Co-published in Association with the Victoria and Albert Museum, London This book is a timely and engaging introduction to the way that artists working in all media think about craft. Workmanship is key to today's visual arts, when high 'production values' are becoming increasingly commonplace. Yet craft's centrality to contemporary art has received little serious attention from critics and historians. Dispensing with clichéd arguments that craft is art, Adamson persuasively makes a case for defining craft in a more nuanced fashion. The interesting thing about craft, he argues, is that it is perceived to be 'inferior' to art. The book consists of an overview of various aspects of this second-class identity - supplementarity, sensuality, skill, the pastoral, and the amateur. It also provides historical case studies analysing craft's role in a variety of disciplines, including architecture, design, contemporary art, and the crafts themselves. Thinking Through Craft will be essential reading for anyone interested in craft or the broader visual arts.
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Editorial Reviews
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'At a time when technical skill has been widely dismissed or outsourced in the production of art, Glenn Adamson crucially adds an entire spectrum of hand-crafted objects to the creative history of the post-war era. And at a time when theoretical frameworks have stagnated, these objects, in his hands, bring with them a fresh and sophisticated set of interpretive perspectives.' Thomas Crow, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University 'Adamson asks provocative questions about the marginalization of craft within the discourse of modernism. Best of all, he writes with a lucidity, energy and engagement that takes the reader with him all the way.' Pennina Barnett, Goldsmiths College, University of London 'A highly original contribution, Thinking through Craft is both thoughtful and exacting about crafted objects and the lessons provided by the artists' time, labor and material inventiveness.' Modern Painters 'A pathbreaking book" Elissa Auther, University of Colorado Throughout Thinking Through Craft, Adamson offers such provocative readings of both fine art and craft history that are likely to instigate radical new ways of thinking about each. Maria Elena Buszek, for Surface Design This book is ... full of thoughtful and pertinent analysis and achieves an impressive theoretical take on the role of studio craft within the history of modern art. The Journal of William Morris Studies A thoughtful, exciting and well-written book that touches on so many interesting ideas concerning craft. Museum Anthropology Review
About the Author
Glenn Adamson is Deputy Head of Research and Head of Graduate Studies at the Victoria and Albert Museum, where he leads a graduate program in the History of Design. He holds degrees in Art History from Cornell University (BA) and from Yale University (PhD). Dr. Adamson was previously curator at the Chipstone Foundation, and in that capacity prepared exhibitions at the Milwaukee Art Museum and taught Art History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the co-editor (with Tanya Harrod and Edward S. Cooke, Jr.) of the Journal of Modern Craft, the only academic journal in the subject area, which will launch in March 2008.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Provides important modern art and craft related concepts and "physical evidence" to back up all his arguments.
May 27, 2011
By Chen
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book tackles in a very sucint and precise way the ample and varied concepts of modern arts and crafts.
It gives you the necessary conceptual references to understand craft in the contemporary scenario, all backed up by sound examples of practicing artist and artisans.
A must read book along with The Craft Reader from the same author.
For me, after years mining for this kind of information, it is a kind of relief to have found these books in a field where rarely books of this magnitude appears.
It gives you the necessary conceptual references to understand craft in the contemporary scenario, all backed up by sound examples of practicing artist and artisans.
A must read book along with The Craft Reader from the same author.
For me, after years mining for this kind of information, it is a kind of relief to have found these books in a field where rarely books of this magnitude appears.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By bpceramics
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book is an excellent resource for anyone working in the 3D arts. Glenn Adamson received his pHD from Yale...and basically this is his dissertation.
Good connections between french theory and contemporary craft practices. Also get "The Craft Reader" his bibliography from this series of research.
Good connections between french theory and contemporary craft practices. Also get "The Craft Reader" his bibliography from this series of research.
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