Illustration: The Studio magazine, 1893.
The Studio Magazine was founded in Britain in 1893 by Charles Holme as an informative monthly periodical on contemporary fine and decorative art.
The Studio always had an extensive readership that included much of the European and North American art and design population in particular, whether through the educational establishment, professional careerists or interested amateurs. It initially started by championing a number of contemporary art and design movements. It was a firm believer in the Arts & Crafts philosophy as well as the ideals of the Art Nouveau movement, two styles that were not always happy being in each other's company, though shared more than they often cared to know.
The Studio always had an extensive readership that included much of the European and North American art and design population in particular, whether through the educational establishment, professional careerists or interested amateurs. It initially started by championing a number of contemporary art and design movements. It was a firm believer in the Arts & Crafts philosophy as well as the ideals of the Art Nouveau movement, two styles that were not always happy being in each other's company, though shared more than they often cared to know.
The Studio produced a number of special features whereby an issue would be entirely devoted to a specific subject. For example, a 1901 issue entitled Modern British Domestic Architecture and Decoration featured Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Glasgow School of designers. The publicity generated by the magazine helped to familiarise the Glasgow movement throughout Europe, but particularly within Austria and Germany where subscription to The Studio had always been relatively high.
The magazine did much to help establish Arts & Crafts organisations within Europe. It was a particular lifeline for many of the subject nations, such as Finland, Norway and Poland, which had no legitimate political representation apart from articles published within magazines like The Studio, which highlighted their own legitimate cultural heritage and contemporary outlook. It is perhaps hard to appreciate today what an impact The Studio magazine must have had on large sections of the art and design world, particularly within its first couple of decades of publication. It was a lifeline to many who had no other localised information or outlet to the contemporary world of design and decoration. It helped to widen both interest and understanding of the major contemporary art and design movements of the twentieth century in both Europe and North America. In 1911 for example, The Studio set aside a whole issue to Peasant Art in Austria and Hungary, which helped to expand the knowledge of the outside world to the many cultures that made up the patchwork quilt that was the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
The Studio also highlighted and helped to promote a number of artists, designers and decorative styles, throughout its life. It championed Aubrey Beardsley and commissioned the artist to produce the first cover of the magazine in 1893. It also had regular features promoting anything from nineteenth century Japanese prints to North American Studio pottery.
From 1906 onwards, the magazine published an annual summary of all the best in contemporary architecture, interior design and decoration. This annual summary went on until the last publication in 1980. The Decorative Art annual, or Decorative Art in Modern Interiors as it was renamed in the mid-1960s, championed all the major design movements of the twentieth century, from Art Nouveau, through to Art Deco, Modernism and Post War design. These annuals are now published as decade themed books by Taschen and are listed with links to Amazon in the Reference links section below.
