OSHER 896 - The American Arts & Crafts Movement

The Arts and Crafts Movement was an international movement in the decorative and fine arts. In it, traditional craftsmanship was championed in design and manufacture of everything from houses to the furnishings and decorative objects built to use in them. The movement drew its name from a London show of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society in 1888, and spread from there throughout the British Isles, Europe, and America and ultimately around the world. This four-week class will focus on the movement in the United States circa 1895-1915. The course will include discussions of bungalow and Prairie Style houses (both popular in Utah during this period) and the furniture, ceramics, silver, light fixtures and book arts designed to fill these houses. We will discuss the influence and philosophy of such period figures as Gustav Stickly, Elbert Hubbard, Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, and the Greene brothers of California.