Kept for Best

Kept for Best: Australian Crafts for the Home 1900-1995 seeks to show the progression of twentieth-century Australian design and craftsmanship through a selection of finely crafted objects from the collection of the National Gallery of Australia. China cabinets, glory boxes, the hallowed objects on the mantle and the sideboard — the idea of objects that are 'kept for best' looms large in our imaginations and memories. A potent mix of nostalgia, sentiment and even loathing haunts our recollections of stiff formal tea parties and family occasions when the floral bone china, or a particularly valued vase, was brought out for its once-a-year display, and then returned to its cabinet; with time and trouble taken over food and drink, the artful pavlova or the cook's special treats.

The cabinet is like a small museum for the home, recording our love of beauty. It houses our personal treasures, which are often handed down through generations, charting a succession of personal tastes and fluctuations in family finances. The contents are often a mixture of precious and semi-precious materials — silver, moonstones, jade — and the ordinary but personally significant.

These objects from the National Collection give an indication of the progression of twentieth century design and craftsmanship, as well as an unusual perspective on international design tradition melded with Australian imagery and concerns. Around the turn of the century, twentieth-century Australian decorative arts practice sprang from the strength of the British Arts and Crafts Movement. Arts and Crafts Societies were established in most states of Australia between 1903—1912, marking the beginning of a national contemporary craft tradition. The crafts also enjoyed a significant revival after World War Il, with their popularity cresting in the 1970s.

An awareness of international modernism, including its overriding ethos of finely designed, crafted and functional decorative arts, has exerted considerable influence. It continues to be a defining point for artists, who may endorse or deplore it, but guide themselves by it nonetheless. Since the 1920s, objects for domestic use, crafted or designed by artists, have often set the stylistic stage for contemporary taste and design. Although created as individual products, these objects also influenced commercial industry's designs for mass production, and informed popular taste. This has culminated in the designer object aesthetic — the strongest growth area in contemporary craft and design — now catered for by many shops in main cities.

Having objects 'for best' encompasses all classes and generations. It is a human characteristic to hoard valued treasures and keepsakes. Early twentieth-century working class families valued simple items, such as a piece of ceramic, perhaps merely because they had bought it themselves rather than acquiring it as a hand-me-down; they had a personal stake in it. Having once acquired value, the plainest, 'best' loved things retain a certain lustre. So, the simply decorated object, tarnished silver spoons, or glass bottles of humble origins have remained traditional objects of treasure from colonial times to the present day. Our personal collections cover all classes, tastes and budgets, truly reflecting personal significance alongside national character and heritage.

The personal nature of this exhibition is one of the keys to its interpretation — for comparison we all have best objects in our homes, both for utilitarian purpose and contemplation. At home I have a Japanese marquetry box of my great-grandmother's, an English commercial seed box from my grandfather and a decorative tile given to me by a neighbour when I was six years old. This exhibition is a celebration of how we all have treasures that we keep for best. Even in this time when the china cabinet may no longer be part of the furniture, the revival of the designer object keeps the tradition alive.

The exhibition's themes of history, style and domesticity are traced through six exhibition showcases set with tableaux of the finest and most innovative functional silverware, ceramics, metalwork and glass of their eras. Each case shows the progression of art and design through a particular time period.

Jim Logan
Curator responsible for Australian Decorative Arts
National Gallery of Australia