Toward a Simpler Way of Life: The Arts and Crafts Architects of California (Hardcover)

~ Robert Winter (Editor) "NO READER OF THE ESSAYS THAT FOLLOW can overlook the frequency with which the word woodsy comes up..." (more)
Key Phrases: San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

These two excellent books are joined spiritually as they explore the Arts & Crafts movement's quest for a retreat from the materialism of the Gilded Age as manifested on different sides of the continent. Inspiring Reform is an exhibition catalog from the Davis Museum and Cultural Center's centenary celebration of Boston's Society of Arts & Crafts, which sponsored the earliest exhibition of Arts & Crafts pieces in America in 1897. The Davis exhibit, which will also be at the Smithsonian, covers the years 1890-1930 and features 150 examples of furniture, ceramics, metalware, book art, prints, and very unique photography. More than 230 illustrations?40 in color?acccompany the catalog's ten essays, all written by specialists in the field. Another essay collection, Toward a Simpler Way of Life, focuses on the variety of styles of Arts & Crafts structures found in California. In their drive toward the anticommercial, the practitioners drew on the decorative schemes of English Tudor, Swiss Chalet, Japanese Temple, and Spanish Mission styles to evoke an earlier, preindustrial time. As expected, Bernard Maybeck, the Greene Brothers, and Julia Morgan are here, but so are many talented, lesser-known designers. The knowledgeable essays also give due attention to the builders, contractors, and artisans who contributed so much. The book will have a bounty of 365 period duotone photos, not seen by the reviewer. Important studies of this perennially popular style, both works are highly recommended for all art and architecture collections.?Joseph C. Hewgley, Nashville P.L.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description

This book celebrates one of the richest and most enduring themes in American architectureCalifornia's Arts and Crafts Movement. Echoing the writings of Helen Hunt Jackson, Charles F. Lummis, and Charles Keeler, this movement represented a retreat into a quieter place from the materialism of American society. Anti-commercial, anti-modern, Arts and Crafts practitioners drew on the decorative schemes of English Tudor, Swiss chalet, Japanese temple, and Spanish mission, evoking an earlier time before modern industry and technology intruded. And if only one word is used to describe virtually every Arts and Crafts house in California, that word is "woodsy": wood shingles outside, wood paneling inside, a wood fire burning in the homey, welcoming fireplace. Most chapters in this impressive and very readable book focus on one building by a particular architect or designer and illustrate that person's development and influences. Familiar architects such as Bernard Maybeck, Charles and Henry Greene, John Galen Howard, and Julia Morgan are here, but so too are less well- known names who were a vibrant part of the Arts and Crafts Movement. These late Romantics designed houses to complement nature rather than contrast with it. Their eclecticism and historicism reflected a Romantic bent as well, no doubt cultivated by their familiarity with the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where, in fact, Howard, Maybeck, and Morgan studied. The book's contributors also give attention to the builders, contractors, and craftsmen whose skills contributed to the lasting impact of the California Arts and Crafts Movement. Superb illustrations provide examples of elevations, composition details, interior fixtures, and gardens, all designed to promote the "simple living and high thinking" of the Craftsman style, an esthetic that continues to influence architecture today.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 302 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (June 30, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520209168
• ISBN-13: 978-0520209169
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 8.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #354,128 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful essays on the finest California architects, December 20, 1999

By	J. Wheeler (San Francisco Bay Area Arts & Crafts Movement) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

When I began studying architecture, many of my favorite architects were designers in the Arts & Crafts style. They were my favorites before I even heard of the Movement. This book is not only a must have for students of architecture and Arts & Crafts fans, but a valuable resource for history scholars in general who want to learn more about the people who shaped the region and the way we live here. The book is nicely photographed, showing buildings in their early surroundings, as they exist today, a variety of good close-up details, etc. All photos are black and white, some with an authentic sepia tone look. Some color photos would have been nice. I wish that a book like this existed for the architects of each state. Each essay is well written by a variety of different authors, many of which are familiar names to Arts & Crafts enthusiasts.

J. Wheeler

San Francisco Bay Area Arts & Crafts Movement

http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Orchard/8642/

3.0 out of 5 stars Not what I expected, July 6, 2009

By	Reidar Dittmann, Jr. "architecture fan" (Vashon Island WA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book covers early work by a large group of architects who could be classified as California Arts-and-Crafts designers. Some, like Bernard Maybeck, are well-known to most architects. Others are new to me. The projects selected by the editor are not at all familiar and some are quite lovely, such as the cover project, the Evans House by Louis Christian Mullgardt, built in 1907. My primary interest is in the last quarter of the book titled "The Second Generation." These are architects from the mid-20th century who worked in a contemporary version of the arts-and-crafts style, using a lot of wood and elegant detailing to create buildings with a warm appeal. However, each of these architects is illustrated with only two or three projects and the photographs, in keeping with the historic photos of the earlier work, are all small and printed in sepia tone only. Although it is nice to see these otherwise unfamiliar projects, the brevity of the text and the limited selection of projects was disappointing to me. In summary, this is a handsome book of fairly limited appeal that whets my appetite for a more complete and better-illustrated book on the so-called Second Generation.