Although Arts and Crafts rhetoric espoused morality, honesty, and simplicity, the movement was not explicitly associated with religion. Its secular spirituality attracted many followers, and others blended their own religious beliefs into the Arts and Crafts lifestyle and their creations. Architect Ralph Adams Cram, a devout Catholic renowned for his church buildings, was one of the founding members of the Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston. Like many Bostonians, Cram looked to the arts of the Middle Ages for inspiration and was particularly drawn to the ecclesiastical style of the era, the Gothic. In his reform Gothic Revival designs, Cram experimented with merging the old and the new; he sought to create works "in a medieval spirit vitalized by modern conditions."

This combination is seen in domestic scale in the bed Cram designed for his daughter Elizabeth. The labor-intensive panel-and-frame construction and hand-carved ornament evoke the craftsmanship of the Middle Ages. Yet the Gothic lettering of the biblical inscription and the painted and gilt guardian angels at each corner of the bed frame introduce an abstract quality that suggests the modern. The carved elements of the bed were executed by Boston's leading carver of the Arts and Crafts period, John (Johannes) Kirchmayer. A frequent collaborator of Cram's, Kirchmayer emigrated from Germany in the 1890s and quickly became known for the quality and distinctive style of his religious carvings. The bed's angels are a provocative mix of distinctive facial features and stylized, abstract bodies and clothing. Originally made as a crib with vertical slats on the sides, the piece was modified into a youth's bed as Elizabeth grew.

This text was adapted from Ward, et al., MFA Highlights: American Decorative Arts & Sculpture (Boston, 2006) available at www.mfashop.com/mfa-publications.html.

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