International Arts and Crafts

"It’s a good starting point for understanding the multinational appeal and influence of Arts and Crafts. As the title suggests, International Arts and Crafts argues compellingly that the movement, initiated in 19th-century Britain, was an international phenomenon with widespread impact into the mid-20th century, from Britain to America, Europe and Japan. It matured in these geographies at a time of rapid social change often resulting in art that expressed or advanced notions of national identity. Like the landmark exhibition that it originally accompanied in 2005, this book convincingly shows that Arts and Crafts provided roots to modernism by establishing a profound sensitivity to materials, designs, and forms. Our book Young Poland: The Polish Arts and Crafts Movement, 1890-1918 has built on this pioneering scholarship, whilst going a step further – proposing the novel premise that the Young Poland artistic movement, characterised by an unprecedented flourishing and integration of all the arts and a revival of crafts, can, in fact, be considered as an Arts and Crafts movement in terms of its cultural, iconographic, and ideological pursuits. In our book, we have similarly set out to showcase the key artists, craftsmen and manufacturers, as well as the key places, objects and ideas that came to define the Polish Arts and Crafts Movement. Young Poland presents a wide range of makers and phenomena, with special reference to Stanisław Wyspiański (1869-1907), shown as a counterpart of William Morris; the all-encompassing national style – Zakopane Style – which comprised architecture, interior decoration and fashion; and the work of the artists’ cooperative, the Kraków Workshops. We endeavoured to showcase the whole spectrum of the arts from textiles, stained-glass and ceramics to more modest media unique to Poland – for example – innovative Christmas-tree decorations . The visual and academic content of the book are intended to bring joy and be widely accessible to specialists and the general public alike."