Factors affecting the development of arts and crafts

Arts and Crafts Movement (The Arts & amp； Crafts Movement) is a design improvement movement that originated in Britain in the second half of19th century. Its name comes from john ruskin's works, and its exercise time is about 1880 to 19 10 years.

The essence, field and main members of arts and crafts movement.

The arts and crafts movement originated from the so-called "crisis of conscience". Artists are deeply saddened by irresponsible fake and inferior products and their damage to the natural environment, and strive to establish or restore standards for products and producers. In design, the arts and crafts movement draws inspiration from the values of handicrafts such as "loyalty to materials" and "suitability for use", and takes simple and faithful decoration from nature as the basis of its activities. The arts and crafts movement is not a specific style, but a variety of styles coexist. In essence, it is an experiment to transform society through art and design and establish a mode of production based on handicrafts.

The arts and crafts movement is a design improvement movement, with decorative arts, furniture, indoor products, architecture and so on as its objects. As the object, the mass production of the industrial revolution lowered the design level. The theoretical guidance of the movement is john ruskin, and the main members of the movement are william morris, Charles Rennie Machinhos, C.F.A Voser and the Pre-Raphael School. This paper mainly analyzes the contributions of Ruskin and Morris to arts and crafts.

Second, the design ideas of the main members of the arts and crafts movement

(1) Ruskin's design thought

Ruskin is a writer and critic. He has never really worked in architecture and product design. He mainly publicizes his ideas through his eloquent and influential preaching. After visiting the Expo, he expressed great dissatisfaction with the "Crystal Palace" and its exhibits. In the following years, he expressed his design aesthetics by writing books and giving speeches. Although he admitted that when he witnessed the roar of steam locomotives, he felt a sense of awe and suppressed smallness, and also admitted that the machine was precise and ingenious, but the machine and its products never occupied a place in his aesthetic thought. He asserted that "these noisy things (referring to machines), no matter how well done, can only do some rough work regardless of the consequences." He also opposes the accuracy required by machine production. He wrote: "Humans are not inclined to work with the accuracy of tools, nor are they inclined to be precise and perfect in all activities. If you ask them with that accuracy, let their fingers measure angles like gears, and let their arms draw arcs like compasses, then you will not give them human attributes. " He believes that only happy and virtuous people can create truly beautiful things, while industrial production and division of labor deprive people of their creativity, so it is impossible to produce good works, and many social problems will arise. Only by returning to medieval society and handicraft labor is the only way out.

While opposing industrialization, Ruskin put forward some principles of architecture and product design, which became an important theoretical basis for the later arts and crafts movement. These guidelines are mainly:

① Learn from nature and draw nutrition from it, instead of blindly copying the old style. ② Use traditional natural materials and oppose the use of industrial materials such as steel and glass. Ruskin hated new materials and resigned to protest against the use of iron in Oxford Museum buildings. He opposed the "Crystal Palace" for the same reason. (3) Be faithful to the characteristics of the material itself and reflect the real texture of the material. Ruskin condemned that it is a crime to imitate advanced materials with cheap and easy-to-process materials, rather than simple mistakes, lack of good consciousness or improper use of materials.

Ruskin completely denies the possibility that industrial products can have aesthetic value, and his view summarizes the rigid characteristics of British society and intellectuals. The problems of this era are clear, but the inherent conservatism that dominates British artistic life and aesthetic concept makes it difficult for people to truly realize the achievements and potential of industry, thus retrogressing to the quagmire of nostalgia. At the same time, industry and its products have changed people's visual environment and life at different levels. Defaming the industry and its products may bring temporary satisfaction, but it cannot be ignored for a long time.

(2) Morris's theory and practice.

The most direct successor of Ruskin's thought is william morris (1834-1896). When Morris 17 years old, he went to visit the "Crystal Palace" Expo in 185 1 year with his mother. He was disgusted with the exhibits exhibited at that time, which was closely related to his efforts to crack down on fake and inferior industrial products in the future. Morris inherited Ruskin's ideas, but he didn't just preach, but personally used his own works to promote design reform. Under his influence, Britain produced a vigorous design movement, namely the arts and crafts movement.

Although Morris is backward in dealing with mechanization and large-scale industrial production, in a sense, he is well-deserved as a great pioneer of modern design. Morris not only made the ideal of previous design reform theorists come true, but more importantly, he regarded design as a part of a broader social problem, not limited to aesthetic taste. Because he transcends the category of "aesthetics", he can come into contact with those more important problems that have existed for a long time. Like many people who are interested in design reform like Cole, he was deeply stimulated by the failure of Expo 185 1. Morris also exhibited his works in the second Expo of 1862. However, the World Expo still has not solved the problem of self-conceit. Like Ruskin, he thinks this problem has something to do with machine production. However, Morris is not as afraid and disgusted with machines as Ruskin. He wrote: "What we want to abandon is not this or that specific steel or copper machine, but the huge and invisible commercial autocratic machine that oppresses our lives." He believes that the division of labor has split the consistency of work, resulting in irresponsible decoration. Seeing the gap between decoration, form and function and the proliferation of historicism, Morris decided to find another way. His new marriage strengthened his belief. In order to arrange the daily life for his newlywed family, he went to all the shops, but he couldn't buy a piece of furniture and other daily necessities that satisfied him, which shocked him very much. With the cooperation of several like-minded friends, he designed and made household articles according to his own standards, which were used to decorate the "red house" designed by Weber (philip webb,1831-15). Their furniture, wallpaper, dyed fabrics, etc. It is the first attempt of their new design concept. Morris followed Ruskin's footsteps, inherited his principle of loyalty to nature, and regarded the Middle Ages as a model in aesthetics and spirit. In his design, stylized natural patterns, handicraft production, medieval moral and social concepts and visual simplicity are integrated, thus developing Parkin's thought on the relationship between form or decoration and function. When explaining the decorations he used, Morris said: "In many cases, what we call decoration is just a skill that we must master when making reasonable and pleasant necessities. Patterns become a part of our products and a way of self-expression. Through it, we not only formed our own views on form, but also emphasized the use of items. " Morris believes that decoration should emphasize form and function, not cover them up. Although Morris has designed furniture with others, he is mainly a graphic designer, that is, engaged in the design of fabrics, wallpaper, tiles, carpets, colored mosaic glass and so on. Most of his designs are based on plants, and sometimes there are a few birds, which are quite natural and reflect a medieval pastoral flavor. This is the concrete embodiment of Ruskin's thought of "learning from nature" and has a certain influence on the Art Nouveau movement that swept Europe later.

Third, the influence of arts and crafts movement.

With the introduction of exhibitions and magazines, the British arts and crafts movement quickly spread overseas and was first echoed in the United States. Therefore, the arts and crafts movement in the United States is generally parallel to that in Britain in time. Although the United States has long been influenced by the French academic school, there are still many important British designers. Some famous figures in the arts and crafts movement, such as Ashby, have visited the United States successively, and some have even designed for the United States. They spread the ideas of Ruskin and Morris to American designers. Under the influence of Britain, many arts and crafts associations were established in the United States at the end of 19, such as the Boston Arts and Crafts Association established by 1897. The outstanding representative of American arts and crafts movement is Stukeley. Inspired by Vasser's works, Stukeley set up a company named after himself in 1898, began to design and manufacture furniture, and published an influential magazine, Handicraft Artist. His design draws lessons from the style of British arts and crafts movement, but adopts strong straight lines to make furniture more concise and practical, which is the product of the combination of American pragmatism and British design movement thought.

The contribution of arts and crafts movement to design reform is important. It first put forward the principle of "combining beauty with technology", and advocated that artists should engage in design and oppose "pure art". In addition, the design of arts and crafts movement emphasizes "learning from nature", being faithful to materials and adapting to the purpose of use, thus creating some simple and applicable works. However, the arts and crafts movement also has its inherent limitations. It pushed the handicraft industry to the opposite of industrialization, which is undoubtedly contrary to the historical development trend, thus making the British design take a detour. Britain is the first country to industrialize and realize the importance of design, but it failed to establish a modern industrial design system first, which is the reason.

The arts and crafts movement also had a far-reaching impact on the later art movement, especially the Art Nouveau movement. The design of arts and crafts movement emphasizes "learning from nature", the use of various plant patterns and curves, the loyalty to materials and the adaptation to the purpose of use. This idea was borrowed and used by the Art Nouveau movement. It reflects the rationality and practicability of the arts and crafts movement in this period, but this movement denies machine production and is one-sided, but it also reflects people's doubts about the upcoming industrial production to some extent. We can't deny its complex psychological attachment to nature and its return to the traditional style of the Middle Ages under the social background at that time. As an attempt of a new design style, arts and crafts movement provides design reference and material for future modern design. Emphasizing the practicality of products is also recognized by people. In a word, the arts and crafts movement has advantages and disadvantages, and it is the key to take its essence and discard its dross for our use.

Enlightenment of Arts and Crafts Movement on Modern Design in China

Our modern design started late, and there are still many places worth learning from. In the arts and crafts movement, we learn the concept of "learning from nature" and emphasize the combination of art and technology. Coincidentally, in the pre-Qin period, the earliest existing handicraft technical monograph "Flower King Gong Ji" in China recorded the design aesthetics of "the weather is sometimes angry, the materials are sometimes beautiful, the work is sometimes skillful, and then the four can be combined into good", which is similar. Both advocate rational use of nature and closeness to nature. It is of positive guiding significance to prevent modern design from being too utilitarian and society from being too materialistic, to prevent the loss of traditional culture and humanistic feelings, and to prevent the further deterioration of the natural ecological environment. Of course, the arts and crafts movement draws lessons from the oriental artistic style, especially the traditional artistic style of China. We can also learn from their attitude towards nature, decorative patterns and modern design features. It doesn't mean that we abandon the ancient traditional design aesthetics and pursue western things. We should combine the excellent western design concepts with the traditional design aesthetics in ancient China to form a design with China's own characteristics and in line with modern aesthetic concepts.

In addition, the movement of artistic beauty requires tracing back to the traditional style of the Middle Ages, emphasizing the role of handicrafts, and requiring artists to combine with technology. It also has great advantages. Our modern design should also draw nutrition from ancient traditional ideas and enrich modern design elements, such as the chair designed by Morris, the chair body made of simple curves and lines, and the chair back made of medieval plant patterns, all of which are regarded as classic works of arts and crafts movement. Returning to China's ancient Ming-style furniture is a model of the beauty of composite structure, material selection, modeling and decoration. Known as the wonderful work in the history of China furniture. We can learn from its design style and apply it to modern design. Especially in this era of materialization, modern people have brought convenience and rapidity to industrial production, but at the same time they have also brought negative effects to people. People seem to serve them with modern industrial products, but in fact they seem to adjust with things. Nothing can be "materialized" when it is used. A tool that makes people seem indifferent. Therefore, simplicity, comfort, freshness, environmental protection, naturalness and humanization have become the hot spots that people pursue. The ancient concept of "harmony between man and nature" is increasingly accepted by modern people.

Finally, the arts and crafts movement is a design improvement movement with a good starting point and a bold innovation. Our modern design should also break the inherent mode of blindly learning western modern design, boldly innovate in a way that conforms to its own design characteristics, truly spread to ancient times, and explore elements and concepts that conform to its own development. Modern design in China is a new subject, but what we call "design" (called creation in ancient times) has a long history. China's 5,000-year history of civilization has provided rich nutrition for modern design, waiting for us to explore and learn.