Gustav Stickley / David Cathers.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cathers, David M.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Stickley, Gustav, 1858-1942.

Stickley, Gustav.

Arts and crafts movement--United States.

Arts and crafts movement.

Cabinetmakers.

United States.

Furniture--United States--History--20th century.

Furniture.

History.

Cabinetmakers--United States--Biography.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

239 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 30 cm

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Phaidon, 2003.

Summary:

Gustav Stickley (1858-1942) is one of the iconic and most influential figures of the American Arts & Crafts movement, a self-made man whose furniture company, Craftsman Workshops, and the seminal magazine he founded, The Craftsman, held wide-ranging influence over American interior design and decorative arts for decades. Though best known as a furniture designer, Stickley was an entrepreneur and brilliant manager who assembled a talented team of collaborators to produce lamps, metalwork, textiles, plans for houses, and interiors. The Craftsman and the numerous furniture catalogues he published on a regular basis functioned as effective advertising, helping not only to establish the company's name but also to shape public opinion about the value of design. Born to German emigre parents, Stickley founded his company in upstate New York in 1898, at the age of 40. The company rapidly prospered and eventually became a national enterprise with retail stores in New York, Boston, and Washington, D.C. Although influenced by the British Arts & Crafts movement and Continental Art Nouveau, Stickley advocated the creation of a distinctive American style that would integrate furnishings, architecture, handicrafts, and principles of harmonious living; he believed that well-designed furnishings could help "make life better and truer by its perfect simplicity." This book is the first comprehensive and authoritative account of Gustav Stickley's life and work, with extensive illustrations from private archives, libraries, universities, museums, and the Stickley firm itself. It includes newly commissioned color photographs of Stickley pieces, and a generous selection of images from The Craftsman magazine. The book includes a chronology of Stickley's life and career, a biographical appendix of Stickley's key collaborators, and a complete bibliography.

Contents:

Chapter 1 Stirrings of Ambition, 1858-1898 12

Chapter 2 Arts and Crafts Beginnings, 1898-1901 26

Chapter 3 The Pursuit of Harmonious Design, 1902-1903 52

Chapter 4 "A Man of Unusual Gifts"

Harvey Ellis, 1903-1904 80

Chapter 5 The Pivotal Year, 1904 104

Chapter 6 Standard Stickley Furniture, 1904-1916 124

Chapter 7 Metalwork and Textiles, 1902-1916 142

Chapter 8 Stickley in New York City, 1905-1916 166

Chapter 9 Craftsman Farms, 1908-1917 182

Chapter 10 Late Furniture, Bankruptcy, and Afterward, 1914-1942 196

Appendix 1 Stickley's Creative Collaborators 210

Appendix 2 The Stickley Fall-Front Desk, 1900-1905 218.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 234-235) and index.

ISBN:

0714840300

OCLC:

52738203