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The invention of craft / Glenn Adamson.

By: Publisher: London : Bloomsbury, 2013Description: xxv, 243 pages : illustrations (some colored) ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780857850645
  • 9780857850669
Subject(s):
Contents:
The Invention of Craft Introduction -- Part One: Manipulation The Centre Holds -- The Carved and the Flat The Undisciplined Artisan Poor Plain and Paltry: The Decline of Carving The Cutting Edge The Hands of Others -- Part Two: Mystery The Age of the Reveal Porcelain: A Modern Arcanum Sleights of Hand An Elastic Age Explained Away: Craft and Cultural Improvement The Task of Re-Enchantment -- The New Arcanists -- Part Three: Mechanical All Things But A Self State of Nature Replication and the Industrial Artisan The Reproductive Continuum Analogue Practice In and Out of Touch -- Part Four: Memory Craft as Memory Work Dismantling Ruskin United and Industrious Affective Relations Stitches in Time -- Index.
Summary: "Glenn Adamson's last book, Thinking Through Craft, offered an influential account of craft's position within modern and contemporary art. Now, in his engaging sequel, The Invention of Craft, his theoretical discussion of skilled work is extended back in time and across numerous disciplines. Adamson searches out the origins of modern craft, locating its emergence in the period of the industrial revolution. He demonstrates how craft was invented as industry's "other", a necessary counterpart to ideas of progress and upheaval. In the process, the magical and secretive culture of artisans was gradually dominated through division and explication. This left craft with an oppositional stance, a traditional or anti-modern position. The Invention of Craft ranges widely across media, from lock-making, wood-carving and iron-casting to fashion, architecture and design. It also moves back and forth between periods, from the 18th century to the present day, demonstrating how contemporary practice can be informed through the study of modern craft in its moment of invention"-- Provided by publisher.

Formerly CIP. Uk

includes bibliographical references and index.

The Invention of Craft Introduction -- Part One: Manipulation The Centre Holds -- The Carved and the Flat The Undisciplined Artisan Poor Plain and Paltry: The Decline of Carving The Cutting Edge The Hands of Others -- Part Two: Mystery The Age of the Reveal Porcelain: A Modern Arcanum Sleights of Hand An Elastic Age Explained Away: Craft and Cultural Improvement The Task of Re-Enchantment -- The New Arcanists -- Part Three: Mechanical All Things But A Self State of Nature Replication and the Industrial Artisan The Reproductive Continuum Analogue Practice In and Out of Touch -- Part Four: Memory Craft as Memory Work Dismantling Ruskin United and Industrious Affective Relations Stitches in Time -- Index.

"Glenn Adamson's last book, Thinking Through Craft, offered an influential account of craft's position within modern and contemporary art. Now, in his engaging sequel, The Invention of Craft, his theoretical discussion of skilled work is extended back in time and across numerous disciplines. Adamson searches out the origins of modern craft, locating its emergence in the period of the industrial revolution. He demonstrates how craft was invented as industry's "other", a necessary counterpart to ideas of progress and upheaval. In the process, the magical and secretive culture of artisans was gradually dominated through division and explication. This left craft with an oppositional stance, a traditional or anti-modern position. The Invention of Craft ranges widely across media, from lock-making, wood-carving and iron-casting to fashion, architecture and design. It also moves back and forth between periods, from the 18th century to the present day, demonstrating how contemporary practice can be informed through the study of modern craft in its moment of invention"-- Provided by publisher.