Book Review: Finding an Artistic Expression for the Christian God circa 1900

摘要

The Arts and Crafts Movement was a peculiarly British, perhaps more accurately English, phenomenon of the generation before the Great War, although it does have an analogy in some buildings in the USA, particularly in the west coast states of California, Oregon and Washington State. The Arts and Crafts Movement was a phenomenon covering architecture, decoration, and craftsmanship. But it may be questioned as to whether it was ever truly a style rather than a loose grouping of members of the Art Workers Guild, the exhibitors at the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society, and the Northern Art Workers Guild. The members learnt from each other and from their theoretically-mined, nineteenth-century predecessors like John Ruskin and William Morris. Two books have now appeared on what has been hitherto a rather neglected aspect of Arts and Crafts buildings and their art work, the churches. Both books are the product of long years of study: Hamilton since before 2004 to when he presented his DPhil thesis in 2016 and Button, it would seem from his preface, from a lifetime's interest, the hinterland which all need when pursuing a successful career.