The American Craftsman movement, inspired by Englishmen John Ruskin and William Morris, encompassed not only architecture and the decorative arts, but also a nostalgically romantic philosophy, proposing that modernity (starting with the Renaissance) has lead to "materialism and social decay," and that craftsmanship is an antidote to the woes of industrialization. The Craftsman aesthetic flourished in America around the turn of the 20th century and birthed utopian communities as well as architecture and handicrafts. In this opulent book, architectural historian Winter, with the aid of American Bungalow
photographer Vertikoff's gorgeous images, presents a comprehensive survey of this quirky movement and its 1960s revival. Winter's interpretation of the Craftsman style is broad, encompassing Bernard Maybeck's gaudy, Tudor/Gothic/Medievalesque Roos House; the dramatic desert- and Native American–inspired structures Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter built in the Grand Canyon; and even Ray Kappe's "soft modernist" house as well as the more familiar California Swiss/Japanese bungalows, quasi-Tudor mansions and charming artists' communities in Pennsylvania and upstate New York. The book ends with a grand finale: the new Disney Grand California Hotel, in itself a kind of Craftsman museum, with a different Craftsman style interpreted in each suite. An erudite introduction provides novices with enough background to enjoy the book, and an extensive bibliography gives enough information for readers to further pursue the Craftsman aesthetic. 255 illus. (July)
