Nineteenth Century Utopian discourse and the Artand Craft movementShin, JeeyoungThis paper examines the Art and Craft movement in its historical and culturalcontext where the discourse of the Utopia has risen. Despite its maximumvisibility in the history of art, the 19th century historical and cultural context of Artand Craft movement is not well known. The Art and Craft movement is generallyconsidered the milestone of the dominant Art History discourse, the modernistformalist art history. Registered in the linear progressive history of the modern,the modernist art history puts emphasis on the achievement of autonomy of thepictorial elements such as colour and forms. The formalist art history is in thesame vein as other progressive modern discourses, the modern period in thehistory of art has shown the development of the independent pictorial languageas opposed to the traditional art, which generally concentrated on the subject ormessage rather than the pictorial harmony. From the perspective of the modernart history, the peculiar style of art and craft works, the linear lines and the brightcolors have been considered to be a monumental move toward to the autonomyof modern art.However, when the art and craft movement is relocated in the historical andcultural context of 19th century Britain, the movement has special social andhistorical meanings which have been excluded from the dominant art history. Farfrom the mythology of modern art, the Art and Craft movement was anintensively socially conscious art movement rather than exclusively aestheticallyoriented. Art and Craft movement has been known for its revival of the medieval