when bakers made art...

i've been collecting catalogs from the museum of contemporary crafts' exhibitions of the 60's and 70's for awhile. the books are always nicely designed and the exhibitions are all over the place - including histories and contemporary works related to bags, enamel, pottery, paper, as well as experiments in "contemplation environments" and decorated blue jeans. i recently came across this one - cookies and breads / the baker's art, featuring an array of breads and bread sculpture from all over the world.

the catalog gives some history of bread sculpture in various religious and folk cultures, as well as offering images of contemporary works by children and "artists". the sixties seemed to be a good time for folk art to enter into a relationship with the artworld and contemporary design. many of the images here certainly reference the interests of herman miller textile designer alexander girard - not to mention a resemblance to the wonky plaster food sculpture of claes oldenburg. like most kids of the 70's, i remember making bread sculpture in school.

the images from the top down are as follows:

book cover featuring sculpture of candy and gingerbread by ilse johnson,
victorian house by marion buckley - hussian school of art philadelphia,
mexican bread dolls for all soul's day,
egyptian coptic bread seal of clay used to sanctify ritual bread,
sicilian bread sculpture by salvatore purpura,
ukranian easter paska of bread dough decorated with icing and candy,
spettkaka swedish holiday cake, cretan wedding bread,
pressed cookies by the class of karl schmid - school of applied arts zurich,
bird of baker's dough by christopher johnson age 8.