|
|
Books > Arts & Architecture > History of art / art & design styles > 1800 to 1900 > Arts & crafts design
William De Morgan was the principal ceramic designer and maker in
the Arts and Crafts Movement. Heavily influenced by the art of the
Middle East, he was active for nearly thirty years from the 1870s
onwards and was never content with an existing technical process if
he thought it could be improved. He is famous for his vases and
decorative chargers, but it is arguably his tiles - still to be
found in homes and museums around Britain and the world - that have
made the greatest impact. His tiles portray iconic images of
animals, ships and floral designs, blending style influences to
produce designs that featured new, stylized interpretations and a
whimsical character. He combined a strong design style with rich
glaze colours, making blue and green, and a deep orangey red into
visual trademarks. There were important commissions from royalty
and industry, and his ceramics were marketed to the growing middle
classes by William Morris, the founder and leading light of the
Arts and Crafts Movement. The tiles of the Arts and Crafts Movement
are now highly collectible, and none more so than those made at
William De Morgan's Chelsea, Merton Abbey and Fulham potteries.
This highly illustrated book, by acknowledged experts on De Morgan,
presents the first study of the tiles to be published in over
thirty-five years and features an examination of De Morgan's lustre
glazes using high sensitivity X-ray analysis.
Documents on Contemporary Crafts is a book series published by
Norwegian Crafts in collaboration with Arnoldsche Art Publishers.
The series provides a critical reflection of contemporary crafts in
a wider context and in doing so asks questions about the ties
between contemporary craft, fine art and design, thus helping to
redefine the concept of crafts as such. The five volumes discuss
such topics as skills, materiality, curating, collecting,
perception and New Materialism. The more than thirty contributors
range from leading craft theorists, such as Jorunn Veiteberg, Glenn
Adamson and Liesbeth den Besten, via academics outside the craft
tradition, such as Roger L. Kneebone, professor of surgical
education, Trevor Marchand, professor of social anthropology, and
Margaret Wasz, consultant psychological therapist, to emerging
voices like Sarah R. Gilbert, Marianne Zamecznik and Stephen Knott.
No. 1: Museum for Skills. Skills are essential to the crafts
discourse. Yet in an art world that for the last 50 years has
become increasingly focused on conceptual strategies, we have seen
the tendencies of deskilling and outsourcing. In Museum for Skills,
the contributors analyse the current situation for skills by
drawing on experience from the fields of brain research, surgery
and anthropology. No. 2: Materiality Matters. If materiality is a
quality-related concept in both contemporary crafts and
contemporary art, are we talking about the same notion? Or is there
a fundamental difference between, on one hand, a maker's confidence
in his or her materials, and on the other, a contemporary artist's
use and adaption of a given material? No. 3: Crafting Exhibitions.
Curatorial discourse has been an increasingly important aspect of
contemporary art. The curator took on a new role as the 'author' of
the exhibition. Crafting Exhibitions introduces some of the
processes that go into making an exhibition, from developing
concepts to the physical realisation. The contributors offer
different approaches to exhibitions. No. 4: On Collecting.
Collections make up an important part of the contemporary arts and
crafts infrastructure. Collectors and museums help improve the
financial situation of artists. Additionally, to be included in the
'right' collection or museum can give an artist a high level of
recognition and preserves the art works for the future. On
Collecting offers insights into collecting from different
perspectives and sheds light on some of the structures that
determine the 'collectability' of works of art. No. 5: Material
Perceptions. Contemporary craft objects can be perceived for
instance, as works of art in ceramics, glass, textile, metal and
wood, or as functional, handmade and everyday objects. Material
Perceptions investigates contemporary crafts as representations of
reality that do not rely on the concept of autonomy, unravelling
the dualism between aesthetic objects and everyday things.
Norwegian Crafts is a non-profit organisation founded by the
Norwegian Association for Arts and Crafts in 2012. Norwegian Crafts
initiates and produces exhibitions in collaboration with Norwegian
and international institutions, curators and artists. The aim is to
strengthen the position of contemporary craft from Norway
internationally, contribute to the development of the artists'
careers and stimulate further exchange across national borders in
the field of crafts.
|
You may like...
Greek Myths
Gustav Schwab
Hardcover
R1,041
R877
Discovery Miles 8 770
|