Charles T Bowling

Emerging in reaction to industrialization and mass production, the Arts and Crafts movement celebrated handcrafted design as a part of daily life. The history of Arts and Crafts furniture has roots in 1860s England with an emphasis on natural motifs and simple flourishes like mosaics and carvings. This work is characterized by plain construction that showcases the hand of the artisan.

The earliest American Arts and Crafts furniture dates back to the start of the 20th century. Designers working in this style in the United States initially looked to ideas put forth by The Craftsman, a magazine published by Wisconsin native Gustav Stickley, a furniture maker and founder of the Craftsman style. Stickley’s furniture was practical and largely free of ornament. His Craftsman style drew on French Art Nouveau as well as the work he encountered on his travels in England. There, the leading designers of the Arts and Crafts movement included William Morris, who revived historical techniques such as embroidery and printed fabrics in his furnishings, and Charles Voysey, whose minimal approach was in contrast to the ornamentation favored in the Victorian era.

American Arts and Crafts work would come to involve a range of influences unified by an elevation of traditional craftsmanship. The furniture was often built from sturdy woods like oak and mahogany while featuring details such as inlaid metal, tooled leather and ceramic tiles. The style in the United States was led by Stickley, whose clean-lined chairs and benches showcased the grain of the wood, and furniture maker Charles Rohlfs, who was informed by international influences like East Asian and French Art Nouveau design.

Hubs in America included several utopian communities such as Rose Valley in Pennsylvania and the Byrdcliffe Arts and Crafts Colony in New York, where craftspeople made furniture that prioritized function over any decoration. Their work would influence designers and architects including Frank Lloyd Wright, who built some of the most elegant and iconic structures in the United States and likewise embraced a thoughtful use of materials in his furniture.

Find antique Arts and Crafts chairs, tables, cabinets and other authentic period furniture on 1stDibs.

Prints are works of art produced in multiple editions. Though several copies of a specific artwork can exist, collectors consider antique and vintage prints originals when they have been manually created by the artist or are “impressions” that are part of the artist’s intent for the work.

Modern artists use a range of printmaking techniques to produce different types of prints such as relief, intaglio and planographic. Relief prints are created by cutting away a printing surface to leave only a design. Ink or paint is applied to the raised parts of the surface, and it is used to stamp or press the design onto paper or another surface. Relief prints include woodcuts, linocuts and engravings.

Intaglio prints are the opposite of relief prints in that they are incised into the printing surface. The artist cuts the design into a block, plate or other material and then coats it with ink before wiping off the surface and transferring the design to paper through tremendous pressure. Intaglio prints have plate marks showing the impression of the original block or plate as it was pressed onto the paper.

Artists create planographic prints by drawing a design on a stone or metal plate using a grease crayon. The plate is washed with water, then ink is spread over the plate and it adheres to the grease markings. The image is then stamped on paper to make prints.

All of these printmaking methods have an intricate process, although each can usually transfer only one color of ink. Artists use separate plates or blocks for multiple colors, and together these create one finished work of art.

Find prints ranging from the 18th- and 19th-century bird illustrations by J.C. Sepp to mid-century modern prints, as well as numerous other antique and vintage prints at 1stDibs. Browse the collection today and read about how to arrange wall art in your space.