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ENGLISH ARTS & CRAFTS METALWORK
England was the birthplace of the Arts & Crafts movement starting with John Ruskin & William Morris harking back to the medieval ideals of Artists as Craftsman & Craftsman as Artist. It was art for EVERYMAN & the best outlet for this sentiment was in everyday objects. It was difficult for many Craftsmen & firms to live up to this ideal as handmade objects were obviously expensive, but a few found a way to really make it work, these are some highlights.
NEWLYN INDUSTRIAL CLASS:
There is an incredible history of Newlyn found at the Head, Heart & Hand website (see the homepage). Newlyn was a craft society formed in 1890 in the countryside of England, Cornwall. John Pearson taught there after a stint at the Guild of Handicraft with CR Ashbee & brought great influence over their work. Much of the work is nautical & oceanic in theme as Newlyn was made up of many off season fisherman.
KESWICK SCHOOL OF INDUSTRIAL ARTS:
Keswick (pronounced Kes'ick) was started as an evening school in the area of Cumberland in England. Professional designers & teachers guided the work to a high standard & look, most notably, Harold Stabler. They produced a wide range of objects & jewelry, primarily in copper, but also in Silver. Their mark on copper work is the four letters of the name in a diamond shape starting at the top, counter clockwise: K.I.A.S.
MARGARET GILMOUR:
One of the finest metalsmiths in Scotland, working alongside her peers, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Margaret MacDonald, Jessie M. King & Anne MacBeth. The Mackintosh Rose is quite recognizable in these examples.
GUILD OF HANDICRAFT:
The Guild of Handicraft was opened by Charles Ashbee around 1888 and had similar aspirations to Morris & Co. They produced high quality metalwork in copper & more commonly silver as well as jewelry. The most well known designers who worked there in the beginning were John Pearson & John Williams, both left the Guild and continued designing & producing wares at other Guilds into the new century.
JOHN PEARSON:
Pearson was an original member of CR Ashbee's Guild of Handicraft starting in 1888. Pearson was kicked out of the Guild for keeping his own shop on the side, rehired & later resigned to join the Newlyn Industrial Class. He also worked for the designer & ceramicist William De Morgan which is where many of his fanciful themes in repousse are inspired. He is considered one of the finest repousse metalsmiths of the period. His shop remained active until after the turn of the century, most pieces are dated.
ARCHIBALD KNOX for LIBERTY & CO:
Please visit the KNOX website & pick up the incredible book on Knox by Dr Stephen Martin, a true treasure of information & images of most known Knox work.
CONTINENTAL METALWORK
The Arts & Crafts movement did not have as much of an effect on Continental Europe as it did in the states at the time. Europe was wrapped up in the throws of Art Nouveau, Jugendstil in Germany & the Vienna Secession in Austria. These designers were happy to use the new machines to their advantage & made designs based on the new possibilities, not the limits of handwork. Even many of the pieces with "hand hammered" work were simply done once & then turned into a mold for mass production. There are of course many fine pieces of handwork from Europe, the Wiener Werkstatte started by Josef Hoffman & Koloman Moser did do some stunning work based on the Guild concepts, but this was done primarily for the wealthy partrons who could afford these fine luxuries. In general though, much of the "Arts & Crafts" you will find from Europe was made by machine, put together by hand & sold to the masses. Ther were wonderful forms & design all over Europe which proved to be great inspiration in America via the art journals of the period, especially the STUDIO (England), ART ET DECORATION (France), DAS INTERIEUR (Vienna) & DEUTSCHE KUNST UND DEKORATION (Germany).
GOBERG:
Not a lot is known about this German firm but they were quite prolific. Their wares are typically made of steel & iron, mostly smoking accesories, candlesticks, boxes, etc will be found. The firm was run by a Hugo Berger (thus the name huGO-BERGer), marks range from simply the name stamped to "GERMANY" to "HBV AUSTRIA" (Hugo Burger Austria), possibly another branch of the firm. Items are very distintive, lots of rivets connecting interchangable parts & some pieces still retain original red paint (see the chamberstick below), do not clean it off! FYI - if its steel, a magnet will stick to it.
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