About the Book
From the canonical texts of the Arts and Crafts Movement to the radical thinking of today's "DIY" movement, from theoretical writings on the position of craft in distinction to Art and Design to how-to texts from renowned practitioners, from feminist histories of textiles to descriptions of the innovation born of necessity in Soviet factories and African auto-repair shops...The Craft Reader presents the first comprehensive anthology of writings on modern craft. Covering the period from the Industrial Revolution to today, the Reader draws on craft practice and theory from America, Europe, Asia and Africa. The world of craft is considered in its full breadth -- from pottery and weaving, to couture and chocolate-making, to contemporary art, architecture and curation. The writings are themed into sections and all extracts are individually introduced, placing each in its historical, cultural and artistic context. Bringing together an astonishing range of both classic and contemporary texts, The Craft Reader will be invaluable to any student or practitioner of Craft and also to readers in Art and Design.
AUTHORS INCLUDE: Theodor Adorno, Anni Albers, Amadou Hampate Ba, Charles Babbage, Roland Barthes, Andrea Branzi, Alison Britton, Rafael Cardoso, Johanna Drucker, Charles Eames, Salvatore Ferragamo, Kenneth Frampton, Alfred Gell, Walter Gropius, Tanya Harrod, Martin Heidegger, Patrick Heron, Bernard Leach, Esther Leslie, W. R. Lethaby, Lucy Lippard, Adolf Loos, Karl Marx, William Morris, Robert Morris, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Stefan Muthesius, George Nakashima, Octavio Paz, Grayson Perry, M. C. Richards, John Ruskin, Raphael Samuel, Ellen Gates Starr, Debbie Stoller, Alexis de Tocqueville, Lee Ufan, Frank Lloyd Wright
Table of Contents:
PART 1: HOW TO Sectional introduction 1. Otto Salomon, The Teacher's Handbook of Slojd 2. W. A. S. Benson, Elements of Handicraft and Design 3. George Sturt, The Wheelwright's Shop 4. Anni Albers, On Weaving 5. Eliot Wigginton, "Building a Log Cabin" 6. Debbie Stoller, Stitch'n'Bitch: the Knitter's Handbook PART 2: CRAFT AND THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION Sectional introduction 7. Charles Babbage, On the Economy of Machines and Manufactures 8. Peter Gaskell, Artisans and Machinery 9. Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America 10. Samuel Smiles, Industrial Biography: Iron Workers and Tool Makers 11. Karl Marx, Capital 12. Harry Braverman, Labor and Monopoly Capitalism: The Degradation of Work in the Twentieth Century 13. Raphael Samuel, "The Workshop of the World: Steam Power and Hand Technology in Mid-Victorian Britain" 14. Michael Ettema, "Technological Innovation and Design Economics in Furniture Manufacture" 15. Siegfried Bing, Artistic America 16. Frank Lloyd Wright, Collected Writings 17. Hermann Muthesius, "Art and the Machine" 18. Adolf Loos, "Building Materials," Neue Freie Presse (Aug. 28, 1898), reprinted in Loos, Speaking Into the Void: Collected Essays 1897-1900 (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1982) 19. Stefan Muthesius, "Handwerk/Kunsthandwerk" PART 3: MODERN CRAFT: IDEALISM AND REFORM Sectional Introduction 20. John Ruskin, The Stones of Venice 21. William Morris, "The Revival of Handicraft" 22. W. R. Lethaby, Form in Civilization: Collected Papers on Art and Labour 23. Ellen Gates Starr, "Art and Labor" 24. Vladimir Tatlin, "The Work Ahead of Us", "The Artist as an Organizer of Everyday Life" and "The Problem of the Relationship Between Man and Object" 25. Soetsu Yanagi, "The Way of Craftsmanship" 26. Bernard Leach, A Potter's Book 27. Ananda Coomawaraswamy, "Religious Ideas in Craftsmanship" 28. Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, Indian Handicrafts 29. Rene Guenon, "Initiation and the Crafts" 30. Octavio Paz, In Praise of Hands: Contemporary Crafts of the World 31. M. C. Richards, Centering 32. Olivia Emery, Craftsman Lifestyle: The Gentle Revolution 33. George Nakashima, The Soul of A Tree: A Master Woodworker's Reflections 34. Edward S. Cooke, Jr., "The Long Shadow of William Morris: Paradigmatic Problems of Twentieth-Century American Furniture" PART 4: THE PRESENCE OF CRAFT IN THE AGE OF MASS PRODUCTION Sectional introduction 35. Salvatore Ferragamo, The Shoemaker of Dreams 36. Susan J. Terrio, "Crafting Grand Cru Chocolates in Contemporary France" 37. Sara Berry, "From Peasant to Artisan: Motor Mechanics in a Nigerian Town" 38. Nathan Silver, "Modes and Resources of Adhocism" 39. David T. Doris, "Destiny World: Textile Casualties in Southern Nigeria" 40. Sergei Alasheev, "On a Particular Kind of Love and the Specificity of Soviet Production" 41. Iftikhar Dadi, "Plastic Toys and Urban Craft in South Asia" 42. Philip Tinari, "Original Copies" 43. Norbert Wiener, "What is Cybernetics?" 44. Michael L. Dertouzos, "Individualized Automation" 45. Malcolm McCullough, Abstracting Craft: The Practiced Digital Hand 46. European Digital Artists Network (Richard Barbrook and Pit Schultz), "Digital Artisans Manifesto" 47. Rafael Cardoso, "Craft Versus Design: Moving Beyond a Tired Dichotomy." PART 5: CRAFT IN THEORY: WORKMANSHIP, ESSENCE, STATUS Sectional Introduction 48. David Pye, The Nature and Art of Workmanship 49. Henri Focillon, "Forms in the Realms of Matter" 50. Elsie Fogerty, Rhythm 51. Amadou Hampate Ba, "African Art: Where the Hand Has Ears" 52. Robert Farris Thompson, "Yoruba Artistic Criticism" 53. Martin Heidegger, "The Thing" 54. Kenneth Frampton, "Rappel a l'Ordre: The Case for the Tectonic" 55. Esther Leslie, "Walter Benjamin: Traces of Craft" 56. Theodor Adorno, "Functionalism Today 57. R. G. Collingwood, "Art and Craft" 58. Patrick Heron, "The Crafts in Relation to Contemporary Art" 59. Harold Rosenberg, "Art and Work" 60. John Bentley Mays, "Comment" 61. Alison Britton, The Maker's Eye PART 6: CRAFT IN ACTION: THE EVERYDAY, ART AND DESIGN Sectional introduction 62. Alfred Gell, "The Enchantment of Technology and the Technology of Enchantment" 63. Patrick R. McNaughton, The Mande Blacksmiths 64. Roland Barthes, "Toys" 65. Lucy Lippard, "Making Something From Nothing (toward a Definition of Women's 'Hobby Art')" 66. Rozsika Parker, "The Creation of Femininity" 67. Carole Tulloch, "There's No Place Like Home: Home Dressmaking and Creativity in the Jamaican Community of the 1940s to the 1960s" 68. Tanya Harrod, "House-Trained Objects: Notes Towards Writing an Alternative History of Modern Art" 69. Rose Slivka, "The New Ceramic Presence" 70. Philip Leider, "How I Spent My Summer Vacation or, Art and Politics in Nevada, Berkeley, San Francisco and Utah" 71. Robert Morris, "Some Notes on the Phenomenology of Making: The Search for the Motivated" 72. Lee Ufan, The Art of Encounter 73. Grayson Perry, "A Refuge for Artists Who Play It Safe" and "Let the Artisans Craft Our Future" 74. Walter Gropius, "The Manifesto of the Bauhaus" 75. Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, "Education and the Bauhaus" 76. Don Wallance, Shaping America's Products 77. Marguerite Wildenhain, "A Ceramist Speaks on Design" 78. Charles Eames, "The Making of a Craftsman" 79. Andrea Branzi, "The New Handicrafts" PART 7: CURATORIAL APPROACHES Sectional Introduction 80. Johanna Drucker, "Affectivity and Entropy: Production Aesthetics in Contemporary Sculpture" 81. Tami Katz-Frieberg, "Craftsmen in the Factory of Images" 82. Zandra Ahl, "And What Is Your Title?" 83. Anthea Black and Nicole Burisch, "Craft Hard, Die Free: Radical Curatorial Strategies for Craftivism in Unruly Contexts" 84. Julia Bryan-Wilson, Liz Collins, Sabrina Gschwandtner, Cat Mazza, and Allison Smith, "The Politics of Craft: A Roundtable" Annotated Guide to Further Reading General Bibliography Index
About the Author :
Glenn Adamson is Deputy Head of Research and Head of Graduate Studies at the Victoria and Albert Museum. He is author of Thinking Through Craft and co-editor of the Journal of Modern Craft
Review :
The scope of the Craft Reader is breathtaking. Finally, here is a text that successfully contextualizes the diverse range of writings on craft. By gathering these thoughts into a clearly articulated set of arguments Adamson has helped to shape the field of craft discourse. This book will stand as an invaluable tool for craft scholars. Sandra Alfoldy, Nova Scotia College of Art & Design A much needed outline history of 19th and 20th century crafts within a wide social and cultural context, as well as an overview of the most important issues in crafts today. Stefan Muthesius, University of East Anglia This anthology confirms, in multiple ways across a century and a half of continual practice and debate, that the presence of craftsmanship is virtually inseparable from the design and realization of the material world. Kenneth Frampton, Columbia University Glenn Adamson's Craft Reader is the rarest of anthologies: at once an excellent and wide-reaching compilation of craft scholarship, and a provocative challenge to the same. Maria Elena Buszek, Kansas City Art Institute The idea of craft has jumped to the forefront of creative work. The many young artisans now engaged in digital fabrication, tangible interfaces, and do-it yourself electronics may enjoy reflecting on the few who kept craft alive through the industrial night, and on those whose theories and practices belong in any technological age. This astute collection gives rich context to all such thought. Malcolm McCullough, University of Michigan Thought-provoking, revealing, opinionated, intelligent, accessible and comprehensive ... a huge achievement. Crafts Magazine
