Beauty and the Unexpected

Exhibition

The exhibition Beauty and the Unexpected featured American craft objects from the 1950s to the present day – from small items of jewelry to furniture and impressive wall pieces and textiles. The collection was put together by former gallerist and craft educator Helen W. Drutt English.

Nationalmuseum asked Helen W. Drutt English, pioneering craft educator and gallerist of American modern and contemporary crafts since the 1960s, to assemble a collection of American craft objects. The resulting 81 works stemmed from the 1950s to the present day. In the future, they will enrich Nationalmuseum’s collections and give us the opportunity to look at American crafts in a Nordic context.

Mark Burns, Old Queen, 1998. Glazed ceramic and silk flower. Photo: Viktor Fordell/Nationalmuseum

Dan Dailey, Five Wild Dogs, 1998. Brown glass, gold-plated bronze. Photo: Viktor Fordel/Nationalmuseum

Nancy Carman, Ghost Turtle Teapot, 2005. Glazed earthenware. Photo: Viktor Fordell/Nationalmuseum

George Nakashima, Chair Rocker, 1983. American black walnut and hickory. Photo: Viktor Fordell/Nationalmuseum

John Prip, Perfume Bottle, 1965. Silver, bone, resin. Photo: Viktor Fordell/Nationalmuseum

William Harper, The Concubine’s Toy, brooch, 2015. Cloisonne enamel, gold, silver, glass, fire opal. Photo: Viktor Fordell/Nationalmuseum

Emily Erb, Lady Liberty, 2017. Dye on silk. Photo: Viktor Fordell/Nationalmuseum

Gyöngy Laky, Incident, 2012. Wood, acrylic paint, bullet screws. Photo: Viktor Fordell/Nationalmuseum

The exhibition included objects from the 1950s to the present day, created by prominent designers who were either born in America or moved there at some point in their life, like George Nakashima, Lenore Tawney, Nancy Carman, Michael Hurwitz and Howard Ben Tré. Size-wise, the objects varied from small items of jewelry to chairs and impressive wall pieces and textiles.

All works in the exhibition were donated by artists, collectors, and Helen W. Drutt English and her family to The American Friends of Nationalmuseum of Sweden, which works to foster an appreciation of art and design and to support Nationalmuseum. In the future, the objects will become part of Nationalmuseum’s collections, giving us an opportunity to look at American crafts in a Nordic context.

More about the exhibition

Nationalmuseum first approached Helen W. Drutt English about a potential craft exhibition after she had been working on a similar initiative, Gifts from America, for the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, in 2014. The idea was fleshed out with Nationalmuseum and The American Friends of the Nationalmuseum of Sweden, and Drutt English started selecting works. All were donations: the collection was formed thanks to generous and committed artists and donors.

"The past 65 years have been an extraordinary period of searching and experimentation. The modern craft movement has fused with mainstream concerns and the distinctions separating the arts have dissolved. The ability to move from functional forms to sculpture, wearable objects to ornamental tapestry, is self-evident in a range of ideas that unite a brooch, a pot, and a chair. Traditional categories not only have a limited place in the history of the 20th and 21st century art, but also cause havoc in the selection process and placement in our museums. These thoughts dominated my mind as I began to select works for Nationalmuseum," Helen W. Drutt English says.

Her final selection consisted of 81 works from the 1950s to the present day. They were made by 79 prominent American artists who came from all over the United States, like Art Smith, Nancy Carman, George Nakashima, Lenore Tawney, Toshiko Takaezu, Jere Osgood, Rudolf Staffel, Jamie Bennett, Albert Paley and Wayne Higby. Each artist incorporated their own associations into their work, which in turn granted the observer entry into the artist’s mind. Kim Overstreet and Robin Kranitzky were commissioned to create a work specifically for the exhibition, to celebrate Sweden and the United States. Joyce Scott made a brooch. Syd Carpenter’s terracotta Farm Bowl with Chicken was plucked from her solo exhibition at Rowan University in New Jersey. Yvonne Bobrowicz’s fiber floorscape was removed from her living room floor. (In 1976, it had been exhibited in Philadelphia, in Three Centuries of American Art.)

Helen W. Drutt English.

About Helen W. Drutt English

Helen W. Drutt English is renowned for her significant contributions to the advancement of modern and contemporary craft in the USA. She was one of the founding members of the Philadelphia Council of Professional Craftsmen in 1967 and served as its Executive Director until 1973. She then founded the Helen Drutt Gallery in Philadelphia and simultaneously developed the syllabus for the first college-level course in the history of modern craft. She has served as an ambassador for American crafts, championing the work of American artists internationally and including their work in museum collections worldwide.