Tile with pine branch design c. 1895

Trent Tile produced this ceramic tile with a pine branch design sometime between 1882 and 1939. Tiles such as this are interesting for what they tell us about the Arts and Crafts movement in America and its social ambitions. The movement was a reaction against industrialization and mass production. It promoted a return to handcrafted goods and the use of natural materials. The pine branch motif here evokes a sense of the natural world, a visual antidote to the grimy realities of urban industrial life. But let's not be naive about this. Arts and Crafts objects were, ironically, mostly purchased by middle-class consumers who benefited from that same industrial economy. So, the tile reflects the cultural values and aspirations of a particular social class. To understand this tile better, one could consult catalogs and journals from the period, as well as studies of the Arts and Crafts movement. Art like this is always embedded in a web of social and economic relations.