A groundbreaking exhibition, Crafting Modernism: Midcentury American Art and Design, opens on October 12 at the Museum of Art and Design (MAD), tracing the studio crafts movement as it evolved from functional, manufactured objects to an aesthetic hand crafted art. With 200 objects by 160 designers and artists on display, it offers an in-depth look at the modern studio craft movement from 1945 through the late 1960s. During that time, artists and craftsmen began crossing boundaries from established artistic categories to experimenting with new materials going beyond the traditional medium as vividly demonstrated in Wendell Castle’s delicate, organic wooded sculpture Music Rack (1964), and his slightly later work Benny Lamp (1969), a neon curved fiber glass sculpture.

Crafting Modernism, organized by MAD Curator Jeannine Falino and Associate Curator Jennifer Scanlan during a four-year period, “was a journey where we combed the country to select objects and furnishings from the modern studio movement, by iconic designers such as Alexander Calder, Sheila Hicks, Jack Lenor Larsen, George Nakashima, Isamu Noguchi and Richard Pousette-Dart. One of the primary goals of the exhibition is to showcase both the philosophy and ascethetics of the crafts movement, starting in post-World War II, which coincided with Abstract Expressionism, Punk, Pop Art and social commentary,” noted Ms. Scanlan.

Jan Yoors, Belgian, 1922 – 1977
Lop Noor, 1966
Cotton, Persian wool
Collection of the Rorimer Family

"Rock-and-roll’s 1960s counterculture is represented by Rick Turner who crafted musical instruments for the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young." - SCANLAN

"Isamu Noguchi was one of many artists in the midcentury period who integrated their interest in craft with their work in art and design leading to his development of the Akari lamp based on Japanese paper lanterns." - Scanlan

1945-1950s will show the rise of the craftsman/designer and the influence of skilled craftsmen and natural materials on modern designs with examples from Knoll Associates, Herman Miller, Reed & Barton, among others.

Watch Out For: Gertrud Natzler, Otto Natzler and Edward Wormley’s Table (1957) made for Dunbar Furniture Company, Charles and Ray Eames iconic Lounge Chair and Ottoman (1956) manufactured by Herman Miller, and a perennial favorite, Eero Saarinen’s “Grasshopper” Chair (1946-1965) originally produced by Knoll Associates, and textile consultant to businesses such as DuPont and Dow, Dorothy Liebes’s Textile Samples (1948-1968).

In the 1960s famously rejected the status quo of the corporate culture making hand crafted objects symbolic of an alternative lifestyle. “Craft became part of the culture and social atmosphere of that era,” noted Jennifer Scanlan.

Watch Out For: Sheila Hicks’s wall hanging The Principal Wife (1965), Claes Oldenburg’s humorous six-foot Giant BLT, Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato Sandwich (1963), John Prip’s abstract and granite sculpture Horn Shield (1963), and Joel Philip Myers’s Glass (1967).

Craft Modernism is the fourth in a series of MAD’s ongoing The Centenary Project, which tracks the history of the studio crafts movement. A fifth exhibition covering the 1970s-2000 is being planned. The exhibition is designed by Wendy Joseph of Cooper Joseph Design and MAD’s Dorothy Globus. Through January 15, 2012.