choosing for himself an environ-ment reminiscent of the French Court of theseventeenth and eighteenth centuries. He


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desires magnificence at all hazards. He pur-chases it at the expense of comfort, utility, andgood taste. He forgets that the periwig,powder and patch epoch has passed away.He can not animate the picture whose back-ground he has prepared with so much pains.Neither he, his wife, nor his children spendlives of idleness. They do not wear gownsand coats harmonizing with the delicate satinsand brocades of his chairs and sofas ; nor istheir intercourse with their friends and ac-quaintances of that formal order which isshadowed forth in the stately minuet. Allthings have become new: the country, thedemands of the century, society, domesticarchitecture and domestic economy. It isnot too much to say that fine and French objects of household equipment, or adornment,should be relegated to museums and the stage,where they pass into the category of historicart ; that for the uses of daily life they are un-practical, except in the town-palaces, the villasand the chateaux of our commercial and in-dustrial millionaires, where all conditions tendto cast the pall of oblivion over the timewhen Adam delved and Eve span.

Therefore, the Frenchstyles, splendid and exquisite though they be,are practically ruled out by the dictates ofboth judgment and taste from the environ-ment of the middle class individual.Now if it be true, as ithas been asserted, that no designer, howeveroriginal he may be, can sit down to-day anddraw the form of an ordinary piece of furni-ture, or vessel, or the ornament of a cloth,that will be other than a development, or adegradation of forms used hundreds of yearsago, where shall the middle class individualseek the objects that shall best express hisstation in life and his own individuality, andbest respond to his daily needs? The an-


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swer comes quickly. He must seek themamong his social and political forbears;among the belongings of the burghers andthe yeomen who prepared the way for thedemocracy of modern times. In the extantexamples of the household art of mediaevalGermany and the Tyrol, of France andFlanders, of the England of the Puritan, hewill find the qualities which are adapted tohis uses. Good design, sound construction,sobriety, and subserviency of ornament. Hehas but to create the demand for objects pos-sessing these qualities; since designers andmakers well-instructed in their art and craft,stand ready to produce a new household artwhich shall justify its name,A question which risesjust here, regards the number and use of thefittings necessary to the daily life of the middleclass individual with whom we are so muchconcerned. First of all, we will considerthe necessities of his living-room. Theyhave been enumerated by the poetnartisanwhom we have several times before quoted,and whose ennobling influence in householdfurnishings and decorations is acknowledgedin both hemispheres. His list is a short one,for he inveighs against the crowding of thespace necessary to convenience, health andbeauty. First and most important is the book-case ; next, a table, firm and steady, adaptedto writing, or working purposes ; then, severalchairs which shall be easily movable ; and acomfortable couch, bench, seat, or settle, as itmay be variously called ; lastly, a desk, orcupboard provided with drawers; and aplant, or flower stand, especially if the roombe located in a town-house, m concluding,the authority makes a comment which shouldbe considered by those who wish to livewithout friction, and earnestly to pursue theirprofession, or calling. The comment is this

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that we can add very little to these necessities,without troubling ourselves and hindering ourwork/ our thought, and our rest. It mayalso be added that as richness does not entailluxury,that foe of art and fore-runner ofdegeneracy,so simplicity does not necessi-tate cheapness, and that these objects shouldinclude none that have degraded a man tomake, or to sell. To find that this sim-plicity may be costly, without losing anythingof its chastene3s, we have but to recall thefurnishings of certain rooms in the Tiffanyhouse, 72nd Street, New York, which havebecome widely known through recent illus-trations in American art periodicals.To find the same char-acteristics of beauty, elegance and effective-ness, we need only to reconstruct from extantobjects the Tyrolese peasant interiors of thefifteenth and sixteenth centuries; alwaysbearing in mind that these objects were thepossessions of sons of the soil ; that they werecreated from materials which lay ready to thehands of the craftsmen, who were themselvesthe every-day laborers of their own hamlets.And in these objects, as well as in the peasanthousehold fittings of other European countries,as also in the American colonial furniturethat belonged to poor people, we see every-where the excellence of the model, togetherwith perfect honesty of material and solidityof construction ; from which we argue oncemore that sincere art must be developed bythe people, for the people, as a reciprocal joyfor the maker and the user.

If we pass now from theconsideration of the living-room to that of thedining-room, we shall find to be applicablethe same principles of fitting and decoration.Here again, no article should be admitted thatliterally does not earn its living : that is, ren-


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der some actual service to the frequenters ofthe room. Here especially, the tendency tocrowd and multiply the furnishings should beavoided, as there is no surer means of destroy-ing the decorative value of the separate pieces,and of defeating their purpose as useful arti-cles. Free space is in itself an ally of thedecorator, and, in the dining-room, it becomesa first essential ; both for the comfort of theguests and the convenience of the servants,who, if crowded among buffets, china-cabinets,chairs and tables, require the dexterity of agypsy in the egg-dance to avoid breakage anddisaster. Another provision of equal impor-tance is that the size of the room and of itsfurnishings should be adjusted to each other,as apparent space may be rapidly diminishedby the introduction of pieces too large and toomassive. It is easy for the rich man to fur-nish his dining-room in baronial splendor;but it is possible for the man of the middleclass to offer hospitality to his friends amidsurroundings equally tasteful, although simpleand comparatively inexpensive. This he maydo by avoiding the eruptive carving, theapplied ornament, the unrefined moldingswhich have hitherto characterized much ofthe furniture offered as stylish pieces inthe shops.

It is unnecessary furtherto accentuate the principle already suggested,but in passing now to consider the bed-room,a new essential presents itself. In this classof rooms, sanitation is the first law; uponwhich follow respect for space, regard forutility and comfort, and the quest for thatrepose which results from suavity of line andharmony of color. It has been a too frequenthabit to eke out the furnishings of the bed-room with pieces discarded from the morepublic portions of the house, and thus to com-pose an ill-assorted, motley assemblage sug-

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gestive of a Sailor's Snug Harbor, or an Hoteldes Invalides : a review anything but cheeringto one awakening from sleep, or confined byillness.

The furnisher of the per-fect bed-room respects the advice to Phaeton,when he assumed control of the Chariot ofthe Sun : Thou shalt go safest in the middlecourse. He avoids anything suggestive ofbareness and coldness. He gives to everything the air of being fitted to its place and ofintending permanently to hold that place.And when his task is finished, the room occu-pies a position midway between the sleeping-room of the antique world and that meeting-place of the products of many ages andcountries which the modern so-called bed-room often becomes under the hand of thedecorator. The Greeks and Romans literallytook up their beds and walked, from a closeton the north side of their dwellings to anothercloset on the south side, whenever the windsfrom the mountains warned them of theapproach of winter. From these closets theyeliminated all superfluous and many (in ouropinion) necessary articles. We may imaginethat the Greeks admitted a press for plaitingtheir gowns and mantles, and a few vaseswhich served them for bureaux, chests ofdrawers, and boxes ; but neither they nor theRomans had the faintest conception of eithercomfort or home-life.

In sharp contrast to thispoverty of furnishings, stands out the luxuryof a now frequent type of bed-room which,when we cross its threshold, suggests thequaint expression : A superfluity of naughti-ness. And such indeed it is, with its confu-sion of objects of ill-defined use, which mustrequire the entire time of one person to classifyand regulate; with its space twisted into alabyrinth which, by day, has its perils in the

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form of threatening bric-a-brac, and through,which, by night, Ariadne must perforce guideTheseus.

No,the perfect bed-roomleans towards neither of these distressing ex-tremes. It contains a sufficiency of goodfurnishings which charm by their form andcolor; which offer hospitality and comfort,and which, in so doing, are altogether unob-trusive. We have now consid-ered the component parts of the dwelling ofour day. To add to these is simple multipli-cation, and no new development ; since theserooms and their dependencies provide for allreal needs. To produce, then, ahome whose appointments render it a fittingscene for the work, pleasure, rest and refresh-ment suited to the station and tastes of thosewho are to inhabit it, is a task that brings itsown reward in the comfort and joy that itprovides for both the habitual occupants andthe occasional visitors. We can not over-estimate the value of symmetry in the objectsthat daily surround us, or the value of goodcolor in the walls, curtains and cushions uponwhich our eyes necessarily rest, as we thinkout the problems of existence. For fine colorcomes to us like food and like joyful news.It is invigorating.

Our object in presentingthese considerations is to lend aid to the pro-nounced art-movement of the present day ; todeclare ourselves ready to work for the im-provement of public taste, as sincerely as didthose English art-artisans of the last quartercentury, who removed the ugly and the un-sightly from middle-class English homes, inorder to substitute therefor a new world ofform, and a new rainbow of color, bearing the


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promise that the old order of things hostile tobeauty should never again return.

In the designing andmaking of objects for daily use, like necessaryarticles of furniture, opportunities for mechan-ical and artistic fraud occur, of which theunscrupulous designer and craftsman willtake advantage. The one who acquires theobject, being of another calling, or profession,is often incompetent to pronounce upon theexcellence of the model employed, and thesolidity of construction attained. He trustsand is deceived. He is forced often to replacehis ugly, out-worn chairs and seats andtables, and he thus becomes the possessor ofan incongruous assemblage of pieces whosequarrels with their neighbors never cease,quarrels which, although mute, are not, forthat reason, less distressing to the on-looker.To prevent such casesas these, within the radius of our possibilities,we have pledged ourselves never to produceanything that shall degrade a man to make,or to sell. We have set before ourselves theideals of honesty of material, solidity of con-struction, utility, adaptability to place, andaesthetic effect. And it is by our failure, orour success in attaining these ideals that wedemand to be judged.Our especial points ofsolicitude can be briefly summed up

First, the choice andtreatment of the material employed

Second, the care used inconstruction, whether treated from the pointof view of use, or of beauty.Our materials are se-lected by experts and are subjected to pro-cesses which render them proof against themost trying conditions of climate and of house-temperature. In the treatment of woods, it isour purpose to retain, as far as possible, the


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natural appearance of the substance ; intensi-fying the look of age, and staining it in tintsthat long exposure and weathering mighthave imparted to it; afterward giving it asoft, dull finish which unifies what otherwisewere a too spotty surface. As an instanceof such treatment, we may mention ourspecimens of oak, which might well pass forthe unaided work of nature and time. Thiswood, when finished in our workshop, ischaracterized by a pleasing gray-brown effect,which in some lights, gives out fine notes ofgreen. It is admirably adapted for use withthe soft colors of Oriental rugs and hangings.

Our experiments withash and hazel have proven no less successful,and we also use several more accentuatedstains, in gray and green effects, which aredistinguished by rare color properties and bypeculiar lustre. As an adjunct to thewoods so treated, leather is felt in our work-shop, to be of a high artistic value. Thismaterial, therefore, is prepared with extremecare for its proper office. As is well known,the Spaniards in the Middle Ages, and at theperiod of the Renaissance, were the mostskilful dressers of hides and skins for decora-tive purposes, and, so far as is practicable, wefollow their methods of preparation. Hereagain, time acts as the ally of the Old Mas-ters ; since the beautiful color properties ofthe antiques, whichwe are able successfullyto reproduce, could not have been possessedeven by the Spanish leathers in their youthfulprime. The material having been made torespond to certain desired color-notes, isemployed by us with the above-describedwoods and to an extent that is quite peculiarto our workshop. Among other aids toour artistic effects in material, we must desig-


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nate the now famous Grueby Tiles/' in richVeronese greens and blues and vivid orange,which we employ to make spots of positive,intense color upon our negative backgroundsalso, with the more practical purpose of afford-ing cleanly and sanitary surfaces for the topsof wash-stands, plant-stands, and tabourets.

Still another materialsubject to our experiments, is the rush, orreed, which although commonly and inartis-tically used, is capable of becoming a signifi-cant decorative factor; as we may find byreference to the work of savage tribes, intheir utensils and ornament.Our second point ofsolicitude : that is, the care used in the con-struction of our furniture, whether it betreated from the utilitarian, or the aestheticside, is of still greater interest than the first tothose not belonging to the craft. We com-mand the attention of buyers of householdfittings, because they are assured of obtainingfrom us articles which are strongly madefrom thoroughly seasoned material, and whichare easily kept clean, smooth, bright, and ingood repair. We also attract lovers andstudents of art by our distinctive designs, andour deviations from the established treatmentof form. The attainment of such designs isthe object of our strenuous and constant effort,and our success as artists and craftsmen islargely due to happy, original attempts in thisdirection. Our first and leadingpurpose in building a cabinet, case, bed, orchair, is that the design shall represent, andnot confuse the structural idea ; in a word,that our art shall not conceal our article ; allornamentation being kept as simple as possible,so that the beauty of the piece may lie in itspleasing form, and in the color and finish ofthe wood. Thus, by the elimination of points


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intended for decoration, which do not decorate,which appear to be part of the constructionand yet have no part in it, we arrive at thedesired end : that is, the perfect correspond-ence of the piece to its primitive use andintention. At the same time, we donot make our constructive features undulyprominent ; for we never lose the opportunityto incorporate in our work lines of beauty,which will be recognized in the long, refined,graceful curves; in the softening of wedge-effects ; in the forms of the mullions enteringinto the doors of cases and cabinets , in therefinement of moldings and angles, so treatedas to create an agreeable play of lights andshadows; in the restrained, although nevertame, ornamentation.

Considered purely fromthe artistic point of view, our models offer aninteresting study in the evolution of form.We have, in accordance with what we feelto be the demand of the future, abandoned thehistoric styles, which weremovements justifiedand natural in their time, but which corres-pond to conditions now, to some degree, non-existent.

Occasionally, in somepieces of our work, the student will catch afaint, distant echo of a world-famous orna-ment, but he will be a Darwin of design whocan trace the intervening links between theprimitive form and our own presentation ofits evolutionized descendant. Such is our useof the lotus, the convolvulus, and other beau-tiful plant-forms, which, to speak scientifically,we simplify, and again reconstruct anddevelop by the process of natural selectionattaining thereby a design which does notweary, or annoy, by its meaningless adher-ence to history and precedent, and whichcharms by the simplicity of its contours,


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wherein there is nothing to trace out, savelines of extreme subtlety, like those whichattract and allure us in the drawing ofLeonardo da Vinci. Now and again, also, inour models, there may be found certain resem-blances to the household fittings of the peasant,or the Puritan. But such resemblances resultfrom original attempts in the direction of soundconstruction, rather than from designed andexpress imitation. Indeed, we may say inconcluding the explanation of our designs,that our object is to represent the primitiveidea of any given article, but, at the same time,to express that idea with the maximum skillIP^P of design and of craftsmanship.One other appealingcharacteristic of our productions lies in theirprovision for convenience and comfort. Ourcabinets, cases, and bureaux present a singleline of frontage ; thus assuring all the spaceannounced by the dimensions of the base ; ourlibrary and bed-room chairs are made withsloping backs, designed for use with movablepillows which are held in place by means ofcross-racks ; they are also given broad arms,through which the front posts are often mor-tised. Furthermore, certain models are some-times employed, which, by their roominessand peculiar construction, partake of thenature of bed, table and chair ; providing anexcellent resting place, and, at the same time,offering conveniences for holding the books,or the work of the occupant.In thus providing com-fort or convenience, assuring utility, andsecuring thorough construction, harmony ofline and refinement of color, in every objectthat leaves our workshop, we feel that wefulfil our duty as artists and craftsmen ; thatwe are working for a definite and :high pur-pose : that is, the improvement of the public


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taste ; that we are putting forth our personalefforts to realize the meaning of an art devel-oped by the people, for the people, as a recip-rocal joy for the maker and the user.

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LYMAN BROS., PRINTERSSYRACUSE, N. Y.


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A Revival of Old Arts and Crafts