The Byrdcliffe colony and the politics of arts and crafts

Date
1992
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
The Byrdcliffe Arts and Crafts colony was created to be the embodiment of the altruistic goals of one man--Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead. The philosophies he used in delineating the structure of the colony answered the pressing social concerns of the time, namely the perceived threat of factory production to the well-being of the worker, the need for beauty in the daily lives of common people, and the necessary restructuring of the capitalistic system that restricted the free choice of consumers. ☐ This paper presents the evolution of the colony and the circumstances of its demise but with the understanding that the social concerns stated above (or, Arts and Crafts ideals) were ideological constructions particular to a specific time. By determining the restrictions placed on Whitehead by the social, economic, and political ideologies in which he was implicated, we can more clearly comprehend his actions and contributions without judging him against the narrow definitions of Arts and Crafts employed by current scholarship.
Description
Keywords
Citation