The Arts & Crafts Home
Kitty Turgeon and Robert Rust

This is a beautiful oversize paperback full of gorgeous photographs and an overall look at the movement. Many of the book on the Arts and Crafts Movement focus mainly on the homes, and some talk a little bit about the interiors. This is a more balanced book. They cover all aspects of the movement in relation to homes, including the relationship between the landscape and home, interior details, furniture, lighting, and artwork. The book includes a chronology of the movement, a glossary, a resource guide, and an index.

However, the main attraction is the photographs. There is at least one photograph per page, clearly illlustrating the topic under discussion. All but a very few of the photographs are colour. Most Arts and Crafts homes are already warm and inviting places, but these photographs make me want to move in. Now.

The author talks about the movement in a straight forward way, introducing the topic and giving enough detail to be interesting, but not so much that the reader gets lost. This is much more difficult than it sounds.

In some books you can tell that one of the text or the photographs was considered secondary. Not so here. The two balance one another wonderfully well. This is a great book to get someone started in understanding the current revival of the Arts and Crafts movement. I got it from the library, and would certainly buy it if I saw it in a book store.

Michael Friedman Publishing, 2000, 1998
ISBN 1-58663-009-1