Stickley, Gustav

AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘Gustav Stickley: American Craftsman’ Review: Artisanal AdmirationThis documentary offers a dry, rote introduction to a designer who became a key figure in the Arts and Crafts movement.The designer Gustav Stickley, center, is the subject of the documentary “Gustav Stickley: American Craftsman.”Credit…First Run FeaturesMarch 4, 2021, 7:00 a.m. ETThe documentary “Gustav Stickley: American Craftsman” offers an introduction to a designer (1858-1942) who became a crucial figure in the American Arts and Crafts movement. But the movie itself, directed by Herb Stratford, is so dull and unimaginative in its presentation — talking heads, an overused score that might as well have been downloaded from a free database — that it makes for an unfortunate match of subject matter and form.This hourlong film is pitched at a level of detail that is admirable in theory but ill-suited to dabblers — or to the medium. The Stickley biographer David Cathers, one of many people charged with delivering dry exegesis (he also shares a writing credit on the film), speaks in a calm, unvaried tone as he discusses how “Stickley moved his family from Walnut Avenue in Syracuse to Columbus Avenue in Syracuse” or recounts Stickley’s eccentric late-career quest to develop a perfect furniture finish “that manufacturers could apply efficiently and at low cost.” He might as well be reading from his book.[embedded content]
It is marginally livelier to hear from the Stickley relative Richard Wiles, who relates being told that a dresser whose drawers he used to smash shut ended up in a museum. The documentary does its baseline job of showcasing what made Stickley an innovator. You leave with a desire to visit The Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms, his New Jersey estate, as well as the Craftsman Building in New York. And by the end, a viewer could probably identify Stickley furniture with at least 50-50 accuracy.Gustav Stickley: American CraftsmanNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 7 minutes. Watch through virtual cinemas.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More