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The University of North Carolina Press
352 pp., 5.75 x 9.25, 44 illus., notes, bibl., index
Function and Aesthetic Expression
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's unique qualities as functionality combined with an ability to express human values that transcend temporal, spatial, and social boundaries.
Modern design today has taken over from craft the making of functional objects of daily use by employing machines to do work once done by hand. Understanding the aesthetic and social implications of this transformation forces us to see craft as well as design and fine art in a new perspective, Risatti argues. Without a way of understanding and valuing craft on its own terms, the field languishes aesthetically, being judged by fine art criteria that automatically deny art status to craft objects. Craft must articulate a role for itself in contemporary society, says Risatti; otherwise it will be absorbed by fine art or design and its singular approach to understanding the world will be lost. A Theory of Craft is a signal contribution to establishing a craft theory that recognizes, defines, and celebrates the unique blend of function and human aesthetic values embodied in the craft object.
"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
"Destined to become required reading for undergraduate and graduate courses in art and craft history. . . . A book worth waiting for."
--Ceramics Monthly
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
"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
A Theory of Craft is destined to become required reading for undergraduate and graduate courses in art and craft history. . . . Risattis writing is so forthright and sensible that one wants to take in every word, line by line, right up to his final conclusions. . . . Now we all have a book that articulates once and for all why [craft] is so important for the kind of world we live in.
--Ceramics Monthly
[A Theory of Craft] lays out reasons for the historical dichotomy in Western philosophy between fine art and crafts.
--Library Journal
Cloth: $39.95
© 2009 The University of North Carolina Press
116 South Boundary Street, Chapel Hill, NC 27514-3808
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