Dining Chair

ARTS AND CRAFTS DESIGNS

Dining Chair

Mahogany, with painted decoration on the chair-back, designed by Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo (1851 - 1942) for the Century Guild, c.1883

The architect Arthur Mackmurdo was the founder of the Century Guild, one of the earliest groups of designer-craftsmen in the Arts and Crafts Movement inspired by Morris’s example and ideas. The sinuous motifs in the elaborate fret-work back of this dining chair are typical of Mackmurdo’s exuberant designs, and are found in many of the Century Guild’s wallpapers and textiles. Mackmurdo’s sources are diverse, including William Blake’s engravings, the study of marine plants and the architecture of Christopher Wren. The resulting stylistic fusion has been identified, notably by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, as "proto-Art Nouveau", a forerunner of styles developed in Continental Europe in the 1890s.