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The
unique contribution of Liberty & Co to the Arts & Crafts
Movement.
"The Liberty Style was one tributary of the cleansing river
which by 1900 was radically altering the European aesthetic …"
Mervyn
Levy - Liberty Style - The Classic Years 1898 - 1910
Like William Morris, C F A Voysey and C R Ashbee and the Guild of
Handicraft, the name Liberty
has become a byword for the Arts and Crafts Movement. The peacock
feather fabrics, from a design by Arthur Silver, were (and still are) a
recognisable signature in all the major capitals of the world.
Yet unlike Morris and the others Liberty
was not a designer or craftsperson. It was a store in
London
's
Regent Street
that, in the space of 25 years from its inception in May 1875, became
one of the most popular arenas in which some of the most accomplished
and avant garde designers and craft workers of the period could have
their wares displayed. The likes of George Walton, E A Taylor, Archibald
Knox, Jessie M King and Richard Riemerschmid all had their designs
retailed through Liberty, even if anonymously.
The store's fame was such that in Italy
the term 'Stile Liberty' was used to describe what Victor Arwas calls a
'new fully-fledged movement in the decorative arts'.
And yet the recognition of Liberty & Co. as a central feature of the
growth, if not the foundation, of the new movement is necessarily a
biography of one man - Arthur Lasenby Liberty. He was the moving spirit
and vision of the whole enterprise; he set its policy from the outset
and controlled its workings throughout its 'classic years'.
His business training started in 1859. Aged sixteen he was apprenticed
to a draper in Baker Street , but it was not until 1862 that he came
into contact with the branch of trading with which his name has been
inseparably associated. In that year he became one of the staff of
Messrs. Farmer and Rogers and was employed in their "Oriental
Warehouse" of which he soon became manager.
It was here that Liberty
began to meet the many prominent artists and students of the East who
were attracted to the shop by the treasures gathered there. From this
period A L Baldry asserts that many of
Liberty
's friendships which had a 'definite bearing on his work' began: Lord
Leighton, Edward Burne-Jones, Albert Moore, E W Godwin, William Burges,
Gabriel Dante Rossetti and an array of others of equal repute.
In
the spring of 1875, confident that the market in Eastern taste would
expand, Liberty
left Farmer and Rogers and opened at 218a Regent Street . In 1881
Liberty
also had interests in the Art Furnishers Alliance which had been set up
by Dr Christopher Dresser. When the Alliance went into liquidation in
1883 Liberty reputedly obtained a large amount of the stock from the
Official Receiver at keen prices.
By 1883 success was such that he moved to a much larger shop in Regent
Street
which he named Chesham House. From here the firm’s reputation grew
immensely. In 1883 Leonard F Wyburd took over the furnishing and
decoration studio in a now expanding furniture department. He designed
'a popular set of furniture which incorporated painted, turned lattice
work panels imported from Egypt
and North Africa'. It is here that the famous ' Thebes' stools and the 'Mushrabiyeh'
panels emerge as powerful images of Liberty
’s formidable range.
Stephen Astley states that 'under Wyburd's influence
Liberty
furniture was to evolve rapidly'. For him
Liberty
furniture '... combined several potent resonances which ensured its wide
popularity. It brought all the appeal of the Arts & Crafts Movement,
without the high cost of production, but had its roots in the English
tradition of old workmanship, and it was sold by a shop with exactly the
right image of being slightly exotic to be of interest to those looking
for something stylish rather than simple reproduction'.
This was then the panache of Arthur Liberty at his best, recruiting the
best talents available he merged them into the Liberty
fold and in doing so he would do more to popularise the Arts &
Crafts Movement than any other retailer in the late 19th century.
© Jeff Jackson
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