Back to Previous Boston Made: Arts and Crafts Jewelry and Metalwork
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 465 Huntington Avenue Boston, MA March
12-29, 2020 Recurring daily Visit Website Details Map More than a
style, a philosophy. Bold color combinations of gemstones and
enamels, foliate motifs, and designs inspired by historical styles,
often with a certain glitziness—that is what defined the “Boston
look” of Arts and Crafts jewelry and metalwork. Beginning as a
reaction against the dehumanizing effects of industrialization, the
international Arts and Crafts movement spurred a renaissance of
handcraftsmanship in Boston at the turn of the 20th century. As part
of this movement, the city quickly emerged as one of the most active
and influential artistic jewelry-making and metalworking communities
in the nation. “Boston Made: Arts and Crafts Jewelry and
Metalwork” presents the story of this community over a 30-year
period, from its inception at the beginning of the 20th century to the
stock market crash of 1929 that signaled its decline. “Boston
Made” is the first exhibition to focus exclusively on the Arts and
Crafts metalsmiths in Boston and highlights the contributions of newly
empowered women artists like Josephine Hartwell Shaw and Elizabeth
Copeland, among others. While adhering to the ideas and ideals of the
international Arts and Crafts movement, Boston artists developed a
signature aesthetic that set their work apart from the broader
movement. “Boston Made” brings together more than 75
works—including jewelry, tableware, decorative accessories, and
design drawings—that illuminate the passions and philosophies of
this interwoven community of jewelry-makers and metalsmiths. Among the
notable works on view are a scroll brooch (about 1920) by Frank
Gardner Hale, pictured above, studded with gemstones and embellished
with gold scrolls; a jeweled casket (about 1929) by Edward Everett
Oakes; and a necklace (1910–18) by Josephine Hartwell Shaw. Arts
and Crafts was a philosophy as much as an artistic movement, looking
to the pre-industrial past for design and lifestyle guidance. Design
was more important than opulence, and materials were selected for
their aesthetic properties, rather than for their intrinsic value.
These ideas melded well with Boston’s progressive intellectual
community of the early 20th century. How does Arts and Crafts resonate
with contemporary movements advocating a return to simplicity
and handcraftsmanship? The exhibition is accompanied by a
complementary installation in the Lorraine and Alan Bressler Gallery,
222, and an illustrated book from MFA Publications (November 2018).
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