The Craft Reader

647 Pages·2018·134.174 MB·English

by  Glenn Adamson (editor)

THE CRAFT READER
TUE ADACT
I n C v i t M r I
EDITED BY GLENN ADAMSON
BLOOMSBURY VISUAL ARTS
BLOOMSBURY VISUAL ARTS
Bloomsbury Publishing Pic
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BLOOMSBURY, BLOOMSBURY VISUAL ARTS and the Diana logo are trademarks
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First published in Great Britain by Berg Publishers 2010
Reprinted by Bloomsbury Academic 2016 (twice), 2017
This edition published by Bloomsbury Visual Arts 2018
Reprinted 2019 (twice)
Copyright © Glenn Adamson, 2010
Glenn Adamson has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988,
to be identified as Author of this work.
For legal purposes the Acknowledgements on p. xi constitute an extension of this copyright page.
Cover design: William Joseph
Cover image © (Front cover) Otto Hagel, Marguerite Wildenhain Showing The Motion of Hands
Making a Pot, ca. 1945. Marguerite Wildenhain papers. Archives of American Art. (Spine) W. A. S.
Benson, Electric table lamp, ca. 1900. Brass. Victoria and Albert Museum.
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ISBN: PB: 978-1-3500-9264-8
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgements xi
Note on the Texts xiii
Introduction 1
SECTION 1: HOW-TO
Section Introduction 9
1. ‘Introductory Remarks’, from The Teachers Otto Salomon 11
Handbook ofSlöjd
2. Elements of Handicraft and Design WAS. Benson 16
3. The Wheelwright’s Shop George Sturt 22
4. On Weaving Anni Albers 29
5. Primitive Pottery Hal Riegger 34
SECTION 2: CRAFT AND THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
Section Introduction 43
6. On the Economy of Machines and Manufactures Charles Babbage 48
7. Artisans and Machinery Peter Gaskell 55
8. ‘How an Arisrocracy May Emerge from Alexis de 61
Industry, from Democracy in America Tocqueville
9. Industrial Biography: Iron Workers Samuel Smiles 65
and Tool Makers
10. Capital Karl Marx 69
11. ‘The Primary Effects of Scientific Management’, Harry Braverman 78
from Labor and Monopoly Capitalism
12. The Workshop of the World: Steam Power Raphael Samuel 83
and Hand Technology in Mid-Victorian Britain
13. Technological Innovation and Design Economics Michael Ettema 92
in Furniture Manufacture
14. Artistic America Siegfried Bing 99
15. In the Cause of Architecture: The Architect Frank Lloyd Wright 107
and the Machine
16. Art and the Machine Hermann 111
Muthesius
17. Building Materials Adolf Loos 115
18. Handwerk/Kunsthandwerk Stefan Muthesius 120
SECTION 3: MODERN CRAFT: IDEALISM AND REFORM
Section Introduction 135
19. ‘The Nature of Gothic’, from John Ruskin 139
The Stones of Venice
20. The Revival of Handicraft William Morris 146
21. Art and Labor Ellen Gates Starr 156
22. Art and Workmanship WR. Lethaby 161
23. ‘Slogans’, ‘The Work Ahead of Us’ and ‘The Problem Vladimir Tatlin 164
of the Relationship between Man and Object’
24. ‘The Way of Craftsmanship’, from The Unknown Sôetsu Yanagi 167
Craftsman: A Japanese Insight into Beauty
25. A Potter’s Book Bernard Leach 177
26. Initiation and the Crafts René Guénon 186
27. Indian Handicrafts Kamaladevi 192
Chattopadhyay
28. ‘The Relation of the Past to the Demands of the Present’, 199
World Crafts Conference proceedings (1964)
29. Centering M. C. Richards 206
30. Introduction to Craftsman Lifestyle: The Gentle Revolution Eudorah Moore 214
31. The Soul of a Tree George Nakashima 219
32. The Long Shadow of William Morris: Paradigmatic EdwardS. Cooke, Jr. 226
Problems of Twentieth-Century American Furniture
SECTION 4: THE PERSISTENCE OF CRAFT
IN THE AGE OF MASS PRODUCTION
Section Introduction 239
33. Shoemaker of Dreams Salvatore 244
Ferragamo
34. Crafting Grand Cru Chocolates in Contemporary France Susan J. Terrio 253
35. From Peasant to Artisan: Motor Mechanics Sara Berry 263
in a Nigerian Town
36. Destiny World: Textile Casualties in Southern Nigeria David T. Doris 272
37. On a Particular Kind of Love and the Sergei Alasheev 287
Specificity of Soviet Production
38. Original Copies Philip Tinari 297
39. ‘What Is Cybernetics?’, from Norbert Wiener 303
The Human Use of Humans
40. Abstracting Craft: The Practiced Malcolm 310
Digital Hand McCullough
41. ‘Digital Artisans Manifesto’, European Digital Artisans Richard Barbrook 317
Network and Pit Schultz
42. Craft versus Design: Moving Beyond a Tired Dichotomy Rafael Cardoso 321
SECTION 5: CRAFT IN THEORY: AESTHETICS,
ESSENCE, STATUS
Section Introduction 335
43. The Nature and Art of Workmanship David Pye 341
44. ‘The Genesis of the Technical Object: The Process Gilbert 354
of Concretization’, from Du Mode ^Existence des Objets Simondon
Techniques
45. ‘Forms in the Realms of Matter’, from The Life Henri Focillon 360
of Forms in Art
46. Rhythm Elsie Fogerty 366
47. The Mande Blacksmiths: Knowledge, Power and Art in Patrick R. 372
West Africa McNaughton
48. African Art: Where the Hand Has Ears Amadou 379
Hâmpaté Bâ
49. Walter Benjamin: Traces of Craft Esther Leslie 386
50. Functionalism Today Theodor Adorno 395
51. The Thing Martin Heidegger 404
52. Rappel a l’Ordre: The Case for the Tectonic Kenneth Frampton 409
53. ‘Art and Craft’, from The Principles of Art R. G. Collingwood 417
54. Art and Work Harold Rosenberg 424
55. ‘Comment’ and Responses John Bentley Mays 430
56. Curatorial Comment from The Makers Eye Alison Britton 441
57. How Envy Killed the Crafts Garth Clark 445
SECTION 6: CRAFT IN ACTION: LIFE,
ART, DESIGN
Section Introduction 457
58. The Enchantment of Technology and the Technology Alfred Gell 464
of Enchantment
59. Making Something from Nothing (Toward a Definition Lucy Lippard 483
of Women’s ‘Hobby Art’)
60. ‘The Creation of Femininity, from The Subversive Stitch: Rozsika Parker 491
Embroidery and the Making of the Feminine
61. There’s No Place Like Home: Home Dressmaking Carole Tulloch 501
and Creativity in the Jamaican Community of the
1940s to the 1960s
62. House-Trained Objects: Notes Towards Writing Tanya Harrod 512
an Alternative History of Modern Art
63. The New Ceramic Presence Rose Slivka 525
64. How I Spent My Summer Vacation or, Art and Politics in Philip Leider 534
Nevada, Berkeley, San Francisco and Utah
65. Some Notes on the Phenomenology of Making: Robert Morris 540
The Search for the Motivated
66. The Art of Encounter Lee Ufan 548
67. Let the Artisans Craft Our Future Grayson Perry 552
68. ‘Manifesto of the Bauhaus Walter Gropius 554
and ‘Education and the Bauhaus’ and Laszlo
Moholy-Nagy
69. Shaping America’s Products Don Wallance 559
70. Asilomar Conference Proceedings 1957 Marguerite 569
Wildenhain and
Charles Eames
71. ‘The New Handicrafts/ from Hot House Andrea Branzi 577
SECTION 7: CONTEMPORARY APPROACHES
Section Introduction 585
72. Affectivity and Entropy: Production Aesthetics Johanna Drucker 588
in Contemporary Sculpture
73. ‘Craftsmen in the Factory of Images, from Tami Katz-Freiman 596
BoysCrafi
74. And What Is Your Title? Zandra Ahi 606
75. Craft Hard, Die Free: Radical Curatorial Strategies Anthea Black 609
for Craftivism in Unruly Contexts and Nicole Burisch
76. The Politics of Craft: A Roundtable Julia Bryan-Wilson, 620
Liz Collins, Sabrina
Gschwandtner,
Cat Mazza and
Allison Smith
Recommended Bibliography 629
List of Illustrations 632
Index 637