In America as well as in Britain, the virtues of handcrafted objects--straightforward
design, natural materials and enduring construction techniques--were embraced.
The values of hearth and home--idyllic domesticity--and the virtues of honesty
and simplicity became the predominant themes, nature being the constant source
of inspiration. While Arts
and Crafts ornament led to and overlapped with Art
Nouveau decoration, particularly in metalwork and ceramics, furniture designs
led almost directly to De
Stijl and Bauhaus
geometry of the 1920s. The work of Gustav Stickley in particular, and the appearance
of his Craftsman magazine from 1901 to 1916, paralleled the mature phase of the
American movement which extended to the severe furniture of the so-called Mission
Style and the finest work of the Prairie
School.
