ARTS AND CRAFTS 



406 



ARTS AND CRAFTS 



h. The breech of the cannon is a 

 piece of mechanism which opens and closes the 

 end of the gun in which the charge is inserted. 

 When closed, the breech, or breech block, must 

 :ii:th to withstand the shock 

 of the bursting charge and yet be so easily and 

 quickly opened and shut as not to interfere 

 with the rapid working of the gun. The mod- 

 em form of breech block is fitted with what is 

 termed an interrupted screw, being divided 

 into twelve sections. The breech is hinged, and 

 when pushed forward into position, one-twelfth 

 of a turn engages three-fourths of its sin 

 in the threads grooved in the breech of the 

 gun. One-twelfth of a turn disentitles the 

 breech block, which is swung open, bringing 

 with it the exploded cartridge and, in some 

 cases, at the same time raising another charge 

 into position to be inserted in the breech. See 

 PROJECTILE; AMMUNITION. 



Coast and Fortress Artillery. Guns for per- 

 manent defense pf coast or towns are mounted 

 on carriages and platforms capable only of 

 movements to bring the gun into position for 

 firing over the defenses, or through embrasures, 

 and for lowering so that loading may be done 

 while completely under cover. Such guns are 

 of large caliber and long range, so war vessels 

 may not approach close enough to them to 

 inflict damage before themselves being under 

 fire. For other guns used in modern warfare 

 see NAVY, subhead Naval Guns; HOWITZER; 

 MACHINE (< L.R.G. 



Any book on artillery written prior to the be- 

 ginning of the War of the Nations (1914) will 

 not describe the most modern weapons. Good 

 books prior to that date are Bethel's Modern 

 Guns and Gunnery; Spaulding's Notes on Field 

 Artillery. 



ARTS AND CRAFTS, a term comprising all 

 the arts, except architecture itself, which go to 

 "the making of the house beautiful." The 

 phrase is now generally applied, however, to 

 the revival of artistic, individual workmanship, 

 as opposed to the labored, uniform designs 

 turned out by factories. During the nineteenth 

 century, especially in England, the growth of 

 the factory system, with its specialized func- 

 tions for each workman, seemed to have de- 

 stroyed much of the artistic impulse or feeling 

 among workmen. As early as 1840 or 1850 

 there was some public interest in wood-carving, 

 metal work, spinning and weaving, pottery and 

 other arts, but it was not until 1888 that the 

 Arts and Crafts movement was recognized as 

 a distinct break with the past. 



The men who inspired and led this new 

 movement in art Carlyle, Ruskin, William 

 Morris, Walter Crane believed that all work 

 should produce a useful, artistic result. Art 

 for them was not confined to oil paintings in 

 gilt frames but included all the countless prod- 

 ucts of human hands. "Real art," said Mor- 

 ris, "is the expression by man of his pleasure 

 in labor." Ruskin expressed the same idea 

 when he said that there are three tests of work ; 

 it must be honest, useful and cheerful. To 

 rescue public taste from the cheap imitations 

 of foreign models, to encourage sound work- 

 manship, and raise the handicrafts to their 

 rightful position as arts, these were the aims of 

 the leaders. 



The success of the movement was due chiefly 

 to the artistic and practical skill of William 

 Morris, who in turn mastered the details of 

 every craft in which he became interested; 

 "he was painter, designer, scribe, illuminator, 

 wood-engraver, dyer, weaver, and finally printer 

 and paper-maker." The work of William De 

 Morgan in pottery, and of T. J. Cobden-San- 

 derson and his pupils in bookbinding, is also 

 noteworthy. Thousands of workmen, in- 

 fluenced by the example of such leaders, now 

 realize the dignity of work and its artistic 

 possibilities, and nearly every community has 

 its enthusiastic arts and crafts devotees. 



The arts and crafts movement was not con- 

 fined to England, but spread to other Euro- 

 pean countries and to America, where one of 

 its leaders was Elbert Hubbard, founder of the 

 Roycrofters. A notable feature of the move- 

 ment was the popularity of the "mission" style 

 of furniture, an imitation of the simple, hand- 

 made articles of the early Spanish missions in 

 the west. 



. "Have nothing in your houses which you do 

 not know to be useful or believe to be beauti- 

 ful" was Morris's ideal. He would prefer a 

 single beautiful picture, even though cheap, to 

 a dozen ugly or indifferent prints. The fitness 

 of an object for its purpose, the sincerity and 

 honesty of its workmanship, not the price or 

 fashion, were new tests of art. A workman 

 should express his personality in the products 

 of his hands, and he should regard the material 

 and purpose of an object as the controlling 

 factors in artistic expression. See MORRIS, 

 WILLIAM. W.F.Z. | 



Consult Crane's An Artists' Reminiscences; 

 Mackail's Life of William Morris; Triggs' Chap- 

 ters in the History of the Arts and Crafts Move- 

 ment. 



