Book Reviews

The artists in Hand + Made are not content to let their work hang on a wall or sit on a pedestal; they seek active engagement. Oliver dubs this impulse towards interactivity ‘performativity,’ but a more accurate term would be ‘performed use.’ While the essayists seem eager to unshackle craft from its associations with function and the functional object, this is something that clearly sets craft apart and as such, should be celebrated. Disappointingly, the essayists seem to center their focus on the process of making rather than on the performative potential of the finished object. Adamson goes so far as to suggest that the object may not hold a central role in the future of craft, remarking that, for the work in Hand + Made, ‘the process is the product.’ more...

Throughout the catalog, in brief passages, Boelen explores these commonalities as well as individual characteristics. For instance, the family shares an interest in the relationship between an object and the human body. While Emmy and Gijs often created ‘joint-like objects’ or what was called by Benno Premsela ‘a new kind of body art,’ Aldo has had a different approach. His designs ‘form extensions of the body.’ more...

And so here it is, the enormous catalog to the Helen Williams Drutt collection, acquired by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) in Texas and co-published by that institution and Arnoldsche. Presided over by Cindi Strauss, curator of Modern and Contemporary Decorative Arts and Design, the publication is an extraordinary resource, packed full of analysis, images and the tools of art history (biography, bibliography, chronology and exhibition history). more...