Tuesday April 3, 2001

3:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m

• Elizabeth Broman, Reference Librarian, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum
• Stephen Van Dyk, Chief Librarian, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum

Sponsors:

• Decorative Arts Round Table (DART)

Abstract:

At the turn of the century the Arts & Crafts Movement in America spread from the East Coast to the West Coast, culminating in Southern California. Los Angeles was a growing city, open to new and less traditional artistic expressions, and reflected the influences of many artistic movements. We will be looking at how the Arts & Crafts styles from the rest of the United States, and possibly from Asia, manifested themselves in an Arts & Crafts style unique to Southern California. We will concentrate more specifically on how the Arts & Crafts Movement translated itself in the decorative arts, architecture, and interior design. Speakers will provide an overview of Southern California Arts & Crafts design in general as well as of individual designers and firms.

Arts & Crafts in Southern California - The Arroyo Culture, Robert Winter, Professor Emeritus, Occidental College

At the turn of the century the Arts & Crafts Movement in America spread from the East Coast to the West Coast, culminating in Southern
California. In the early 20th century the Arroyo river valley was home to a variety of artists: plein air painters, architects, writers and artisans, all of them conscious followers of William Morris and the Arts & Crafts Movement.

Talk will include comments about Charles Fletcher Lummis, whom his friend Charles Keeler called "William Morris turned into a Mexican Indian"; Clyde Brown, a printer; and George Harris, who fabricated incredibly rustic garden furniture out of the fallen branches of Arroyo trees. The main study will be the work of Ernest Batchelder, a tilemaker and author of two nationally recognized books on the principles of design; Bob Winter lives in his house overlooking the Arroyo.

Throop and the Arts and Crafts Movement, Judith Goodstein, California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

The first school west of Chicago to teach manual skills, Throop Polytechnic Institute taught--as its mandate proclaimed--"those things that train the hand and the brain for the best work of life." Founded in 1891 by a self-made philanthropist, Amos Gager Throop, the school became all things to all people in its first fifteen years, teaching a great variety of subjects, with considerable stress on manual training. The Caltech archives contains photographs, student projects, floor plans, drawings, and diaries that are essential source materials for researchers interested in Pasadena, the transformation of “Throop Poly” into “Caltech”, and the rise and fall of a curriculum that championed instruction in metal and woodworking, cooking and sewing, and much more.

The Gamble House: Greene and Greene, Edward Bosley, Director of The Gamble House

Two brothers at the turn of the last century set out to redefine architecture as a fine art. Charles and Henry Greene practiced their profession on the semi-arid Southern California landscape, whose promise of abundant outdoor living was a siren call to Midwest and Eastern families weary of harsh winters. The Gamble House is the finest remaining example of the Greene brothers' quest for perfection in domestic building and furnishings. Their "ultimate bungalows," such as The Gamble House, combined the rustic charm of an Adirondack "camp" with the elegant sophistication of a Japanese temple, essentially re-shaping the idea of the Arts and Crafts movement into a design philosophy that transcended its humble origins.