The arts and crafts movements in Dublin & Edinburgh

About this book

Dublin and Edinburgh were ideally placed to become important centres of the Arts and Crafts movement and its National Romantic corollary, the Celtic Revival. This profusely illustrated volume is the first major study of Arts and Crafts design in these two great capital cities. It examines shared literary formal and ideological links and values (strongly influenced by radical figures like Patrick Geddes, W.B. Yeats and George 'AE' Russell), as well as differences, while exploring the ambivalent relationship each city enjoyed with its native cultural heritage and with England. The text is a totally revised and expanded catalogue of the acclaimed exhibition curated by the authors for the 1985 Edinburgh International Festival. Of interest to design, social and cultural historians, the book begins with a joint introduction and two essays which place the achievements of each city within their social and cultural contexts. These are followed by substantial catalogue sections which give biographical accounts of artists, designers, architects and craftsmen and women whose range of work deserves contextual and critical re-valuation.