...speaking of moose....

we have seen here before the wonders wrought by the conjunction of railroads, a middle class, and entrepreneurs, and the beautiful pacific northwest of the united states joined the phenomenon as well.

in their comprehensive new book, the arts and crafts movement in the pacific northwest, lawrence kreisman and glenn mason trace for us every bough and twig of this branch of the international movement.

as we have seen before, the line, as it transversed the world, looked different wherever it happened to manifest. modernisme in spain looked different from art nouveau in france; stile florale in italy and jugendstil in germany were quite different.

similarly, "the line" transmogrified itself in the different regions of the US as well. yes, it all falls easily under the umbrage 'arts & crafts.' but each also belongs to its own region as well (and each with it's own book. look for books with individual titles for, in addition to the pacific northwest: california, new york, minnesota, and, i'm sure, now, many more.

the thing is... every region deserves its own focus, as this book amply illustrates. each form resembles the rest, but holds some of its own personal secrets. in the arts of the era, mountains surrounded by pines are only appropriate in some areas -- and clearly not in others!

and moose.

and while the seascape will differ, we see imagist photos; could this have been taken by gertrude kasebar just as easily?

and even as we see the mountains of washington, of oregon, we can sense the heritage they bring from fuji, and regions east.

and as i suggested at the beginning, the railways and steamships could just as easily bring the seattle residents to new york and then to paris, as it brought the latest style inspirations to them. we see subject matter and style that tied this corner of the us to the rest of the world.

thus was pollination crossed.

feel for your- self some of the unique flavor of that corner of the states in 'historical seattle' at the 2008 bungalow fair.

or better yet, check out this book, and name these subtle differences for yourself. (timber press)