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A Theory of Craft: 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 as uniquely blending function with a deeper expression of human values that transcend culture, time, and space. 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.
327 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 22, 2018
Risatti has done a marvellous job in laying the groundwork for a theory of craft. I confess I am not steeped enough in the ongoing aesthetic debates, but I believe that even if a better authority on the subject found themselves in disagreement they’d at the very least be able to dissent from what was a coherent and thorough examination of the position craft occupies and could occupy in our world. His distinction between fine art (classically regarded as painting and sculpture) and craft on the basis of visual-communicative and applied function respectively seems apropos and moderate. But what intrigued me more was his discussion of the relation between traditional craft and the hand, and the impact modern industrial design—with its emphasis on multiples which transcend the prelapsarian categories of the original, copy, and reproduction—has had on the phenomenology of the human. If before the master craftsman had intentionally reified function, machines now subject the human to its demands. The result is a culture which prizes efficiency and repetition, models which may not be appropriate for the humanities. Can craft change this modality? I am skeptical, but all the same excited for Studio Craft to try.
Risatti spends the final portion of the book discussing beauty, the aesthetic, and comprehension thereof. Again, I do not find myself in a position to perorate at length about the finer points of his argument, but for the lay reader what one can expect to walk away with is a sense of how to read craft, and fine art, the next time one visits a museum. In terms of craft, form and its subversion provide an entry into a dialogue about its boundaries with sculpture, and the tension of unwieldy and unreal craft with its implied function challenge the viewer both as an aesthetic coitus interruptus (as in the case of the teasingly unusable goblets) and as a testament to the crafter’s technique, skilful choice of material, and individual testimony. If art is the imposition of thought/content onto existing physical form, then craft is the enactment of physical form onto a conceived function-concept, and it is an appreciation of this fundamental idea that has allowed me to gain a fuller fore-understanding of what it means and what it takes to behold a critical object of craft.
Risatti spends the final portion of the book discussing beauty, the aesthetic, and comprehension thereof. Again, I do not find myself in a position to perorate at length about the finer points of his argument, but for the lay reader what one can expect to walk away with is a sense of how to read craft, and fine art, the next time one visits a museum. In terms of craft, form and its subversion provide an entry into a dialogue about its boundaries with sculpture, and the tension of unwieldy and unreal craft with its implied function challenge the viewer both as an aesthetic coitus interruptus (as in the case of the teasingly unusable goblets) and as a testament to the crafter’s technique, skilful choice of material, and individual testimony. If art is the imposition of thought/content onto existing physical form, then craft is the enactment of physical form onto a conceived function-concept, and it is an appreciation of this fundamental idea that has allowed me to gain a fuller fore-understanding of what it means and what it takes to behold a critical object of craft.
July 31, 2023
Phew! I read it, by myself, over two months, two chapters at a time. It's not that the writing itself is difficult (like say, a book by Kant or Walter Benjamin). It's just that the writing is extremely complete. As in, there's one argument per chapter, each chapter is short, but paragraph establishes and then supports a premise in a methodical manner such that it's actually easy to understand but just really dense. Which makes sense because it appears Risatti was setting up the foundation for craft theory in this book -- so it needed to be "airtight" as it's a somewhat radical subject, or was at the time (to my knowledge, which is limited to be honest). Risatti provides answers to the questions of "What defines craft? What defines art? What defines design?" throughout the book and offers excellent examples via objects/artworks and writings by other theorists, historians, and artists. Published in 2007, Risatti doesn't address time-based media, installation art, or new media art (e.g. digital art), and little is said regarding use of computers in the creation of craft that is expressive. Also, there's not a lot about the blending of forms and techniques that is so prevalent now. But I'm writing my comments in 2023. It's also intriguing to consider Risatti's writing in light of AI and it's potential impact on craft and art-making. That said, I think there were always be artists and craftspeople. And designers who are human.
Spoiler alert: "So in theory and in practice, any type of object offers the possibility of being an aesthetic/art object; it does not depend on material or medium nor on the presence or absence of function." (p.250). What it does depend on, Risatti explains in this chapter and the next are, "What in the act of making is the maker's intention?" (p.254), and "What counts is the aesthetic experience that the work engenders in a beholder who accepts the work's challenge to be understood." (p.271). Which is to say, if the artist has intentions for meaning in the object, AND the viewer is up to the challenge for seeking to understand that meaning, then the object can be a work of art, whether or not it has a function (i.e. a pitcher made of clay). At least, that's how I'm reading it... Although he doesn't say all craft is art. That's a whole different thread.
Spoiler alert: "So in theory and in practice, any type of object offers the possibility of being an aesthetic/art object; it does not depend on material or medium nor on the presence or absence of function." (p.250). What it does depend on, Risatti explains in this chapter and the next are, "What in the act of making is the maker's intention?" (p.254), and "What counts is the aesthetic experience that the work engenders in a beholder who accepts the work's challenge to be understood." (p.271). Which is to say, if the artist has intentions for meaning in the object, AND the viewer is up to the challenge for seeking to understand that meaning, then the object can be a work of art, whether or not it has a function (i.e. a pitcher made of clay). At least, that's how I'm reading it... Although he doesn't say all craft is art. That's a whole different thread.
October 17, 2021
Obviously I liked this because I have over 100 highlights.
This is probably the clearest attempt at defining craft and what makes craft of the books I've read on the subject. It was carefully thought out - almost exhausting in some of the later essays, and I learned quite a bit and have much to think about.
This is probably the clearest attempt at defining craft and what makes craft of the books I've read on the subject. It was carefully thought out - almost exhausting in some of the later essays, and I learned quite a bit and have much to think about.
June 24, 2013
Learned something new. Took a while.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews