Was Archibald Knox the finest Art Nouveau designer in Britain?

Art Nouveau in Britain evolved out of the already established Arts and Crafts movement. Founded in 1861 by English designer William Morris, the Arts and Crafts movement emphasised the importance of handcrafted work. Morris’ commitment to handmade objects was a reaction against shoddy machine-made products that were flooding post-Industrial Britain. The Arts and Crafts movement also promoted a total plan in which every decorative object in the home was made according to a unified design. So even though some British designers of the 1890s became more interested in Art Nouveau, they were still committed to hand-crafted work and to integrated designs. Onto these old ideological commitments, they added the new forms and materials of Art Nouveau.

Archibald Knox, 1904
silver and enamel vase
 for Liberty

Now a few early names. One of the earliest examples of Art Nouveau in the UK was a chair designed in 1882 by British architect Arthur Mackmurdo, a chair that was proud of its organic forms and its curving, decorative patterns. In 1888 British designer Charles Ashbee established a workshop and school for artisans in London. Ashbee’s furniture and metalwork designs reflected the more rectilinear version of Art Nouveau style. In the graphic arts, Aubrey Beardsley drew illustrations for periodicals such as The Yellow Book (1894-5), and for Oscar Wilde’s play Salomé (1894), full of vigorous lines and distinctive double whiplash curves. In Glasgow, architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh also developed a rectilinear version of Art Nouveau, which he used in many buildings and their furnishings. In the Glasgow School of Art, the first part was completed in 1897-9.

In discussions with my students about French Art Nouveau and its impact on the rest of Europe, I discussed William Morris, Aubrey Beardsley, Arthur Mackmurdo, Charles Ashbee and Charles Rennie Mackintosh, but not as much about Archibald Knox. I think that was because Knox’s most famous years were short (1900-04). He certainly worked on until WW1 and then after the war, but there doesn’t seem to be a great deal of documentation about his life in the later years. April 2014 is the right time to re-examine his art objects – the 150th year of Knox’s birth.

Archibald Knox clock 1903, 
polished pewter front set with blue abalone stones and blue and green enamelled panel.

Archibald Knox (1864-1933) was born on the Isle of Man to a Scottish father. He enrolled as a student in the Douglas School of Art, then after he graduated, he started teaching at Redhill School of Art in Surrey in 1897. The influence and friendship of A.J Collister, principal of Redhill, continued to be important to Knox, as were other relationships. In London Knox worked with the designer Hugh Mackay Baillie Scott, who also came from the Isle of Man (surely not a coincidence) and then with Christopher Dresser.

Arthur Liberty founded his first eponymous shop in Regent St in 1875. Mr Liberty wanted exotic Oriental and Moorish objects to sell, and in time he was delighted to welcome keen young designers who fulfilled Liberty’s passion for exotica. With Christopher Dresser, Knox designed metalware for the Silver Studio, which also supplied Liberty & Co. In 1899, Liberty & Co went into production. They soon showed two small collections of silver objects and silver jewellery bearing their own assay mark, first at the shop and then at the Arts and Crafts exhibition.

The Cymric range was born that year when designers were asked to create an Art Nouveau interpretation of the Celtic style, based around gorgeous enamelled plaques. This was not Arts and Crafts, however. Liberty wanted machine-created silver objects, although they were to be hand finished and decorated luxuriously with semi precious stones and enamels. It was three years before the less expensive and more accessible Tudric range was introduced. Tudric objects were created in pewter rather than silver, making them available to families who were not necessarily wealthy. In this range, Knox's designs centred on such Celtic motifs as interlaced patterns, crosses, and knots. In all the years Knox worked for Liberty, he produced 400+ designs for the shop.

Archibald Knox, Tudric pewter and abalone inkwell with glass liner  
by Liberty & Co.  13cm diam., c1903 

The Celtic knot was not particularly Celtic in origin as the knot appeared internationally in a number of indigenous cultures in various forms. However it had become associated with the Celtic fringe regions of Western Europe, not least through the commercial aspects of companies such as Liberty & Co. In medieval times, the Celtic knot seemed to have spread from Ireland to Wales, Scotland, Northumbria and the Isle of Man, so Archibald’s father being born in Scotland need not have been the source of Celtic inspiration.

I was not sure how accepting of European Art Nouveau Britain had been by the turn of the century, but it seems that Knox both adopted and re-interpreted the newly arrived style as much as anyone. NB the Celtic knot was intended as the best example of British reinterpretation of a European style and a reaffirmation of Knox’s Isle of Man heritage.

Another factor introducing continental Art Nouveau to elegant English families was Liberty’s custom of buying products directly from Europe. Furniture was imported from France, ceramics were delivered from Hungary and WMF pewter from Germany arrived by the crate load. As long as the objects were well designed, would-be customers were happy with mass produced objects.

Silver and turquoise belt buckle, 1903, designed by Archibald Knox for Liberty

From 1904 Knox taught at various art schools, and eventually students acknowledged his influence by creating the Knox Guild of Design and Craft to promote the master’s art theories, with Knox’s active support and participation. But his relationship with Liberty had ended and in 1912 Knox spent a year in the USA. In 1913 Knox returned to the Isle of Man, where he continued designing and painting water colours. From WW1 on, I have seen few of his art objects.

A silver table lamp designed in 1905 by Archibald Knox was recently sold in Paris for £69,000. At the same Paris auction in 2012, a Knox-designed mirror sold for £94,000. These staggering amounts suggest that Knox designs are still very highly valued today, both financially and aesthetically.

The city of Douglas on the Isle of Man is celebrating the Knox anniversary throughout 2014, with a Knox Trail, concerts and garden-namings. London will be displaying Knox’s metalwork at the London Olympia International Art and Antiques Fair in June 2014. A blue plaque is being placed at the site of Knox's family home at the end of Athol St, Douglas.

Enjoy The Genius of Archibald Knox by Stephen Martin.

Archibald Knox silver & glass claret jug
Marks for Liberty & Co & 'Cymric'
31 cm in height, 1902