{"id":148,"date":"2011-09-30T10:00:13","date_gmt":"2011-09-30T15:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tslacconservation.wordpress.com\/?p=148"},"modified":"2018-06-21T15:08:38","modified_gmt":"2018-06-21T20:08:38","slug":"the-unknown-craftsman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tsl.texas.gov\/conservation\/2011\/09\/30\/the-unknown-craftsman\/","title":{"rendered":"The Unknown Craftsman"},"content":{"rendered":"

I recently finished a book that might be of interest in this forum: The Unknown Craftsman: A Japanese Insight into Beauty<\/em> by Soetsu Yanagi.\u00a0 I first learned about this book through mention in a Brian Eno biography, but it is highly relevant for anyone invested in making, repairing, or appreciating handcrafted objects.<\/p>\n

Yanagi was a maker and connoisseur of pottery in early 20th<\/sup> century Japan.\u00a0 His appreciation of handcraft is rooted in Eastern traditions and Buddhist thought, and as such it provides ample exercise for a Western mind.\u00a0 In Yanagi\u2019s world, the objects we use enrich our human experience, and the best objects are made by anonymous craftsmen whose honest, imperfect work embodies genuine beauty.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yanagi particularly admires Korean pottery, especially from the 16th<\/sup> \u2013 18th<\/sup> centuries, and he examines it in great detail.\u00a0 Its beauty comes from craftsmen with a simpler mindset than he observes in Japan and the Western world.\u00a0 As he explains, Korean craftsmen didn\u2019t strive to assert their artistry or to create works of excellence.\u00a0 In Buddhist terms, they worked in a non-dualistic mindset, one formed before the differentiation of artist and layman, beautiful and ugly, good and bad.\u00a0 They relied on the traditions and materials at hand to create simple, useful objects without self-awareness.<\/p>\n

Yanagi discusses the two paths through which artists and craftsmen may achieve their goals: the way of the individual and the way of grace.\u00a0 Success is attainable through both, but the way of the individual is far more difficult.\u00a0 On this path, artists must reinvent the wheel at every step.\u00a0 With keen focus on defining and expressing themselves, they must labor to find and master materials and techniques that suit their needs (whose very definition requires even more labor.)\u00a0 By contrast, craftsmen taking the way of grace can reach the same goal with greater ease by relying on tradition.\u00a0 Rather than focusing on self-expression, they\u00a0immerse themselves in inherited practice to create works of integrity and humanity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is a fascinating take on craft tradition, one with keen awareness of the repetition inherent in learning to work with one\u2019s hands.\u00a0 Within Western culture, it provides an interesting framework through which to consider different kinds of artwork.\u00a0 One can imagine the Abstract Expressionist painstakingly blazing the path of the individual, while the painter of monastic art followed the path of grace and stood on the shoulders of giants.\u00a0 Who was more genuine?\u00a0 Who was more skilled?\u00a0 Who was happier?<\/p>\n

Modern day Westerners like me will likely puzzle over arguments like these.\u00a0 Aren\u2019t we supposed to express our individuality?\u00a0 Don\u2019t we praise trailblazers as leaders and visionaries?\u00a0 Head-scratchers like these hide on nearly every page of Yanagi\u2019s book.\u00a0 For example, Yanagi praises Korean potters for their simpler frame of mind, and for the genuine craft it produced.\u00a0 But it took a more modern, sophisticated sensibility to appreciate that simple beauty.\u00a0 Does this paradox pose a kind of duality?\u00a0 And when we follow Yanagi\u2019s line of thought, do we fly dangerously close to the noble savage argument, assuming that the grass was always greener in another country and another time? \u00a0<\/p>\n

Regardless of the answers to such questions, The Unknown Craftsman <\/em>is a genuinely thought-provoking counterpart to life in 21st<\/sup> century America.\u00a0 It\u2019s a look back to a time when machine-made goods were a new concern, and that\u2019s fascinating for digital-age readers to whom even the machine era can look like the good old days.\u00a0 \u00a0The mind reels at how our culture has moved from handmade things to machine-made things to digital un-things.\u00a0 Yanagi\u2019s book is a snapshot from our walk along that path.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I recently finished a book that might be of interest in this forum: The Unknown Craftsman: A Japanese Insight into Beauty by Soetsu Yanagi.\u00a0 I first learned about this book through mention in a Brian Eno biography, but it is … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,27,93],"class_list":["post-148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conservation-2","tag-craft","tag-eastern","tag-value"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tsl.texas.gov\/conservation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tsl.texas.gov\/conservation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tsl.texas.gov\/conservation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tsl.texas.gov\/conservation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tsl.texas.gov\/conservation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tsl.texas.gov\/conservation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":693,"href":"https:\/\/www.tsl.texas.gov\/conservation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148\/revisions\/693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tsl.texas.gov\/conservation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tsl.texas.gov\/conservation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tsl.texas.gov\/conservation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}