INDIANAPOLIS, IN.- The Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) will be the first of only two American venues to present International Arts and Crafts, an exhibition organized by the world’s finest decorative arts museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. International Arts and Crafts is one of the largest arts and crafts exhibitions ever and the first to showcase the movement’s influence in Europe, America and Japan.

The exhibition premiered at the Victoria and Albert Museum this spring and will travel to Indianapolis, making its highly anticipated American debut at the IMA on September 25, 2005.

“This is a quite a coup for the Indianapolis community, the Midwest and the United States,” said Bart Peterson, mayor of Indianapolis. “The International Arts and Crafts exhibit at the IMA is another terrific example of the unique, world class arts and cultural experiences converging in Indianapolis in 2005. We hope art lovers from around the world will make the trip to Indianapolis to enjoy this once in a lifetime opportunity.”

International Arts and Crafts will feature more than 300 objects from Great Britain—where the Arts and Crafts movement began—and America, Central and Northern Europe, and Japan—where it developed as the mingei, or folk craft, movement. A variety of objects, including furniture, textiles, paintings, ceramics, books, posters, metalwork, photography, stained glass and jewelry, will show how the Arts and Crafts movement influenced all aspects of life in countries around the world. Two reconstructed furnished interiors of the period, an American Craftsman room, inspired by Gustav Stickley, and a Japanese room, are among the highlights of the exhibition. International Arts and Crafts will explore the importance of the home and the concept of the unified interior—the perfect house and environment—as a fundamental aspect of the movement.

The Arts and Crafts movement originated in Great Britain in the 1880s as a response to the Industrial Revolution and its machine-dominated production. Led by theorists John Ruskin and William Morris, the movement promoted the ideals of craftsmanship and individualism along with the integration of art into everyday life.

The Arts and Crafts movement flourished in the Midwestern United States, upstate New York, Boston and California. In Scandinavia, Austria, Russia and Germany, the Arts and Crafts ideology led to a revival of nationalism as craftsmen returned to indigenous materials and native traditions. Each section of the exhibition, which will be organized geographically, will explore the distinctive characteristics of the Arts and Crafts movement as it developed in these countries or regions. International Arts and Crafts will present the work of major designers and manufacturers, including Charles Robert Ashbee, Josef Hoffmann, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Hamada Shōji, Gustav Stickley, C.F.A. Voysey, Frank Lloyd Wright and Rookwood Pottery.

After a special presentation of La Fornarina, a painting by Renaissance master Raphael on its first tour of the United States—following the completion of the Museum’s $74-million expansion and renovation project—International Arts and Crafts will launch the IMA’s special exhibition schedule as well as the cutting-edge Forefront series of exhibitions featuring contemporary art by emerging and mid-career artists throughout the world.