Arts and Crafts Furniture by John Andrews

All the main protagonists of the Movement are covered. Unique illustrations show examples of museum quality, the typical production of the Guilds, the Cotswold School, the Glasgow designers, Heal, Liberty and the major commercial companies including Gordon Russell. The principal American followers of the Movement are included. The Arts and Crafts Movement, admired internationally, permanently changed the way designers think about furniture. This is a record of its output. Each section of this comprehensive book details furniture of the architects and designers involved. Many of the pictures, mainly from a useful list of pioneering specialist dealers, have never been published before.

Reader Reviews
All of the Arts and Crafts furniture pictured in over 250 clear color photographs of varying sizes and detail exhibit the qualities of "careful proportion, fine painstaking cabinet work, attention to detail, [and] excellent materials" while nonetheless intentionally designed in tune with the "vernacular" idiom. There's a brief history of the beginnings and path of the Movement. But what is of most interest is the many chapters on individual craftsmen--and a few women--and designers and commercial makers of the furniture. Individuals and companies in both the United States and England are included. There are more than 30 chapters on these with enough description and commentary and visual material for guidance in identifying pieces by respective artists, artisans, and manufacturers. This volume of material with its innumerable details is kept from being confusing or overwhelming by the book's expert organization, no doubt guided by Andrew's expertise and discrimination in the Arts and Crafts Movement. British antique furniture and a general work on collecting antique furniture have been previous books by this author. The influence of Eastlake and William Morris and the work of Stickley and Wright are given ample due, to be sure; but Andrews also covers many not so well known figures and groups, including The Women's Guild of Artists, Gordon Russell, James Henry Sellers, the Glasgow firm of Wylie and Lochhead, and also a group of "Unknown," to name only a few. With the many individuals plus the companies making the Arts and Crafts furniture and the precedents and history, the work is a comprehensive, handsomely illustrated treatment of this area of antique furniture which continues to hold its desirability and value.

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