Cat Studies with Straight Lines, a detail from Design in Theory and Practice (1910) by Ernest A. Batchelder, captures the quiet discipline at the heart of the Arts and Crafts movement. By denying the use of curved lines, Batchelder shifted focus from observation to construction, asking students to think like makers rather than illustrators: "It is the purpose to seek a happy middle ground between Nature and the geometric basis on which the work has developed, to retain the distinctive character of a natural form without sacrificing the distinctive character that claims interest from a design point of view." Ernest Batchelder
