‘At Cross Purposes? When Art History Meets Design History’ | Unmaking Things. <—- an excellent review of the Courtlauld Institute Research Forum’s conference on the relationship between Art History and Design History (Oct 22). Posted by RCA’s blog.

This bit of text raises questions pertinent to my own research regarding semantics and categorization. Is there really such a great divide between “fine arts” and “decorative arts”?

Some highlights :

 “Using contemporary writing on craftsmanship and artistry Marta Ajma argued that there was no conceptual distinction between ‘fine-art’ and ‘decorative’ or ‘manufactured’ arts during the Renaissance.”

“What was interesting was that whilst the conference papers explicitly identified difference in subject matter as the defining characteristics of Art and Design History, they only ever implied that the two fields are also distinguished by approach. “

<—-click here to read the whole article