History of the Arts and Crafts Movement
History of the Arts and Crafts Movement
The Arts and Crafts Movement of the late nineteenth century was an attempt to improve society by creating objects and architecture of a more worthwhile nature. The movement began in England in the 1870's and soon spread to the United States where it was widely employed in the arts and in architecture. Advocates promoted its use among the middle class. Its continued endorsement among all social classes was seen as an empowerment to the poor who had suffered so much during the previous period of industrialization.
The end of the nineteenth century had produced a huge rift in society. The benefits of industry had resulted in the creation of an upper class with incredible financial power, and a lower class of extremely depleted means. This system was held in place by a vicious circle. The upper class held control of the factories in which the lower classes worked. These profit-minded people, driven by their desire to increase their fortunes, viewed their employees as just another one of their machines. With increased profit and efficiency as their primary goals, the owners promoted and employed policies that created working conditions that were deplorable to say the least. Work had become a listless enterprise with no other purpose than the betterment of the boss.
It held no joy or satisfaction, but was essential for the minimal wages it provided. This division of the classes is clearly indicated in Edward Bellamy’s 1888 future retrospective Looking Backward. The rich were well educated. Their life was one of leisure and dependence. They produced nothing themselves but depended on their employees for all their material goods. The affluent seemed to possess a sense of manifest destiny concerning the luxuries and privileges they enjoyed. Although they had done nothing to produce their wealth, they strongly felt they were entitled to it. Empowered by this self-serving lifestyle, the rich worked together to keep the workforce’s efforts moving in the direction of commerce and profit. This left little room in their factories for fostering such unessential elements as job satisfaction and pride in workmanship. It also produced goods of much lower quality.
Industry, under the guidance of the upper class, had developed management techniques to insure continued efficiency inside the factories of the industrial revolution. One approach to management is Frederick Winslow Taylor’s, "A Piece-Rate System" from 1896. It had been a common practice...