Gustav Stickley: American Craftsman

North Carolina’s Bruce Johnson and his annual National Arts & Crafts Conference at Asheville’s Grove Park Inn play a central role in the new documentary Gustav Stickley: American Craftsman — just as they have played a major part in the preservation and advancement of the Arts + Crafts movement.

The chief creative force behind what we now call Arts + Crafts was furniture designer and manufacturer Gustav Stickley, born into a big immigrant family in Wisconsin in 1858. The film, directed by Herb Stratford, traces his career, from joining his brothers to open a furniture factory to going it mostly alone in the early 1900s. That’s when he started to publish a remarkably self-aware newsletter titled The Craftsman that remains today the chief expression of the Arts + Crafts philosophy.

Stickley had a high point, running a massive furniture and lifestyle shop in Manhattan, with its own sixth-floor restaurant, and an extended low period — basically everything after World War I. (He died in 1942.) Just as interesting as Stickley’s life, though, is the story of the disappearance and rediscovery of the Arts + Crafts style, which fills the second half of this film. In addition to Johnson, the film speaks with other experts and admirers, including an articulate couple who were early collectors and eventually priced out of the Stickley originals market.

Gustav Stickley: American Craftsman is well-made and briskly paced. It’s reminiscent of the best American Masters episodes on PBS in decades past: succinct, informative, and well-researched. It sticks to its subject, with minimal consideration of wider arts or architectural context, but that’s true to its simple mission. For fans of the Arts + Crafts aesthetic — and that should include most movie lovers in Asheville — it’s required viewing.

Grade: B-plus. Not rated but PG equivalent, if not straight-up G. Now streaming via the Grail Moviehouse’s Virtual Sofa Cinema program.

(Photo: The Stickley Museum)