This article is a summary of how the arts and crafts movement developed in Britain in relation with socialism. Sheila Rowbotham introduces the 'hands-on' utopian, C.R. Ashbee, and the Guild of Handicraft he established in 1888, shedding might on late nineteenth and early twentieth century arts and crafts ideas about work, consumption and society relating to the art and crafts.
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Kelly johnston
Very interesting. I enjoyed how Ashbee set out to not only shape the understanding of the arts and crafts movement, but to also drive the movement to make bigger changes in society. The movement seemed to be an exciting exit for some people, encouraging a simpler and freeing lifestyle. The arts and crafts movement at that time unltimatly came to clash with the invention of machines and mass production of objects. It was interesting to see the struggle that the craft workers had to defend their work against that of the machine. The article made a good point of the social aspects of the arts and crafts movement become more of a critique on production, Ashbees vision becoming quickly a thing of the past due to machine production. Though Ashbees efforts were dissolved during that time, he did set forth an understanding of the arts and crafts that are still intact today.-T.m.
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