Philip Clissett and the Arts & Crafts Movement

The Clissett ladderback chair, designed by James MacLaren, was an important element of the Arts & Crafts Movement in the late 19th century. It has figured prominently in recent publications about the period. Usually, the accompanying text is short on detail and sources, so I've been keen to create a clearer picture of how Clissett's chairs were seen at the time. Some things are obvious, such as the superb collection of Clissett's chairs at the Art Workers Guild in London - that's one of their chairs on the left. But there's a lot more information if you look for it.

So, at long last, I've more or less completed the work on Clissett and the Arts and Crafts Movement. The aim has been to test some of the statements made in the past about Clissett, and to find and publish evidence of his chairs in use in the early days of their popularity. It's possible to show the famous ladderback being used by well known artists and architects. The real surprise has been the extent of their use by the Garden City architects, and the extent to which the chairs were copied, or at least used as the basis for "new" designs. I wrote some time ago about their possible use by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and that text has been taken down and incorporated (in shortened form) in the new piece.

This new section of Philip Clissett's biography can be found on the biography page as Part 4.

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