(Re-)Making from the Archive: Thinking about Process and Using Practice as Art Historical Methodologies

This paper makes a case for extending existing material culture methodologies, increasingly employed by art historians, to an examination of making and its associated artisanal processes. We advocate for applying a material analysis not from the point of an artwork’s completion or encultured use but from its conception, following the decisions which informed its creation. The historian can cultivate a makerly consciousness by diagnosing production methods and technologies; by considering authorship beyond attribution to an embodied sense of craftspersonship, and through identifying how social and geographical constraints influenced decisions around the work’s completion. Our paper will use our very different media of study: mid-nineteenth century photography and late-nineteenth century metalwork to make a case for the productivity of re-orientating object biographies to be attuned to stages of design and construction. We will then conclude our paper by arguing that a knowledge of artistic processes can additionally provide the basis for practice-led research and a practical execution of methods. By stepping into the role of artisan, even in a temporary or limited sense, it is possible to generate new knowledge, not always captured in traditional archival material.