The Arts and Crafts Movement was a restructuring of art and design which originated in England in the late 1800s.
The belief that the Renaissance and Industrialization had isolated Art from nature and spontaneity formed the fundamental basis of this wave, spearheaded by eminent Victorian writer John Ruskin and William Morris. They sought to re-establish the eternal relationship between Art and nature, with the underlying principle of morality.
Morris translated Ruskin’s philosophy into practice, steadily fighting the excessiveness of Victorian design and its mass-produced manifestations. He laid the foundations of a unified theory of design, seeking to re-unite “head and hand”.
The movement gained ground steadily and spread to America at the turn of the century, where it permeated a wide variety of arts and design, including architecture, interior and furniture design, and book design.
It found expression in the works of premier artists of the day, the most famous among these being architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
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