On February 5th, the special exhibition "Beyond Arts and Crats: From Morris to Mackintosh" opened at the Tsinghua University Art Museum, showcasing nearly 200 works of arts and crafts. These works showcase the design achievements in various aspects of life, including bookbinding, illustration art, home textiles, metalwork, ceramic decoration, and architectural construction, from 1851 to 1930 during the British Arts and Crafts Movement.
The prologue of the exhibition features the Crystal Palace, originally erected in Hyde Park, London, which has been transported into the exhibition hall. This building, constructed primarily of steel and flat glass panels, represents the nascent stage of the Arts and Crafts Movement, embodying the progress of industrial civilization and technological development. The inception of the Arts and Crafts Movement can be traced back to the 1850s when William Morris, one of the progressive thinkers, began to propagate avant-garde ideas about design and craftsmanship. From 1880 to 1920, the Arts and Crafts Movement flourished, giving rise to a group of artists representing the new Art Nouveau movement, led by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. They drew inspiration from medieval traditions, folk decorative styles, and the development of craft cultures worldwide, showcasing their pursuit of high aesthetics through their design works.
The exhibition is divided into six sections: "Delicate Touch," "Exuberant Pattern," "Significant Ornaments," "International Ceramics," "Glamorous Detachment," and "New Architecture". It displays representative works designed and crafted by figures like Morris and Mackintosh, showing the design practices of artisans who "use beauty to change the world". Enamel-decorated silver jam dishes, hyacinth-adorned collars, oak chairs... Many of the crafts and art works in the exhibition exude a sense of life, injecting the artist's understanding of aesthetics into everyday objects through design.
The exhibits are sourced from institutions such as the Victoria and Albert Museum in the UK. Du Pengfei, Executive Director of Tsinghua University Art Museum, stated that exhibitions focusing on crafts, design, and international exchanges have always been important sections of the museum's exhibitions. Within the realm of modern design history, Tsinghua University Art Museum has successively planned and collaborated on exhibitions on themes such as "Futurism," "German Design," and "Design Utopias," which cover various design movements of the 20th century. The exhibition will be held in the third-floor exhibition hall of Tsinghua University Art Museum until May 26th. Audience members can make reservations and purchase tickets to visit the exhibition through the Tsinghua University Art Museum WeChat official account or website.
Translator: JIANG Wenyi
Reviewer: ZHANG Bo
