Week 2

Arts and Crafts

The arts and crafts (aesthetics) movement was of the modern movement and the victorian movement. This group supported artist, architects, writers etc..

Made of the socialist reform group, they would often make theories on how people should run their lives.

One well known, Arts and Crafts artist, was William Morace. William Morace was known to fight against ugliness in all its form and influenced artists and works, in the Arts and Crafts movement. Till today you can still witness this form having a huge influence in the many everyday objects you see today.

His own house was heavily influenced by the medieval scheme on the exterior but appeared to be more of warmth in the interior and using the basics of the Arts and Crafts appearance.

Arts and Crafts are created with very distinctive characteristics, with the use of:

• Organic shapes
• Unity
• Patterns work and fit together to create unity
• Truth to the materialism e.g.. Not painting on wood and leaving it to its true form
• Less excessive
• Some of the works are based on oriental designs

William Morace loved using natural elements with things such as woods, figs and neutral texture. The Victorian era influenced him in his textile works and forms.

"Form follows function" - William Morace

Morace is one of the most influential architects in the world now.

Typography: Goudy and Caxton was brought in by William Morace as well as having made 21 manuscripts by him.

Another very influential artist that was well known in the Arts and Crafts movement was Frank Floyd.Frank was known more for being modern.

Art Nouveau (meaning new art in French)

Art Nouveau started around the 1880 and was a direct descendant from the Arts and Crafts movement. This new movement stood for feminine beauty and rebelled against the Victorian style.

Make up and feminine beauty products would often refer to Art Nouveau as it was "glamourous and enhanced beauty". This new movement became big and was associated to Paris but not long after, Art Nouveau became international and was influenced everywhere. In Paris, buildings had a lot of slurping roofs before the flat to bring more light in. Van Gogh was another huge influence to the movement Art Nouveau.

The distinctive Art Nouveau characteristics that make it so well known are:

• More Feminine
• Less restraint - not too over done, more simple
• Energetic and unstable
• Couldn't just be decorative but also functional
• Angles, structure and curves had a purpose - to strengthen and enhance function of the material
• Diagonal dynamic
• Assymmetrical dynamic
• Organic
• Abstract shapes and flat colours
• Was influenced by japanese wood block
• Gives unity and guides eyes around the poster
• Repeated shapes (organic and diagonal)
• Sensuous outlines and curves
• Abstract
• Main poster girl often looked like the same girl - same curves, features, hair etc..

• Freerer organic lines that Arts and Crafts.

  
  

  
  

  As Art Nouveau became hugely influential internationally, you can see these characteristics everywhere and even till today.