The Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society
Foundation date: 1888
Active: 1888 -
Function: Art society
Policy: To promote the idea that 'The true root and basis of all art lies in the handicrafts' [Walter Crane, catalogue introduction to first exhibition, p.7], and to give credit to individual craftsmen and women for work which falls under the name of a company or project leader.
'[...] to hold such Exhibitions of applied Design and Handicraft as from time to time shall seem desirable, and to arrange for the delivery of Lectures whereby the Worker may have an opportunity of demonstrating to the Public the Aptitudes and the Limitations of his craft' [Extract from the 'Recommendations of the sub-committee appointed Wednesday, November 14th, 1888, to consider the constitution and draft the rules of the arts and crafts exhibition society' (AAD 1/19-1980)].
'Established 1888 for the purpose of holding Exhibitions in Design and Handicraft' (Year's Art, 1890).
Rules: '[...] 1. The name or names of the actual designer and Executant of every work intended for Exhibition shall be supplied by the Exhibitor and shall be published in the catalogue. 2. The Selection Committee shall have absolute power to reject any work [whether of members of the society or otherwise] which for any reason shall be thought unsuitable for Exhibition. 3. No work shall be withdrawn from the Exhibition without the formal permission of the Selection Committee. 4. The Exhibitions shall not be held for profit The Society shall undertake the sale of any work where instructions have been received to its price. No commission shall be taken by the society in respect of any such transaction" [Summary of the 'Recommendations of the sub-committee appointed Wednesday, November 14th, 1888, to consider the constitution and draft the rules of the arts and crafts exhibition society' (AAD 1/19-1980)]. Note, too, that first members were also guarantors of exhibition.
In later years a 5% commission was taken by the society although they remained not-for-profit [Extract from 'Copy of Society's Rules, 1902' (AAD 1/609-1980)].
History or description: 1889
President: Walter Crane
Secretary: Ernest Radford (Year's Art, 1890)
1893
President: William Morris
Honorary Secretary: T. J. Cobden-Sanderson
Treasurer: H. Longden (Year's Art, 1894)
Activities: exhibitions (open to non-members), lectures, meetings
Publications: annual reports, exhibition catalogues, pamphlets, reports
Benefits: free entry to exhibitions, free subscription to society publications, participation in all events
Composition: architects, artisans, men and women members, professional artists, professional engravers, professional painters, professional sculptors, lay members, working artists
Funding types: annual subscription
Employees, Students & Members
Locations
Address 6 Queen's Square W.C.1 London | View on map
April 1914
Address still current. First AWG meeting held at this address on 22 April 1914.
Exhibitions, Courses, Meetings and other Events
Organized Arts and Crafts Exhibition (Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society / Royal Academy of Arts), 1928
26 October 1928
Involved in Industrial Art Committee (Royal Society of Arts), 1918
1918
Organized Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society: Fifth Exhibition, 1896
1896
Organized Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society: First Exhibition, 1888
Organized Modelling and Sculpture (The Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society), 1888
Organized Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society: Second Exhibition, 1889
Organized Exhibition 20 by the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society, 1946
Organized British Handicrafts by the Arts and Crafts Society and the Red Rose Guild, 1940
Organized Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society: Eleventh Exhibition, 1916
Organized Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society: Ninth Exhibition, 1910
Organized Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society: Second Exhibition, 1889
Organized Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society: Sixth Exhibition, 1899
Institutional and Business Connections
Associated with Art Workers Guild
1888
The founding committee of Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society was mostly made up of members of the Art Workers Guild
Collaborated with Royal Society of Arts
1889
The R.S.A. offered £150 of prizes and twenty bronze medals for objects that were displayed in an exhibition organised by the Arts and Crafts Society. See Hudson and Luckhurst, 'The Royal Society of Arts', (1954), p. 272.
Collaborated with Royal Academy of Arts
1928
Jointly organised an 'Arts and Crafts Exhibition', that was held at the Royal Academy. See Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1928', (1929), p. 14.
Associated People
Honorary secretary was James Havard Thomas
1888
Also member of sub-committee (of 9 persons) that set up society.
Manager was Rowland W. Alston
1946 (Presumed)
Members included Harry Bates
1888 - 1889 (Presumed)
Listed as one of 20 sculptors invited to be part of selection and hanging committee for the first exhibition in 1888 (offer accepted). Committee member from at least 1888-1889.
Members included Somers Clarke
1888 (Presumed) - 1910 (Presumed)
Was on committee from at least 1888-1889.
Members included Edward Onslow Ford
1888 (Presumed)
Listed as one of 20 sculptors invited to be part of selection and hanging committee for the first exhibition (offer accepted).
Members included Thomas Godfrey
1888 - 1910 (Presumed)
Was committee member in 1888.
Members included Mervyn E. Macartney
1888 (Presumed) - 1910 (Presumed)
Was member of committte from at least 1888-1889.
Members included (George) Heywood Maunoir Sumner
1888 - 1938 (Presumed)
Committee member from at least 1888-1900.
Members included Christopher Whitworth Whall
1888 (Presumed) - 1920 (Presumed)
Members included Harry (Henry) Wilson
1888 (Presumed) - 1922 (Presumed)
Members included Conrad Gustave d'Huc Dressler
1889 (Presumed) - 1920 (Presumed)
Members included (Mary) Evelyn Pickering de Morgan
1889
Members included Henry George Alexander Holiday
1889 - 1910 (Presumed)
Members included Frederick William Pomeroy
1889 (Circa) - 1907 (Presumed)
Was part of committee in at least 1892-1899.
Members included William Hamo Thornycroft
1889 (Circa)
Members included George James Frampton
1892 (Presumed) - 1907 (Presumed)
Was part of committee from at least 1892-1900.
As a Selection committee member in 1901, proposed changes to the rules of the society. Ones that might have affected sculptors included the development of a hanging committee(as a sub-committee of the selection committee), the suggestion that exhibitors should pay for the delivery and removal of their works, and the decision that the exhibition was open to all artists, members or not, who were resident in the UK (the society would also reserve the right to invite foregin or non-resident British artists to exhibit). Of these ammendments, the first and last were carried, the second rejected.
Members included Gilbert William Bayes
1893 - 1920 (Presumed)
Elected in 1893. Listed as committee member in 1904.
Members included Nelson Ethelred Dawson
1893 - 1900 (Presumed)
Elected in 1893. Member of committee from 1897-1898.
Members included Alexander Fisher
1893 - 1910 (Presumed)
Elected in 1893. Member of committee from at least 1897-1899.
Members included John Henry Monsell Furse
1893 - 1899 (Presumed)
Elected in 1893.
Members included Francis Derwent Wood
1893 - 1899
Elected in 1893.
Members included Charles Robert Ashbee
1894 (Presumed) - 1920 (Presumed)
Members included William Goscombe John
1894 (Presumed) - 1899 (Presumed)
Was member of committee from at least 1894-1899.
Members included Benjamin Creswick
1894 (Presumed) - 1899 (Presumed)
Members included James Erskine Knox
1894 (Presumed) - 1899 (Presumed)
Members included William Ernest Reynolds-Stephens
1894 (Presumed) - 1907 (Presumed)
As a Selection committee member in 1901, proposed changes to the rules of the society. Ones that might have affected sculptors included the development of a hanging committee(as a sub-committee of the selection committee), the suggestion that exhibitors should pay for the delivery and removal of their works, and that the exhibition was open to all artists, members or not, who were resident in the UK. The society would also reserve the right to invite foregin or non-resident British artists to exhibit. Of these ammendments, the first and last were carried, the second rejected.
Members included Eleanor T. Rowe
1894 (Presumed) - 1910 (Presumed)
Members included Maria Ellen Reeks
1894 (Presumed) - 1899 (Presumed)
Members included William Bainbridge Reynolds
1897 (Circa) - 1932 (Presumed)
As a Selection committee member in 1901, proposed changes to the rules of the society. Ones that might have affected sculptors included the development of a hanging committee(as a sub-committee of the selection committee), the suggestion that exhibitors should pay for the delivery and removal of their works, and that the exhibition was open to all artists, members or not, who were resident in the UK. The society would also reserve the right to invite foregin or non-resident British artists to exhibit. Of these ammendments, the first and last were carried, the second rejected.
Members included William Robert Colton
1897 - 1900
Elected in 1897.
Members included Esther Mary Moore
1897 (Presumed) - 1910 (Presumed)
Members included George Percy Bankart
1904 (Presumed) - 1910 (Presumed)
Members included John Paul Cooper
1904 (Presumed) - 1920 (Presumed)
Members included Feodora Maud Georgina Gleichen
1904 (Presumed) - 1920 (Presumed)
Members included Georgie Evelyn Cave Gaskin
1904 (Presumed) - 1907 (Presumed)
Members included Alfred Bertram Pegram
1907 (Presumed) - 1920 (Presumed)
Members included Edward Napier Hitchcock Spencer
1907 (Presumed) - 1932 (Presumed)
Members included Joseph Armitage
1910 (Presumed) - 1938 (Presumed)
Not mentioned on membership list in 1932.
Members included Richard Louis Garbe
1910 (Presumed) - 1946 (Presumed)
Craft member 1946.
Members included (Annie) Muriel Moller
1910 (Presumed) - 1938 (Presumed)
Members included Henry Poole
1916 (Presumed)
Members included Wallace Elliot
1920 (Presumed)
Members included Norman Jewson
1920 (Presumed) - 1932 (Presumed)
Members included Ellen Mary Rope
1920 - 1932
Members included William George Simmonds
1920 (Circa) - 1946 (Presumed)
Members included Phoebe Gertrude Stabler
1920 (Presumed)
Members included Cecil Walter Thomas
1920 (Presumed)
Members included Laurence Arthur Turner
1920 (Presumed)
Members included Agatha Walker
1920 (Presumed) - 1932 (Presumed)
Members included Charles John Allen
1932 (Presumed)
Members included Herbert William Palliser
1932 (Presumed) - 1946 (Presumed)
Members included H. Priestly-Smith
1932
Members included Eric Sharpe
1932 (Presumed) - 1946 (Presumed)
Members included Frederic Stuttig
1932 (Presumed)
Members included Alan Lydiat Durst
1938 (Presumed) - 1946 (Presumed)
Craft member 1946.
Members included Gertrude Anna Bertha Hermes
1938 (Presumed) - 1946 (Presumed)
Members included Edgar Allan Howes
1938 (Presumed)
Members included Arnrid Banniza Johnston
1938 (Presumed) - 1946 (Presumed)
Members included Harold Parker
1938 (Presumed) - 1946 (Presumed)
Members included H. Allen
1946 (Presumed)
Members included Rowland W. Alston
1946 (Presumed)
Members included (Aubrey) Eric Stacy Aumonier
1946 (Presumed)
Members included Nelli Bryce Black
1946 (Presumed)
Members included Ivor Brown
1946 (Presumed)
Members included Hilda Brown
1946
Members included Dorothy Brown
1946 (Presumed)
Members included (William) Edward Barnsley
1946 (Presumed)
Council member 1946.
Members included Irene Base
1946 (Presumed)
Craft member 1946.
Members included John Brandt
1946 (Presumed)
Members included John Edward Crawford
1946 (Presumed)
Members included Lawrence W. Cribb
1946 (Presumed)
Members included (Herbert) Joseph Cribb
1946 (Presumed)
Craft member 1946.
Members included V.M. Dell
1946 (Presumed)
Members included J. Duxbury
1946 (Presumed)
Members included J. Dyer
1946 (Presumed)
Craft member 1946.
Members included M. Dymond
1946 (Presumed)
Members included Leslie Durbin
1946 (Presumed)
Craft member 1946.
Members included Mabel Early
1946 (Presumed)
Members included Ursula Ulalia Edgcumbe
1946 (Presumed)
Members included Bettina Ehrlich
1946 (Presumed)
Members included George Taylor Friend
1946 (Presumed)
Craft member 1946.
Members included W.M. Gardner
1946 (Presumed)
Members included Ernest George Gillick
1946 (Presumed)
Members included Arthur Glover
1946 (Presumed)
Members included Gladys Grimshaw
1946 (Presumed)
Members included Reginald Hallward
1946 (Presumed)
Members included Vincent Hill
1946 (Presumed)
Members included Philip Hogreen
1946 (Presumed)
Members included H. J. W. Hyde
1946 (Presumed)
Members included William T. Blackband
1946 (Presumed)
Members included Percy Brown
1946 (Presumed)
Members included Jeanne Bell
1946 (Presumed)
Members included Katherine M F Evershed
1946 (Presumed)
Craft member 1946.
Members included David Guy Barnabus Kindersley
1946 (Presumed)
Craft memmber 1946.
Members included U.M. Lang
1946 (Presumed)
Members included Mary Mitchell-Smith
1946 (Presumed)
Craft memmber 1946.
Members included P.E. Norman
1946 (Presumed)
Members included R.C. Palmer
1946 (Presumed)
Members included Mervyn C. Oliver
1946 (Presumed)
Council member 1946.
Members included J. H. Upton-Hodge
1946 (Presumed)
Members included J.S. Skelton
1946 (Presumed)
Members included Freda N. Skinner
1946 (Presumed)
Members included Edwin Smyth
1946 (Presumed)
Members included Marion Willis Stanfield
1946 (Presumed)
Members included George Stephenson
1946 (Presumed)
Members included A. Szegho
1946 (Presumed)
Members included Barbara Tribe
1946 (Presumed)
Members included Paul Vincze
1946 (Presumed)
Members included Ruth Windmiller
1946 (Presumed)
Members included Margaret J. Wrightson
1946 (Presumed)
Members included Allan Gairdner Wyon
1946 (Presumed)
Members included Percy J. Smith
1946 (Presumed)
Members of committee included Robert Wiedeman Barrett Browning
1888 (Circa)
Listed as one of 20 sculptors invited to be part of selection and hanging committee for 'National Exhibition of the Arts'
Nominated Gilbert William Bayes
1893
Membership proposed by George Frampton and seconded by Conrad Dressler.
Nominated Nelson Ethelred Dawson
1893
Membership proposed by George Frampton and seconded by Walter Crane.
Nominated Alexander Fisher
1893
Membership proposed by H.Stannus and seconded by Walter Crane
Nominated John Henry Monsell Furse
1893
Membership proposed by George Frampton and seconded by Conrad Dressler.
Nominated Francis Derwent Wood
1893
Membership proposed by George Frampton and seconded by Walter Crane.
Nominated William Robert Colton
1897 (Presumed)
Proposed by C.F. Annesley Voysey, seconded by Walter Crane
Presidents included Walter Crane
1888 - 1910 (Presumed)
In 1889 the Honorary Secretary was Ernest Radford
Presidents included William Morris
1893
The Honorary Secretary was the artist and bookbinder, T. J. Cobden-Sanderson
Presidents included Harry (Henry) Wilson
1915 - 1922
Sources
A Proposal for the reorganisation of the Arts and Crafts Society
1913
Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society, Rules and Regulations, 1901 [draft, amended and final versions]
1901 (Probable)
Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society: Its History and Achivements
1938 (Probable)
Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society: List of Members, 1894
1894
Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society: List of Members, 1897
1897
Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society: List of Members, 1904
1904
Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society: List of Members, 1907
1907
Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society: List of Members, September 1932
September 1932
Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society: Members and Craftsmen
1946 (Probable)
Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society: Papers relating to the founding of the Society
1888 (Circa)
Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society: Rules and List of Members, 1920
1920
Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society. List of Members, 1898
1898
Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society. List of Members, 1899
1899
Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society. List of Members, 1900
1900
Arts and Crafts Society: Catalogue of the First Exhibition.
1888
Catalogue of British Handicrafts by the Arts and Crafts Society and the Red Rose Guild, 1940
1940
Four voting papers for election of members and of committee at annual meeting, 19th December 1893
1893
Rules of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society
1894 (Probable)
The Royal Society of Arts, 1754-1954, 1954
1954
p. 272.
Citing this record
'The Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/organization.php?id=msib2_1206037601, accessed 24 Mar 2023]
