It was natural for women to play a crucial part in the development of textiles. During the Victorian period sewing and embroidery had been an acceptable homemade art worked quietly in private. The Arts and Crafts period however increased both the potential and public visibility of such crafts. Under the art school direction of enlightened […]
The role of women in the Staffordshire pottery industry contrasted greatly with the female artists at Henry Doulton’s art department in London. Doulton was concerned about working conditions in Burslem when he expanded his business there in 1877. As he said, “In Staffordshire, I have seen women and young girls employed in the most coarse […]
Sculptors played a major role in forwarding the aims of the Arts and Crafts Movement. Hamo Thornycroft, George Frampton and Onslow Ford were among the founding members of the Art Workers Guild, with others including F.W. Pomeroy, William Reynolds-Stephens, Alfred Gilbert, Stirling Lee and Harry Bates being elected in the first few years of the […]
The Arts and Crafts Movement roughly encompasses most of the years of Queen Victoria’s reign until the end of the First World War (1840-1920). This range is important since it includes the strict educational discipline imposed by the National Course of Instruction and the impact of the ideological and physical struggle for Female Emancipation, not […]
During the Victorian era, the number of genteel young women obliged to seek employment became a pressing social problem. Many were not able to fulfill their natural destiny and marry Mr. Right as there were a million extra women of marriageable age in England. In Victorian times, a woman’s place was in the home as […]
In the late 19th century, more than 300 women found gainful employment at Doulton’s Lambeth art pottery in London. However, Henry Doulton believed that the “true sphere of woman is the family and household….” and his artists had to put down their paintbrushes when they married. Only occasionally did women continue to paint pottery for […]
