craft

This beautifully illustrated monograph describes the excavation and research of an ancient Ixil Maya Indian town in a Guatemalan valley. The archeologists involved in this project describe their field work and findings with scholarly attention to detail, but also with obvious enthusiasm for their discoveries. The Discussion chapter highlights their fascination with ongoing exploration to fill in the historical blanks.

The mola is a famous Panamanian handicraft created with intricate reverse-applique handwork made by the Guna, and represent important symbols of their culture. The layers of brightly-colored fabric form animals or geometric shapes, and are used to decorate the blouses of Guna women. The most outstanding designs take hours of complex sewing to complete and can be a source of status, and a display of artistic expression and ethnic identity.

Ornamental Textile Fabrics of All Ages and Nations: A Practical Collection of Specimens features specimens from Auguste Dupont-Auberville's collection of ornamental textile designs. The samples, reproduced as simple chromolithographs, serve as a showcase of European, Eastern, and Egyptian design elements used in textile production throughout history.

Who doesn’t love a little sparkle? You’ll find plenty in this gorgeous book. Along with histories of important jewelers from the late-19th through the 20th centuries, it features photographs of masterworks created by these artists and craftspeople. The book also highlights a number of specific jewelry styles, such as Art Nouveau by Lalique and Egyptian revival by Cartier. Other jewelers presented in the book include Tiffany, Van Cleef & Arpels, Fabergé, and Bulgari—with illustrations of their dazzling pieces crafted from gold, silver, platinum, gems, pearls, and enamel.

Embroidery is an important art in China with examples found from as early as the Zhou Dynasty (1027–221 B.C.). One of the most well-known pieces of Chinese embroidery is a 10th century A.D. textile piece discovered in the Mogao Grottoes at Dunhuang. There are also fine pieces from the Song dynasty. Traditional embroidery is still practiced in many areas of China. The Chinese government has designated four schools of Chinese embroidery as Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage.

This beautifully illustrated English version of the German Die Wiener Werkstätte, 1903-1928 : Modernes Kunstgewerbe und Sein Weg, commemorates the artists and design of the Wiener Werkstätte - a production community of visual artists founded by Koloman Moser and Josef Hoffmann which was active in Vienna from 1903 to 1928. The book is an artistic novelty, or "Kachelband," designed by Mathilde Flögl (1893-1950), inspired by Hoffman and incorporating innovative use of typography, layout, and bold colors such as gold, silver, red, and black.

By the 17th century, East Asian art, in particular Asian porcelain and lacquerwork known as japanning, became fashionable, creating a European market of imports as well a demand for replica designs and manufacture. By this time, the use of lacquer in Europe inspired several writings detailing construction, use, and design of these artistic techniques. This 1688 treatise is a detailed European artisans’ guide on the lacquer process by John Stalker and George Parker, featuring the first detailed pattern illustrations.

In the early 1900s, wood sculptures from Africa (long regarded as curios in the West) suddenly caught the attention of Picasso and other artists who were intrigued by the stylized treatment—simple yet powerful—of human and animal figures. Their experiments with this “new aesthetic” announced the beginning of Modernism, the shift from realism to increasing abstraction.