Download or read book Mid Century Modernism and the American Body written by Kristina Wilson and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-04-13 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first investigation of how race and gender shaped the presentation and marketing of Modernist decor in postwar America In the world of interior design, mid-century Modernism has left an indelible mark still seen and felt today in countless open-concept floor plans and spare, geometric furnishings. Yet despite our continued fascination, we rarely consider how this iconic design sensibility was marketed to the diverse audiences of its era. Examining advice manuals, advertisements in Life and Ebony, furniture, art, and more, Mid-Century Modernism and the American Body offers a powerful new look at how codes of race, gender, and identity influenced—and were influenced by—Modern design and shaped its presentation to consumers. Taking us to the booming suburban landscape of postwar America, Kristina Wilson demonstrates that the ideals defined by popular Modernist furnishings were far from neutral or race-blind. Advertisers offered this aesthetic to White audiences as a solution for keeping dirt and outsiders at bay, an approach that reinforced middle-class White privilege. By contrast, media arenas such as Ebony magazine presented African American readers with an image of Modernism as a style of comfort, security, and social confidence. Wilson shows how etiquette and home decorating manuals served to control women by associating them with the domestic sphere, and she considers how furniture by George Nelson and Charles and Ray Eames, as well as smaller-scale decorative accessories, empowered some users, even while constraining others. A striking counter-narrative to conventional histories of design, Mid-Century Modernism and the American Body unveils fresh perspectives on one of the most distinctive movements in American visual culture.
Download or read book Classic Modern written by Deborah Dietsch and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2000 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is no hotter style today than the cooler than cool work of modern designers and architects from the 1940s and 50s. Endlessly inventive and emminently livable, mid-century modernism has an optimism and confidence born of postwar abundance, and a spirited elegance that appeals powerfully fifty years later. In CLASSIC MODERN, design expert Deborah Dietsch introduces readers to the basic tenets of modern design and explains how the simple yet inspired forms typical of this style were so readily disseminated into mainstream American culture. Filled throughout with enticing examples of mid-century pieces from such timeless designers as Charles and Ray Eames, Eero Saarinen, Arne Jacobsen, and George Nelson, this beautiful book recaptures the excitement of the period's brilliant designs.
Download or read book Crystal and Arabesque written by Jonathan Massey and published by University of Pittsburgh Pre. This book was released on 2009 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first biography of Claude Bragdon, an early and unique, but often overlooked, advocate of architectural modernism.
Download or read book William James written by Robert D. Richardson and published by HMH. This book was released on 2007-09-14 with total page 638 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The definitive biography of the fascinating William James, whose life and writing put an indelible stamp on psychology, philosophy, teaching, and religion—on modernism itself. Often cited as the “father of American psychology,” William James was an intellectual luminary who made significant contributions to at least five fields: psychology, philosophy, religious studies, teaching, and literature. A member of one of the most unusual and notable of American families, James struggled to achieve greatness amid the brilliance of his theologian father; his brother, the novelist Henry James; and his sister, Alice James. After studying medicine, he ultimately realized that his true interests lay in philosophy and psychology, a choice that guided his storied career at Harvard, where he taught some of America’s greatest minds. But it is James’s contributions to intellectual study that reveal the true complexity of man. In this biography that seeks to understand James’s life through his work—including Principles of Psychology, The Varieties of Religious Experience, and Pragmatism—Robert D. Richardson has crafted an exceptionally insightful work that explores the mind of a genius, resulting in “a gripping and often inspiring story of intellectual and spiritual adventure” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). “A magnificent biography.” —The Washington Post
Download or read book Cape Cod Modern written by Peter McMahon and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the summer of 1937, Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus, rented a house on Planting Island, near the base of Cape Cod. Thus began a chapter in the history of modern architecture that has never been told _until now. The area was a hotbed of intellectual currents from New York, Boston, Cambridge and the country's top schools of architecture and design. Avant-garde homes began to appear in the woods and on the dunes; by the 1970s, there were about 100 modern houses of interest here.
Download or read book Alexander Girard Architect written by Deborah Lubera Kawsky and published by Wayne State University Press. This book was released on 2018-06-18 with total page 841 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Showcases the bold, innovative, and colorful architectural designs of Alexander Girard. During the midcentury period, Michigan attracted visionary architects, designers, and theorists, including Alexander Girard. While much has been written about Girard's vibrantly colored and patterned textiles for Herman Miller, the story of his Detroit period (1937–53)—encompassing interior and industrial design, exhibition curation, and residential architecture—has not been told. Alexander Girard, Architect: Creating Midcentury Modern Masterpiecesby Deborah Lubera Kawsky is the first comprehensive study of Girard's exceptional architectural projects, specifically those concentrated in the ultra-traditional Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe. One exciting element of the book is the rediscovery of another Girard masterpiece—the only surviving house designed entirely by Girard, and former residence to Mr. and Mrs. John McLucas. Restored in consultation with iconic midcentury designer Ruth Adler Schnee, the McLucas house represents the culmination of Girard's Detroit design work at midcentury. Stunning color photographs capture the unique design elements—including the boldly colored glazed brick walls of the atrium—reminiscent of Girard's role as color consultant for the GM Tech Center. Original Girard drawings for the building plan, interior spaces, and custom-designed furniture document the mind of a modernist master at work and are made available to the public for the first time in this beautiful book. Alexander Girard, Architectis a beautiful, informative book suited for enthusiasts of Alexander Girard, the midcentury modern aesthetic, and Detroit history, art, and architecture.
Download or read book Mid Century Modern Furniture written by Michael Crow and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2015-05-20 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Minimalist design--maximum style! In the middle of the last century, a new generation of designers sought to render furniture to its most essential forms. In doing so, they created timeless designs that defined Mid-Century Modern Style. From the sleek geometric lines of Bauhaus-inspired design to the sculptural shapes of Danish masters, this furniture captured the imagination of the era and enjoys growing popularity today. Now for the first time, author Michael Crow has carefully detailed 29 seminal works by the era's foremost designers, including Hans Wenger, Finn Juhl and George Nelson. At their best, these spare, often sculptural designs transcend their period and are at home in a variety of settings. Each piece has been selected carefully so it can be built in an average workshop. Inside this book you'll find: • More than 100 drawings with exploded views, elevations and details for projects to fit every room in your house. • Practical advice on wood selection, hardware sources and contruction and finishing techniques. • Two step-by-step project builds. • A richly illustrated historical overview tracing the evolution of the style and exploring the designers and makers who shaped it.
Download or read book Modern in the Middle written by Susan Benjamin and published by The Monacelli Press, LLC. This book was released on 2020-09-01 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first survey of the classic twentieth-century houses that defined American Midwestern modernism. Famed as the birthplace of that icon of twentieth-century architecture, the skyscraper, Chicago also cultivated a more humble but no less consequential form of modernism--the private residence. Modern in the Middle: Chicago Houses 1929-75 explores the substantial yet overlooked role that Chicago and its suburbs played in the development of the modern single-family house in the twentieth century. In a city often associated with the outsize reputations of Frank Lloyd Wright and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the examples discussed in this generously illustrated book expand and enrich the story of the region's built environment. Authors Susan Benjamin and Michelangelo Sabatino survey dozens of influential houses by architects whose contributions are ripe for reappraisal, such as Paul Schweikher, Harry Weese, Keck & Keck, and William Pereira. From the bold, early example of the "Battledeck House" by Henry Dubin (1930) to John Vinci and Lawrence Kenny's gem the Freeark House (1975), the generation-spanning residences discussed here reveal how these architects contended with climate and natural setting while negotiating the dominant influences of Wright and Mies. They also reveal how residential clients--typically middle-class professionals, progressive in their thinking--helped to trailblaze modern architecture in America. Though reflecting different approaches to site, space, structure, and materials, the examples in Modern in the Middle reveal an abundance of astonishing houses that have never been collected into one study--until now.
Download or read book Serious Play written by Monica Obniski and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2018-01-01 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A lively exploration of eclecticism, playfulness, and whimsy in American postwar design, including architecture, graphic design, and product design This spirited volume shows how postwar designers embraced whimsy and eclecticism in their work, exploring playfulness as an essential construct of modernity. Following World War II, Americans began accumulating more and more goods, spurring a transformation in the field of interior decoration. Storage walls became ubiquitous, often serving as a home's centerpiece. Designers such as Alexander Girard encouraged homeowners to populate their new shelving units with folk art, as well as unconventional and modern objects, to produce innovative and unexpected juxtapositions within modern architectural settings. Playfulness can be seen in the colorful, child-sized furniture by Charles and Ray Eames, who also produced toys. And in the postwar corporate world, the concept of play is manifested in the influential advertising work of Paul Rand. Set against the backdrop of a society that was experiencing rapid change and high anxiety, Serious Play takes a revelatory look at how many of the country's leading designers connected with their audience through wit and imagination.
Download or read book DisneyBound written by Leslie Kay and published by Disney Electronic Content. This book was released on 2020-04-14 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: DisneyBounding visionary Leslie Kay offers tips, advice and inspiration for how to channel your love for Disney though fashion.
Download or read book Mid Century Modernism and the American Body written by Kristina Wilson and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-04-13 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The first investigation of the role of how modernist objects were marketed by affirming buyers' racial and gender identities"--
Download or read book Livable Modernism written by Kristina Wilson and published by Yc British Art. This book was released on 2004 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "During the years of the Great Depression in America, modernist designers developed products and lifestyle concepts intended for middle-class, not elite, consumers. In this fascinating book, [the author] coins the term 'livable modernism' to describe this school of design. Livable modernism combined international style functional efficiency and sophistication with a respect for American consumers' desires for physical and psychological comfort, paving the way for the work of Charles and Ray Eames and other post-World War II designers. [The author] offers a new view of modernist furnishings marketed for middle-class living rooms, dining rooms, and bedrooms of the 1930s, and provides groundbreaking analyses of many of the most popular items, including George Sakier's stemware for the Fostoria Glass Company, Russel Wrights' American modern furniture for Macy's, and Gilbert Rohde's clocks for the Herman Miller Clock Company. As the first study of the marketing of modern design during the Depression years, [this book] features an extensive array of vintage advertisements from such magazines as 'Better Homes and Gardens', 'House Beautiful', 'Ladies' Home Journal', and the 'Saturday Evening Post'. [The author] discusses the relation of modernism to the cultural and economic climate of the Depression and examines the sophisticated marketing strategies of the movement that coincided with a period of tremendous growth for print magazines and the advertising industry. Filled with fresh insights into a fascinating period in American modern design, this book provides an important new look at these designers' and design companies' philosophies, innovations, and influence that until now have been under-appreciated"--Bookjacket.
Download or read book Modernism and the Occult written by John Bramble and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-03-04 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study of modernism's high imperial, occult-exotic affiliations presents many well-known figures from the period 1880-1960 in a new light. Modernism and the Occult traces the history of modernist engagement with 'irregular', heterodox and imported knowledge.
Download or read book Geomodernisms written by Laura Doyle and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2005-11-22 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Modernism as a global phenomenon is the focus of the essays gathered in this book. The term "geomodernisms" indicates their subjects' continuity with and divergence from commonly understood notions of modernism. The contributors consider modernism as it was expressed in the non-Western world; the contradictions at the heart of modernization (in revolutionary and nationalist settings, and with respect to race and nativism); and modernism's imagined geographies, "pyschogeographies" of distance and desire as viewed by the subaltern, the caste-bound, the racially mixed, the gender-determined.
Download or read book Public Opinion Polling in Mid Century British Literature written by Megan Faragher and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Whereas modernist writers lauded the consecrated realm of subjective interiority, mid-century writers were engrossed by the materialization of the collective mind. An obsession with group thinking was fuelled by the establishment of academic sociology and the ubiquitous infiltration of public opinion research into a bevy of cultural and governmental institutions. As authors witnessed the materialization of the once-opaque realm of public consciousness for the first time, their writings imagined the potentialities of such technologies for the body politic. Polling opened new horizons for mass politics. Public Opinion Polling in Mid-Century British Literature traces this most crucial period of group psychology's evolution--the mid-century--when psychography, a term originating in Victorian spiritualism, transformed into a scientific praxis. The imbrication of British writers within a growing institutionalized public opinion infrastructure bolstered an aesthetic turn towards collectivity and an interest in the political ramifications of meta-psychological discourse. Examining works by H.G. Wells, Evelyn Waugh, Val Gielgud, Olaf Stapledon, Virginia Woolf, Naomi Mitchison, Celia Fremlin, Cecil Day-Lewis, and Elizabeth Bowen, this book utilizes extensive archival research to trace the embeddedness of writers within public opinion institutions, providing a fresh explanation for the new material turn so often associated with interwar writing.
Download or read book Design in the Fifties written by George H. Marcus and published by Prestel Publishing. This book was released on 1998 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book describes the development of the colorful, organic style that defined the Fifties and reflected the optimism and consumerism of postwar culture in the United States and abroad, with examples ranging from architecture, building, engineering, and transport to appliances, tableware, furnishings, and dime-store novelties.
Download or read book Modern Art in the USA written by Patricia Hills and published by Pearson. This book was released on 2001 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This chronologically organized and comprehensive anthology of readings tells the whole story of art in America from 1900 to the present. It focuses on the themes, issues, and controversies that occurred throughout the century--using selections that are contemporary with the art--by artists, critics, exhibition organizers, poets, politicians, and other writers on culture. Some recurring themes and issues include issues of identity; the changing nature of modernism and modernity; nationalism; art as individual or community expression; the nature of public art; and the role of criticism, censorship, and government intervention. Texts by well-known writers include Meyer Schapiro, Clement Greenberg, Michael Fried, Donald Kuspit, and Kate Linker. A guide for those interested in both the standard interpretations of American art and in alternative readings.
