Workshop of the World

A showcase of the Philadelphia artists, designers, and manufacturers whose work responded to urban industrialization in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

Inspired by the British Arts and Crafts movement, a group of Philadelphia artists and designers looked to preindustrial technologies to mitigate the decline in quality of manufactured goods in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Within Philadelphia and on its outskirts, where small communities of like-minded creatives coalesced, a range of makers composed innovative responses to the Arts and Crafts ideals of truth to materials, honesty in construction, and dignity in labor. Drawing on the art and architecture of the past, these individuals taught and championed traditional hand skills and their potential for commercial and industrial processes.

Largely framed by the Centennial Exhibition in 1876 and the Sesquicentennial Exposition in 1926, this publication features a diverse range of works, many previously unpublished, that offer a nuanced picture of American decorative arts. Essays by acclaimed scholars reveal that craftsmanship and industry, often perceived as opposites, are surprisingly interrelated.

Distributed for the Philadelphia Art Museum

Exhibition Schedule:

Philadelphia Art Museum
(July 5-October 18, 2026)