Wellesley College Davis Museum and Cultural Center

Inspiring Reform: Boston's Arts and Crafts Movement

Wellesley College Davis Museum and Cultural Center; David Acton; Marilee Boyd Meyer; Renwick Gallery; Davis Museum and Cultural Center

Synopsis:
Fine craftsmanship and handiwork, originality in design, aesthetic purity, and honest use of materials in both decorative and utilitarian objects were the ideals embraced by Boston's Society of Arts and Crafts--the nation's first such organization. Inspiring Reform celebrates the centenary of the 1897 founding of the Society and examines Boston's pivotal role in the growth of the Arts and Crafts movement in America.Reproduced here are more than 150 works, dating from the 1890s to the 1930s, including splendid examples of furniture, ceramics, metalwork, jewelry, textiles, photography, book arts and typography, and wood-block prints. Essays by leading specialists in the field explore each medium. Also discussed are Boston's many reform societies, settlement houses, trade schools, craft workshops, and publishers, which helped to propel the Arts and Crafts movement to national significance.Inspiring Reform accompanies an exhibition opening in February 1997 at the Davis Museum and Cultural Center at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and traveling in March 1998 to the Renwick Gallery of the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

More About this Book | View All Listings | View Collectible Listings