Eastwood, N.Y.: United Crafts, 1901-1916.
[The period covered by Arts:Search is 1901-1916. Available now]
The Craftsman played a seminal role in promoting the philosophy and ideals of the Arts and Crafts movement in America. It was founded by the designer Gustav Stickley (1858-1942) and published by his United Crafts workshop in Eastwood, New York.
The influence of the English craft aesthetic on the The Craftsman is evident in the fact that four of the five articles in the first issue of the journal were on the work of William Morris and Morris & Company, and the second issue was largely devoted to the writings of John Ruskin. Other articles in the first two years of the journal included ‘Revival of English Handicrafts: the Haslemere Industries’; ‘Cobden-Sanderson and the Doves Bindery’; and ‘Some Cornish Craftsmen’. It was only towards the end of the second year of The Craftsman that it began to turn its attention to the crafts in other countries, and particularly America. Later articles in the journal include ‘René Lalique: His Rank Among Contemporary Artists’; ‘L’Art Nouveau, Its Origin and Development’; ‘Rookwood Pottery’; ‘Workshops and Residence of M. René Lalique’; ‘L'Art Nouveau: An Argument and Defence’; ‘Korin and the Decorative Art of Japan’; ‘Japanese Book Illustrations’; ‘Craftsmanship in the New York Schools’; ‘The Influence of the "Mission Style" Upon the Civic and Domestic Architecture of Modern California’, ‘August Rodin’; ‘Mural Painting from the American Point of View’; 'Tiffany and Company, at the St. Louis Exposition’; ‘The Future of Ceramics in America’; ‘Rossetti and Botticelli: a Comparison of Ideals and Art’; ‘The Decorations of the Chancel of Saint Thomas' Church, New York City: Work of John La Farge and Augustus St. Gaudens’; ‘The New Art in Photography: Work of Clarence H. White, a Leader Among the Photo-Secessionists’; ‘Photography as One of the Fine Arts: the Camera Pictures of Alvin Langdon Coburn’; ‘Is There a Sex Distinction in Art? The Attitude of the Critic Toward Women's Exhibits’; ‘Why the Handicraft Guild at Chipping Campden Has Not Been a Business Success’; ‘Modern German Art: its Revelation of Present Social and Political Conditions in Prussianized Germany’; ‘An afternoon with Walter Crane’; ‘Town Planning in Theory and in Practice: the Work of Raymond Unwin’; ‘Mary Cassatt's Achievement: its Value to the World of Art’; ‘The strange genius of Aubrey Beardsley’; and ‘The new idea in French furniture, as expressed by Maurice Dufrène’.
Gustav Stickley wrote frequently for The Craftsman. Among other contributors were Charles F. Binns, Ernest A. Batchelder, Ralph Waldo Emerson, G.K. Chesterton and Leopold Stokowski.