Century Guild of Artists

Established in 1882 this Guild, which predated Art Nouveau was an English group of art enthusiasts led by Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo, (1851-1942) and lasted for just a decade. Their aim was the preservation of the artistic trade and the authenticity of the craftsmen behind it and the members and craftsmen associated with the Guild were the forerunners of the Arts and Crafts Movement which aimed to unify the arts. Although approximately 20 people were associated with the Guild, the only actual members were Mackmurdo, Herbert Horne, (1864-1916), architect and art historian, and artist Selwyn Image. It produced primarily domestic designs such as furniture, stained glass, metalwork, decorative painting and architectural design and it became recognised through exhibiting. The Guild also designed luxury objects, furnishings, fabrics and interiors for the restaurants, hotels and houses of wealthy businessmen and bohemian friends. Designs were displayed at the Inventions Exhibition, (London, 1885), the Exhibition of Navigation and Manufacture (Liverpool, 1886), Pownall Hall (1886–87, Cheshire) and the Royal Jubilee Exhibition (Manchester, 1887). The Guild influenced designers such as Voysey and Charles Rennie Mackintosh and undoubtedly influenced the formation of The Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society.

In practice, the Guild never had more than two or three members, but there were many associates and friends. These included the potter William De Morgan, Heywood Sumner, Christopher Whall, Benjamin Creswick, Charles Winstanley, Clement Heaton who specialised in cloisonné, Kellock Brown and George Esling, (1847-1903) who worked in copper, brass & pewter.

The group also published a quarterly magazine called 'The Century Guild Hobby Horse' which ran from 1884–1892. The journal was then renamed 'The Hobby Horse' and continued for another two years before it ended in 1894. The Magazine served as a way of sharing the views of the Guild and promoted crafted art as opposed to the mechanical industry. The magazine contained essays on art, literature, and occasionally architecture and music. The principal contributors included Mackmurdo, Image, Horne, Arthur Galton, (1852-1921) May Morris, Christina Rossetti, (1830-1894), and Hubert Parry, (1848-1918). By fusing art and literature in a magazine whose layout and design was a conscious aesthetic statement, it was the precursor of pioneering Modernist magazines such as The Savoy, The Yellow Book and The Dome. Examples of the Guild's work are held in the collections of the Hollytrees Museum, Colchester, Victoria & Albert Museum and the William Morris Museum.

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