WALTER FRANCIS CRITTALL (DESIGNER, 1887-1956) AND ERNEST BECKWITH (MAKER, 1872-1952)
)ARTS & CRAFTS WALNUT OPEN ARMCHAIR, 1925
£1,300
Auction: 10 October 2018 at 11:00 BST
Description
the latticed back above shaped open arms and drop-in seat raised on square tapered legs linked by stretchers
63cm wide, 98cm high, 51cm deep
Footnote
Provenance: Paul Reeves, London
Literature: Rogers, John C., 'Modern English Furniture', Country Life 1925, illus.
Note: W. F. Crittall, known as ‘Pink’ apparently due to his Communist sympathies, joined his father’s metalworking firm and his design work lead to a major breakthrough in steel window design which is still the basis for their manufacture today. His interest in the welfare of his workers and improvements in their living conditions led to an involvement in the Design & Industries Movement. Established in 1915, the D.I.A. was founded by members of the Art & Crafts Movement Exhibition Society. Its aim was to promote design in industry by organising exhibitions, publishing magazines and books.
For over forty years Crittall collaborated with Ernest Beckwith, a cabinetmaker from Coggeshall, Essex, to make a series of pieces of furniture, mainly for the homes and businesses of the Crittall family. He considered this furniture making as a hobby and his notebooks contain hundreds of designs for articles of furniture, only a small proportion of which were ever built.