Roycroft (art)

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Store on the Roycroft campus

Roycroft was an association of artisans, writers and philosophers in the US state of New York and an American offshoot of the Arts and Crafts Movement , an English-based movement in art and product design, popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries . It existed from the 1890s to the 1930s. Its headquarters was the municipality of East Aurora , a small town near Buffalo ( New York ). Its members were known as "Roycrofter".

history

The Roycroft Movement, as it called itself, was founded in 1895 in East Aurora by Elbert Hubbard , an American writer, satirist, essayist, and philosopher interested in art and literature. Hubbard was a journalist and editor of several magazines such as The Fra and The Philistine , both of which became the mouthpiece of Roycroft. The philosophy and way of working of the Roycroft members greatly influenced the design, interior design and architecture of America at the turn of the century . Another major character was Hubbard's second wife, women's rights activist and writer Alice Moore Hubbard .

The name "Roycroft" was given to the movement by Samuel and Thomas Roycroft, two English bookbinders from the late 17th century . In addition, the word originally meant "arts and crafts for the king," which Hubbard liked. In the Middle Ages, royal artisans were called members of special guilds who had special manual skills and were therefore allowed to work for the king or other nobility. Roycroft borrowed its symbol from the monk Cassidorius, a bookbinder from the 13th century .

While visiting England, Elbert Hubbard was influenced by the ideas of William Morris , an English painter, architect and poet who was a founder of the Arts and Crafts Movement. After he could not find a publisher for his book Little Journeys , he founded his own private press, the "Roycroft Press", modeled on William Morris' Kelmscott Press . Hubbard's work and ideas drew many artisans and artists to East Aurora, who eventually became Roycroft. Most of them were craftsmen such as printers, furniture makers, blacksmiths and bookbinders, but also architects, writers, poets and painters. The English writer John Ruskin said of Roycroft: "The belief in working with the head, the hand and the heart and having fun at work make every task a pleasure and contribute to health and happiness".

In 1900 Roycroft's membership was close to 500. The community had settled on the Roycroft Campus in East Aurora, which ended up being fourteen buildings. The private press, Roycroft Press, founded by Hubbard, was responsible for the dissemination of the writings and journalistic works of the Roycrofters. Their craft and artistic products such as furniture, crockery and paintings were sold through the Roycroft Shop.

Known members

Roycroft's followers included well-known arts and crafts, including A .:

  • Karl Kipp (metallurgy)
  • Dard Hunter (Design)
  • Alexis Jean Fournier
  • Sandor Landeau (painter)
  • Frederick Kranz (leather)
  • William Wallace Denslow (inventor of the Roycroft emblem and later illustrator of The Wizard of Oz )
  • Jerome Connor (sculptures)
  • Carl Ahrens (pottery and painting)
  • Jules Gaspard (etchings)

The end of Roycroft

In 1915 Elbert and Alice Hubbard were killed in the sinking of the British passenger liner RMS Lusitania . The line of Roycroft then took over Elbert G. Hubbard II, Hubbard's son from his first marriage. However, the community lost its movement and importance in the following years and continued to exist actively until the Great Depression . The Roycroft Shop closed in 1938. Roycroft Campus Corporation was later established, a society dedicated to the preservation and maintenance of Roycroft's historical and artistic heritage. Has helped Miriam Hubbard Roelofs , the only daughter of Elbert and Alice Hubbard. Society still exists today.

The Roycroft Campus was added to the National Register of Historic Places as a Historic District in November 1974 . In February 1986, the building ensemble received the status of a National Historic Landmark .

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Individual evidence

  1. ^ Roycroft Campus on the National Register Information System. National Park Service , accessed January 31, 2020.
  2. ↑ Listing of National Historic Landmarks by State: New York. National Park Service , accessed January 31, 2020.