Joy of Work

Oh God, i’m so excited. The previous lecture jumbled up again in my mind as I need to repost my topic on “Joy of Work”. Maybe, I’m not too enough expressing the “Joy of Work” in my previous reading..Hehe..So, let’s start blowing our mind!!

Hooray!!!

Do you enjoy your work? Are you being forced to do something? That’s the key word of my topic for today.

In my opinion, the concept of  'Joy of Work' depends on people's perceptions. For me, it's all about expressing the freedom and passion of doing your work and the beginning of fundamental design aestetics. People might have their own creativity to create new direction of design. Maybe, some other people feel there are joyless of work in terms of certain circumstances, maybe they are forced to do this and that things. So, it seems like they not feel "freedom' to bring creativity into their work.

I'm stress!!!

As Madam Suzy asked us to relate phrase "Joy of Work" to modern thinking, I will expose the topic of two movements in early Modernism; Art and Crafts & Art Nouveau and how the concept of “joy of work” being related into these movements.

From my reading, Art and Crafts began on nineteenth-century in Britain. This movement were interested in uniting all the arts and crafts and giving them equal dignity and also deeply concerned with the role of the artist as worker and with the nature of work in general. Most importantly, this movements believed in beautiful design and well-made work as an enhancement of life. The importance of industrialized production and its aesthetic effects was a central question for this movement, but this was also the main point on which they disagreed. Arts and Crafts movement largely rejected the machine age and all its productions.

“It is not, truly speaking, the labour that is divided; but the men: divided into mere segments of men-broken into small fragments and crumbs of life; so that all the little piece of intelligence that is left in a man is not enough to make a pin, or a nail, but exhausts itself in making the point of a pin or the head of a nail.”

- John Ruskin (1819-1900)-

Ruskin believed that the industrialization has fractionated the society to classes and he was frustrated that thinker was not the maker at the same time. Back to the main point, expression of joy could resume its place in the work process as well as spreading its reflected glow among those who used the objects. The restoration of this joy in work could only be achieved by a return to individual craftsmanship.

“Art made by the people and for the people, a joy to the maker and the user”

-William Morris (1863 to 1942)

But, in this respect, William Morris and his allies ran into the basic difficulty of craftsmanship in an industrialized society. Morris believes that art does not compromise with commercialism which has made his works can only be afford by the rich class. Stressing on the passion for producing his own work, such objects are necessarily far more expensive than machine-produced goods since they are produced without the economies of scale provided by industry. They were, therefore, far too expensive for the "disadvantaged masses for whom they were intended." The Arts and Crafts Movement had expressed a longing for the past as a replacement for the present.

Here some of Morris artworks:

William Morris artwork

Red House by William Morris

Ok, enough already on Arts and Crafts Movement. Let’s look on the Art Nouveau Movement. How the ‘joy of work’ concept being expressed in their design and artwork?

From my reading, what I have understood was that Art Nouveau totally break all connections to classical times, and bring down the barriers between the fine arts and applied arts. Art Nouveau was more than a mere style. It was a way of thinking about modern society and new production methods. It was an attempt to redefine the meaning and nature of the artwork. From that time on, it was the duty of art not to overlook any everyday object, no matter how utilitarian it might be. This approach was considered completely new and revolutionary, thus the New Art (Art Nouveau) was named.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Victor Horta are two major architect/designers in Art Nouveau. Below are some examples of their artworks:

Charles Rennie Mackintosh

Mackintosh Table



Mackintosh Ornaments





Mackintosh Hill House, Glasgow 1903



Mackintosh Artwork



Victor Horta

Horta Museum



Stairs in Horta Museum



Art Nouveau artists used new materials, machined surfaces and abstraction in the service of pure design. Specifically, they used stylized organic shapes and dramatic, curving lines in their artworks. Many of its themes are taken from nature, though presented quite abstractly. For them, produce great new artworks give them big satisfaction. Coz, they believe they should at first make people satisfy with their artworks. Plus, Art Nouveau did not negate the machine as the Arts and Crafts Movement did, but used it as an advantage.

So, I can conclude that “joy of work” concept applied on both movements. However, the expression of joy differentiates them. Art and Craft people adore the making process of art as the expression of joy. It’s all about the passion of doing their work. Thus, Art Nouveau people express “joy of work” through the satisfaction of their great artwork (end product). The greater product they produce, the greater satisfaction they get.

Ok, that’s all for now. Thanx for put your soul to read this glyphs.

Till next post. See ya(^^,).