Art Versus Industry? New Perspectives on Visual and Industrial Cultures in Nineteenth-century Britain

Explores the relationship between industry and the visual arts in the long nineteenth century, using new research to reveal surprising collaborations between craftspeople, inventors, engineers and educators.

This book is about encounters between art and industry in nineteenth-century Britain. It looks beyond the oppositions established by later interpretations of the work of John Ruskin, William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement to reveal surprising examples of collaboration - between artists, craftspeople, designers, inventors, curators, engineers and educators - at a crucial period in the formation of the cultural and commercial identity of Britain and its colonies. Art versus industry? explores such diverse subjects as the production of lace, the mechanical translation of sculpture, the display of stained glass, the use of the kaleidoscope in painting and pattern design, the emergence of domestic electric lighting, the politics of ornament and the development of art and design education and international exhibitions in India. Its approach is as varied as its contents, often drawing on little-used primary sources and offering new perspectives on existing literature. This lively and richly illustrated volume operates across disciplines to form an essential source for those studying the histories of art and design, museum studies, the history and philosophy of science and postcolonial studies. It also has much to offer for the general reader interested in the industrial and visual cultures of the Victorian period.

This book is about encounters between art and industry in nineteenth-century Britain. It looks beyond the oppositions established by later interpretations of the work of John Ruskin, William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement to reveal surprising examples of collaboration – between artists, craftspeople, designers, inventors, curators, engineers and educators – during a crucial period in the formation of the cultural and commercial identity of Britain and its colonies. Across thirteen chapters by fourteen contributors, Art versus industry? explores such diverse subjects as the production of lace, the mechanical translation of sculpture, the display of stained glass, the use of the kaleidoscope in painting and pattern design, the emergence of domestic electric lighting and the development of art and design education and international exhibitions in India.