Book Description
Invisible Gardens is a composite history of the individuals and firms that defined the field of landscape architecture in America from 1925 to 1975, a period that spawned a significant body of work combining social ideas of enduring value with landscapes and gardens that forged a modern aesthetic. The major protagonists include Thomas Church, Roberto Burle Marx, Isamu Noguchi, Luis Barragan, Daniel Urban Kiley, Stanley White, Hideo Sasaki, Ian McHarg, Lawrence Halprin, and Garrett Eckbo.
They were the pioneers of a new profession in America, the first to offer alternatives to the historic landscape and the park tradition, as well as to the suburban sprawl and other unplanned developments of twentieth-century cities and institutions. The work is described against the backdrop of the Great Depression, the Second World War, the postwar recovery, American corporate expansion, and the environmental revolution.
The authors look at unbuilt schemes as well as actual gardens, ranging from tiny backyards and play spaces to urban plazas and corporate villas. Some of the projects discussed already occupy a canonical position in modern landscape architecture; others deserve a similar place but are less well known. The result is a record of landscape architecture's cultural contribution - as distinctly different in history, intent, and procedure from its sister fields of architecture and planning - during the years when it was acquiring professional status and struggling to define a modernist aesthetic out of the startling changes in postwar America.
Customer Reviews:
A Very Thorough Presentation.......2001-06-28
Invisible Gardens is a well-written, lively introduction to the confluence of landscape architecture and modernism during the middle decades of the twentieth century. Although somewhat like a textbook in its style of presentation, the writing throughout is clear, incisive and often quite absorbing. And there are plenty of black and white photos and architectural renderings which accompany the text to enhance its ability to inform. But only twelve colour plates were included in Invisible Gardens. I felt a bit let-down personally by this aspect of the project. I thought the book could have used additional high quality colour plates of the often spectacular commissions under review to balance the density of the text. And to convey visually what often needs to be seen to be properly appreciated.
Book Description
The first book to explore Modernism from a truly international perspective, Modernism: Designing a New World offers a reassessment of the concept and reveals the fundamental ways in which it has shaped our world and its visual culture.
Modernism flourished between 1914 and 1939, and became a key point of reference for 20th-century architecture, art, and design. This important, lavishly illustrated book demonstrates the movement's continued influence, on everything from the chairs we sit on to the buildings we occupy. The range of objects illustrated-including the fine arts as well as architecture, furniture, manufactured products, film, and graphic design-reflect the period's emphasis on the unity of the arts. Key artists and designers include Mondrian, Le Corbusier, Bourke-White, Eisenstein, and Breuer, along with lesser-known figures from around the globe.
Customer Reviews:
The power and potential of the machine.......2007-10-15
I thought Christopher Wilk, in his excellent introduction, mentions a very interesting point: 'It is difficult to see how Modernism could be understood without investigating the idea of utopia (both as a dream that existed on paper and as an experiment in actual building)'. Bearing this thought in mind it helped me understand how this `ism' effected so much visual culture for several decades in the twentieth century.
The eleven chapters pull the various strands of Modernism together: The cataclysmic effect of the First World, the rise of totalitarian authority, rejection of past ornamentation and an increased awareness of the machine and technology. To creative folk in central Europe it looked like a better life might be possible for all though the publics visual awareness of the style was mainly through architecture. They were the ones who initially accepted new social housing estates and high rise apartments designed for maximum light and easy maintenance, who participated in the mass gymnastics and the healthy body ideal. Chapter seven deals with the healthy body concept that was probably the oddest part of Modernism. Central Europe again seems to have provided the lead. Dance, mass gymnastics, fresh air and exercise would create a perfect working unit just like a machine. Architects like Alvar Aalto and Mies van der Rohe designed sanatoria, Richard Neutra designed the Lovell 'Health' house in Los Angeles.
The format of book is the same as the V&A's remarkable Art Deco: 1910-1939: each chapter covers a theme in depth followed by a pictorial section with additional image related text and captions. Because both books are centered round exhibitions I sometimes found it rather annoying attempting to find a particular image because the exhibition ones have been augmented by many more for the book and each are referred to in different ways. The design, paper and printing (in 175dpi) are of the quality one would expect for this type of book.
I think it's worth saying that the title concentrates on creativity in the designed world so it does not include literature or music but I think, rightly, does include movies and chapter eight has an excellent survey by Ian Christie. The four hundred illustrations and photos throughout the book give a wonderful idea of the huge creative energy created by a relatively small group of artists and designers. I think it covers the subject in more depth than Richard Weston's Modernism though his book is useful because he starts his analyses of the style before 1900 and concentrates more on fine art and architecture.
Like the previous V&A 'Art Deco' I expect 'Modernism' will be considered the standard reference book on this fascinating creative style. For a short-lived concept it influenced so much that is still with us today.
***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.
Essential Book for Modernism.......2007-10-04
This is actually a museum catalog for an exhibition by the Victoria and Albert Museum of London. The show also made an appearance at the Corcoran Museum in Washington, DC. The several chapters in this book cover modernism in multiple arts: art, architecture, dance, industrial design, physical fitness, film, etc. It's well illustrated and researched and will give the reader an excellent overview of the modernism movement. I discovered that I knew remarkably less than I thought I did. I've used it as a reference and stepping stone for further reading in the style/movement. I'm using it as touchstone for my interest in all aspects of the style and highly recommend to others for the same purpose. Well-illustrated probably understates it's visual effect. It's a great coffee-table book even with it's extensive written content.
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Mexican Architects; Tradition and Modernism (Mexican Architects)
Various Authors
Manufacturer: Arquitectos Mexicanos Editores
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Mexican Architects: A Contemporary Vision (Mexican Architects)
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Houses by the Sea: Mexico's Pacific Coast
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Mexican Interiors Current Trends/Interiores Mexicanos
ASIN: 9687471069 |
Customer Reviews:
Candy popper book.......2004-04-06
This book is printed in Hong Kong. The resolution of the pictures here is so-so. There are 25 Mexican architects featured here and towards the end of the book, there is a directory of how to contact them. There are no layouts featured but simply pictures, an indication that this book is never meant for the cerebral readers or for architecture's enthusiasts. This book is a definite candy popper book, a book that would be forgotten in a matter of time. Every and each architects wrote a simple piece of their philosophy or belief. To put this into another perspective, this book is simply a medley of all architects mentioned combined. The writers didn't even elaborate enough about the pertinence of space, light, and color in mexican architecture. Perhaps, they are true believers in the fact that a picture tells a million stories. Can be better. Yawn ~
Book Description
Architectural modernism was revolutionary when it first appeared in the 1920s, and its innovation showed the world just what twentieth-century design could bring. Living Modern is a grand showcase of classic homes by such design luminaries as Mies van der Rohe, Charles and Ray Eames, Alvar Aalto, Richard Neutra, and many more. With over 200 detailed photographs of both entirely new work and remodeled originals, as well as numerous historical images, the true trademarks of modernism and of each designer are revealed. Ranging from materials and color to lighting and floor plans, Living Modern is an excellent primer to modern home style from its inception to the timeless features applied to the interiors of today.
Customer Reviews:
Great modern book!!!.......2007-05-17
This book has amazing pictures and information on important figures of the modern period, including Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius. It goes into detail about the materials and specific styles each designer used, and includes a history on the beginnings of modern design in the Bauhaus.
Book Description
The design profession doesn't produce many larger-than-life figures. Robert Brownjohn—BJ, to just about everyone who knew him, and everyone did—was one. His gifts were immense, as were his appetites. Enfant terrible and visionary, he was both. Mick and the Stones wanted to hang with him. Of course it couldn't last. Robert Brownjohn was simply too big for this world. He died in 1970 at the age of 45, a victim of his own excesses. Today, he is best remembered for his sexy James Bond credit sequences. But Brownjohn's legacy is far more significant, and his story has all the drama and pathos of a Hollywood blockbuster. Now, for the first time, this extraordinary life and career is remembered in print, with all its richness and complexity.
Robert Brownjohn: Sex and Typography tracks the story of this legend from his early years as the prized student of Laszlo Moholy-Nagy to his days as a visionary star in the New York design world of the sixties and his later years as an icon in the film and advertising world of swinging London. Robert Brownjohn illustrates the dynamic work Brownjohn produced on his own and as a cofounder of the firms Brownjohn, Chermayeff, and Geismar in New York, and Cammell, Hudson, and Brownjohn in London, including campaigns for such giants as Pirelli, IBM, and Midland Bank. Robert Brownjohn is both an inspirational monograph of creative genius and a window into the life of a Falstaffian figure who just happened to be one of the formative designers of the twentieth century.
Customer Reviews:
A Memorial, and a Rare Look at Designs.......2006-03-23
Some people, and they can be in any profession, shine so brightly that they obscure almost everyone around. Perhaps after shining so brightly it comes as little surprise that they often leave us early. Robert Brownjohn, Bj created designs for products, for posters, and most famously the titles for the James Bond movie 'Goldfinger' that were projected onto the body of a female model.
This book is done in an interesting manner, I'd say a unique manner because I've never seen it done this way before, but there've been a lot of books I've not seen before.
Originated by Bj's daughter Eliza, this book consists of quotations, paragraphs really, from thirty five people who knew him, worked with him or was otherwise connected with his life. These paragraphs are arranged in a more or less chronological order and intermix stories of his personal life with his education and work.
Bj designs, as shown in the book, are still as fresh and original as when they were created. He died of a heart attack at the age of 45.
An inspiration for then and now.......2006-02-02
A freind of mine bought me this book for a gift and I did not put it down from the time I received it to the time I finished. Robert Brownjohn was a shortlived genius in the world of graphics and film. For any young designer it is an inspiration, for any experienced designer it is a reminder of how things used to work before clients became politically paranoid and obsessed with being different from the competition. It is a reminder to us all that design is what it is and can be anything you want it to be as long as the will is there. It leaves you with a sense of confidence to make you want to do better work and treat not only projects but also situations in life with kid gloves and just enjoy it. It is amazing what can happen if one does.
It begins with a detailed history of his life from interviews taken from the likes of Alan Fletcher, Bob Gill and Ken Garland and many more influential names in the 60 and 70s. It then covers a few of his most famous and not so famous projects. Each as exciting as the other and approached in the same spontanious mannor that is Robert Brownjohn.
Book Description
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 remarkable book, Kristina Wilson coins the term “livable modernism” to describe this school of design.
Livable modernism combined International Style functional efficiency and sophistication with a respect for consumers’ desires for physical and psychological comfort. Wilson offers a new view of many popular designs for living rooms, dining rooms, and bedrooms of the 1930s and investigates the remarkable marketing savvy of the furniture and decorative arts companies of the day. As the first study of the advertising and retailing of modern design during the Depression years, Livable Modernism also features an extensive array of vintage advertisements from such popular magazines as House Beautiful and Ladies’ Home Journal.
Engagingly written and handsomely designed, Livable Modernism is an essential book for anyone interested in modern furniture and decorative arts. The author demonstrates that the work of these designers—including Russel Wright, Donald Deskey, and Gilbert Rohde—paved the way for Charles and Ray Eames and other post-World War II designers, and that the importance of their philosophies, innovations, and influence has until now been underappreciated.
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Pre-Modernism: Art-World Change and American Culture from the Civil War to the Armory Show
JoAnne Marie Mancini , and
Princeton University Press
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
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Art in a Season of Revolution: Painters, Artisans, and Patrons in Early America (Early American Studies)
ASIN: 0691118132 |
Book Description
Speaking of the emergence of modernism, author Virginia Woolf famously said: "On or about December 1910, human character changed." But was the shift to modernism really so revolutionary? J. M. Mancini argues that it was not. She proposes that the origins of the movement can in fact be traced well into the nineteenth century.
Several cultural developments after the Civil War gradually set the stage for modernism, Mancini contends. New mass art media appeared on the scene, as did a national network of museums and groundbreaking initiatives in art education.These new institutions provided support for future modernists and models for the creators of the avant-garde. Simultaneously, art critics began to embrace abstraction after the Civil War, both for aesthetic reasons and to shore up their own nascent profession. Modernism was thus linked, Mancini argues, to the emergence of cultural hierarchy.
A work of impeccable scholarship and unusual breadth, the book challenges some of the basic ideas about both the origins of twentieth-century modernism and the character of Gilded-Age culture. It will appeal not only to art historians but also to scholars in American history and American studies.
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Modernism and the Mediterranean: The Maeght Foundation
Jan Birksted
Manufacturer: Ashgate Publishing
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ASIN: 075460179X |
Amazon.com
With roots in prewar Germany, modernism leapt to popularity in postwar America. Advocated by architects Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius (who fled the encroaching Nazi movement and settled in the U.S.), modernism blended functionality with frugality. Between 1945 and 1960, architects like Frank Lloyd Wright and designers like George Nelson revolutionized the home landscape. Today, modernism is experiencing a resurgence in popularity. Filled with incredible photographs of classic modern homes and beautifully spare rooms, Retro Modern is well researched and admirably demonstrates the intersection of history, society, and the arts.
The clean, cool lines of modern architecture was a direct rebuttal to the neoclassical styles that came before. Rooms flowed into one another and often included floor-to-ceiling glass walls to open the house to the natural world. "The new structures placed emphasis on efficiency and function, as well as informality and comfort," says author Lisa Skolnik. Inside, bold, spare furnishings like low-slung sofas and ovoid glass coffee tables were arranged with minimum clutter and often featured built-in furniture to keep the space open and airy. Clocks, lamps, and glassware took on asymmetrical and free-form shapes; most popularly, kidneys, amoebas, and boomerangs. That lime-green Egg chair of grandma's--which you thought hideous as a child--would now be snapped up in a second by a savvy collector.
A paean to midcentury America and Europe, a nod to designers and architects whose influence is still felt today, and an inspiration to aficionados, Retro Modern is as clear and streamlined as the movement it celebrates. --Dana Van Nest
Customer Reviews:
I love this book but be aware it's mostly pictures........2002-06-14
I picked this book up on a whim at a local book store, so I had an opportunity to look through it before buying. You should be aware that it's mostly pictures, with relatively little text aside from the captions. However, if what you want is a book of photos of Modern architecture and furniture, it's superb.
There is a seemingly endless series of photos showing various diverse interpretations of the Modern style, with excellent captions explaining the details of architecture, furniture, and decoration. It both looks at rooms as a whole and at details in specific, in separate sections of the book. The rooms shown are almost universally stylish and inspiring to the budding home decorator. The book shows furniture and design from throughout the Modern period, ranging from the 1920's through the 1970's, and also shows how Modern pieces can be blended smoothly with Contemporary designs of today.
As it is largely a photo book, I should comment that the paper and printing quality are excellent, with superb color, fine detail, and gorgeous glossy pages.
If you like the modern style and are looking for some inspiration on how to decorate your home, this is a wonderful book to have, and in my opinion [inexpensive] for its quality. If you're looking for a reference book with long discussions of the style and its influences, this is not the book you're looking for.
Nice picture book, but really lacks documentation.......2002-05-27
I purchased this book thinking I could use it as a reference book for my Master's thesis paper on Art Nouveau's influence on the De Stijl and Bauhaus movements. I was wrong. This book contains a lot of really nice photos, but there is very little description about the photos. It even lacks identification of many of the subjects in the photos. If you're looking for a "pretty book" this is it, if you want an informative book look for Stephen Escritt's "Art Nouveau."
Great photos and styling..........2001-06-01
Not much substance for anyone looking to use this as a reference (I recommend Taschen's series for this) but the layouts and photography are superb. There is a wide range of furniture and accessories illustrated with many of the "famous" designs being shown in quite interesting arrangements.
Definitely for the afficianado, this is something you flip through for inspiration when trying to decide how to reupholster that old Danish chair you found at a yard sale.
A definite for retro afficionados.......2000-09-28
A definite for retro afficionados
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Modernism without Rhetoric: The Work of Alison & Peter Smithson
Helena Webster
Manufacturer: John Wiley & Sons
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ASIN: 0471977594 |
Book Description
It seems remarkable that to date there has been no published critical review of the complete works of Alison and Peter Smithson. This fact was pointed out by the audience at a symposium dedicated to their work, which was held at the University of Bath in October 1994. As a response to this obvious omission and to the demand for information, especially from the younger generation of architects, this book gathers the papers given at the A+PS Symposium, together with an essay on their buildings and projects, and additional documentary and bibliographical information, with the aim of providing the first collection of critical writing on the work of the Smithsons.
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- NorCalMod: Icons of Northern California Modernism
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Daniel Urban Kiley: The Early Gardens, Landscape Views 2
