The Arts and Crafts Movement
Craftsman's Auctions, a highly successful auction house specializing in Arts & Crafts, held an auction in September, 1998, in Pittsfield, Mass. Several price records were reached, particularly for furniture. A 10-piece Limbert dining room set went for over $50,000. A rare Gustav Stickley tall-case clock went for $35,000+. It becomes more and more difficult to find such furniture pieces in good shape, but the buyers are willing to pay. The Craftsman's Auctions web site is at Craftsman's Auctions. Catalogs can be ordered from previous auctions, which in themselves are works of art.
The Arts & Crafts Society Archive is a research resource for anyone wishing to learn more about the period. It's located at The Arts & Crafts Society.
Roycroft, which will be the subject of a future article, is an important outgrowth of the Arts & Crafts movement in the United States. Founded by Elbert Hubbard, the Roycroft Community came closer to fulfilling William Morris' ideal society. These web sites can give you detailed information: The Roycrofter, and East Aurora Chamber of Commerce. Hubbard, incidentally, was a casualty of the Lusitania.
There were several furniture manufacturers in upstate New York who came to symbolize the best of the Arts & Crafts style in the United States. They were the Stickley family, the most famous being Gustav Stickley and L&JG Stickley. The L&JG Stickley factory, in operation since 1900, is still located in Manlius, New York. Its web site offers virtual tours of the factory at Stickley where you can view their current catalog. Original Stickley furniture from the turn of the century commands high prices, but other manufacturers of Mission-style are also collectible, such as Limbert and Harden.
Some well-known dealers in Arts & Crafts are The Detelich Gallery in Santa Monica, Calif.;David Rago in Lambertville, New Jersey; and Dave Rudd at Dalton's Antiques in Syracuse, New York: Dalton's.
One of the strongest elements of Arts & Crafts influence in the United States is in domestic architecture. Today, every part of the country has examples of homes designed to provide comfort, aesthetics, minimal upkeep, and affordability, a rebellion against earlier Victorian styles such as Queen Anne. An excellent article on the subject of the "new" bungalow style sweeping the country before WWI can be read at The Twin Cities Bungalow Association, printed in Keith's Magazine in Minneapolis in 1916.
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