The Maker's Hand: American Studio Furniture 1940-1990

by WARD GERALD W. R.

• ISBN13: 9780878466627
• ISBN10: 0878466622
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-11-01
• Publisher: Distributed Art Pub Inc

Summary

To connoisseurs of modern furniture, names such as Wendell Castle, Wharton Esherick, Sam Maloof and George Nakashima are signposts to a revolution in the decorative arts that remains one of the most vital of our time. For the past half-century, the Studio Furniture movement has grown in reaction to the traditionally designed and mass-produced furnishings generally available to Americans. Instead, studio furniture makers offer works that are innovative in design, finely hand-crafted and representative of a unique sensibility--works that stand midway between function and fine art. The Maker's Handis one of the first, and to date the most authoritative, books about the Studio Furniture movement. Written by two of the leading experts in the field, it details the history and development of Studio Furniture, from its origins in post-World War II America through its explosion in the "back-to-nature" 60s, metamorphosis in the "techno" 70s and professional emergence in the 80s. Along the way, the authors show how changes in American tastes, technology and culture have influenced these pieces. Also included are extensive biographies of some 40 furniture makers, as well as guides to the main exhibitions, schools and galleries. Profusely illustrated with works by Castle, Maloof, Molly Gregory, John Cederquist, Judy Kensley McKie and many others, this is an invaluable guide to the inventive, often witty, always surprising world of Studio Furniture.

Author Biography

Gerald W. R. Ward is the Katharine Lane Weems Senior Curator of Decorative Arts and Sculpture at the Museums of Fine Arts, Boston.

Table of Contents

Director's Foreword	p. 6
Foreword	p. 7
Acknowledgments	p. 8
Introduction: Defining the Field	p. 10
Woodworkers: The Beginnings of the Studio Furniture Movement	p. 18
The Challenge of Freewheeling Artist-Craftsmen: Tradition and Innovation in the 1960s	p. 38
Technofetishism: Technical Virtuosity and Exotic Woods in the 1970s	p. 54
The Professionalization of Studio Furniture: The 1980s	p. 76
Afterword	p. 106
Makers' Biographies	p. 110
Select Schools and Programs in Furniture Making and Woodworking	p. 142
Select Galleries	p. 149
Chronology of Select Exhibitions	p. 154
Select Bibliography	p. 159
Index	p. 164
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