ARTH 357 Studies in the History of Craft & Decorative Arts: The Arts and Crafts Movement in a Global Perspective

• Mondays, 12:15-14:45
• EV-1-605
• Instructor: Susan Surette

The Arts and Crafts Movement that began in Britain in the late-nineteenth century in response to design and social problems associated with industrialization quickly became influential throughout the UK. It tackled design reform of functional objects and domestic architecture and also explored how to propel craft practices into social and economic benefits for economically and culturally marginalized populations. Through speaking tours by its leading proponents, exhibitions and The Studio Magazine, its philosophies about design and social reform were exported throughout Europe and North America. As well, these ideas were disseminated all over the British Empire, couched in an imperialist and colonialist approach that, while supporting and praising the historic craft productions of its colonies, framed their contemporary practices as needing design and production reform. In the case of Japan, its own rapid industrialization in the early-twentieth century created a situation ripe for the nostalgia of its swiftly disappearing craft practices and the adoption of Arts and Crafts Movement values, that gave rise to its Japanese counterpart, the Mingei Movement. In North America, the Arts and Crafts Movement spawned a craze for the arts of the First Nations and promoted immigrant craft practices and economically marginalized women’s craft productions. Using a decolonising approach, this course will look at the various ways the aesthetic and social ideas and practices of the Arts and Crafts Movement were adopted and adapted as they spread into Europe, North America, India and Japan at the turn of the last century, entangled with political and social movements linked to empire and nation building and the defence of regional and cultural identities. The nineteenth-century Arts and Crafts Movement is also historically intertwined with the institutionalization of heritage. We will explore this through recent craft practices when we examine specific case studies attached to these regions within the context of national heritage initiatives, UNESCO’s 2003 Intangible Cultural Heritage Convention and the World Crafts Council’s recent program to promote “craft cities”.