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Scandinavian Crafts Rampant
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14653 |
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Section : |
THE ARTS
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| Issue
Date : |
11 / 1988 |
2,395 Words |
| Author
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Katherine S. Clark
Katherine S. Clark is a freelance writer and curator living in
New York City. |
Good, clean design. Haunting, brooding images. Fairy-tale whimsy. Craft for art's sake. Scandinavian Craft Today, an exhibition of nearly one hundred eighty works from thirty-five artists, ranging from books to jewelry to textiles, conjures up all these impressions.
Although five separate nations (Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, and Iceland) make up what we know as Scandinavia, they do share a common heritage, embracing disparate and even contradictory aesthetic impulses. Many Nordic craftsmakers carry on the tradition of "good, clean design" that we have come to expect from Scandinavia, making objects that are spared and elegant. Others draw on their folk art heritage, making works of whimsy and celebration as well as pieces that look farther back to the mythic roots of these northern peoples.
Intimate Predilection
Another group deals with more formal questions and makes what Barbara Mayer in her new book defines as "craft art": nonfunctional two-and three-dimensional objects made with materials traditionally used by craftsmakers (glass, clay, wood, fiber, etc.). Scandinavian artists and craftspeople also share "a predilection for the intimate rather than the monumental as well as a respect for natural materials and the tradition-steeped skill of working with them," according to design critic Ulf Hard as Segerstad. Despite these shared concerns, each of the artists represented in this exhibition pursues a personal vision.
A celebration of materials and craft, Scandinavian Craft Today updates America's view of Nordic design and crafts, last seen on this scale in the 1982 exhibition Scandinavian Modern Design: 1880-1980. The interface between craft and design in Scandinavia is strong, leading Tapio Periainen, director of the Finnish Society of Crafts and Design, to say that "handicrafts and design are one and the same thing." The earlier exhibition focused primarily on objects designed and produced by industry in editions, although unique objects were also included in both exhibitions, often showing works of remarkable similarity.
Respect for Materials
Much of Scandinavian design derives from the northern craft traditions of respect for materials and crafts; this design aesthetic, in turn, is now influencing contemporary craft expressions. In the 1950s, Scandinavian design became a part of the vernacular in the United States with
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