Synopses & Reviews
What is craft? How is it different from fine art or design? In A Theory of Craft, Howard Risatti examines these issues by comparing handmade ceramics, glass, metalwork, weaving, and furniture to painting, sculpture, photography, and machine-made design from Bauhaus to the Memphis Group. He describes craft as uniquely blending function with a deeper expression of human values that transcend culture, time, and space.
Review
"A well-organized argument for the consideration of craft as art and its elevation in status. . . . An important contribution to the field of contemporary craft activity and its contributions."-Wintherthur Portfolio
Review
"Destined to become required reading for undergraduate and graduate courses in art and craft history. . . . A book worth waiting for."--Ceramics Monthly
Review
"An unprecedented effort to define crafts and to place the work in a cultural context, both differentiating it from and aligning it with other aesthetic activities. Risatti's fluent, knowledgeable approach and his emphatic categorizing should be widely read--not because he offers a final answer but because his extraordinary book is so stimulating and provocative."--Janet Koplos, senior editor, Art in America
Review
"With a writing style that is direct and engaging, Risatti examines the value of the handmade in an age of mass-production and constructs a critical framework for evaluating the place of craft media in today's art environment."--FiberArts
About the Author
Howard Risatti is professor emeritus of art history at Virginia Commonwealth University. His four previous books include Skilled Work: American Craft in the Renwick Gallery and Postmodern Perspectives: Issues in Contemporary Art.
Table of Contents
ContentsForeword by Kenneth R. Trapp
Preface
Introduction
Part I: Practical-Functional Arts and the Uniqueness of Craft: Questions about Terminology
1 Purpose, Use, and Function
2 Taxonomy of Craft Based on Applied Function
3 Different Applied Functions: Tools and Craft Objects
4 Comparing Machines, Tools, and Craft Objects
5 Purpose and Physiological Necessity in Craft
6 Nature and the Origin of Craft Objects
Part II: Craft and Fine Art
7 What Are the Fine Arts and What Do They Do?
8 Social Convention versus Physical Necessity
9 Craft, Fine Art, and Nature
10 Technical Knowledge and Technical Manual Skill
11 Hand and Body in Relation to Craft
12 Hand and Body in Relation to Fine Art
13 Physicality versus Opticality
14 Thingness of the Thing
Part III: Issues of Craft and Design
15 Material and Manual Skill
16 Design, Workmanship, and Craftsmanship
17 Craftsman versus Designer
18 Implications of Craft and Design
19 Hand, Machine, and Material
Part IV: Aesthetic Objects and Aesthetic Images
20 A Historical Perspective of Craft and Aesthetic Theory
21 Aesthetics and the Function/Nonfunction Dichotomy
22 Kant and Purpose in Fine Art
23 Fine Craft, Fine Art, Fine Design
24 Intentionality, Meaning, and the Aesthetic
25 Beauty, Contemplation, and the Aesthetic Dimension
26 How Aesthetic Contemplation Operates
27 Development of the Critical Objects of Studio Craft
Postscript
Bibliography
Index