DESIGNING MODERNITY:
THE ARTS OF REFORM AND PERSUASION 1885-1945
Wendy Kaplan (editor)

Wendy Kaplan (editor): DESIGNING MODERNITY: THE ARTS OF REFORM AND PERSUASION 1885-1945. London/Miami Beach: Thames & Hudson/The Wolfsonian,1995. First edition. A Fine hardcover book in a Fine Dust jacket. Interior unmarked and very clean. Out-of-print.

10.25 x 11.25 hardcover book with 352 pages, including 300 color, and 117 b&w plates. Written by leading social and art historians, such as Kaplan, Laurie A. Stein, Ellinoor Bergveit, Paul Greenhalgh, Jeffrey L. Meikle, Irene de Guttry & Maria Paola Maino, Marianne Lamonaca, Dennis P. Doordan, John Heskett, and Bernard F. Reilly, Jr., this book was published to accompany the inaugural exhibition of the Wolfsonian, Miami Beach, Florida. Extensive notes to the essays, including bibliographic material.

From the dust jacket: "Written by leading social and art historians, Designing Modernity is published to accompany an major traveling exhibition organized by the Wolfsonian, a Miami institution dedicated to examining the social, political and aesthetic significance of objects produced between 1885 and 1945.

Containing over 400 illustrations of the Wolfsonian's unique collection of objects, the book looks at the different ways that political, industrial and cultural leaders have employed design in their programs of reform and their efforts to shape public opinion. It shows how design has been a vital tool in acclimatizing people to life in the modern world and has helped to formulate a sense of national identity, especially in European countries, through local crafts and vernacular buildings.

From the pages of Designing Modernity emerge some of the most significant trends of our age: the use of design in reconciling people to a loss of individuality resulting from mass production; the use of industrial and advertising design to support the idea that progress is good, that the future holds limitless promise, and that the machine offers comforts only dreamed of previously; the promotion of political goals by both democratic and authoritarian governments through design -- in posters, books, board games, furniture, ceramics and countless other forms.

Here is a book filled with ideas and illustrations of unique importance to everyone interested in understanding the recent course of Western civilization and the contribution of design to the tremendous changes that have shaped our lives."

Contents:

  • Director's Preface by Peggy Loar
  • Sponsor's Statement
  • Acknowledgments
  • Explanatory Notes for Captions and Checklist
  • Confronting Modernity--Traditions Transformed: Romantic Nationalism in Design 1890-1920, Germany Design and National Identity 1890-1918, The Decorative Arts in Amsterdam 1890-1930, The English Compromise: Modern Design and National Consciousness 1870-1940
  • Celebrating Modernity--Domesticating Modernity: Ambivalence and Appropriation 1920-1940, Forging Modern Italy: From Wrought Iron to Aluminum, A "Return to Order": Issues of the Vernacular and the Classical in Italian Inter-War Design
  • Manipulating Modernity: Political Persuasion--Political Things: Design in Fascist Italy, Design in Inter-War Germany, Emblems of Production: Workers in German, Italian, and American Art during the 1930s
  • Checklist of the Exhibition
  • Contributors
  • Photograph Credits
  • Index

This book covers late 19th and 20th Century modern design, including these aesthetic movements: Art Noveau, Arts and Crafts, Art Deco, Machine Age, The Bauhaus and others; and presents choice examples of modern furniture, ceramics, glass, metalwork, textiles, architecture, painting, sculpture, graphic design, household products, automobiles and much more.

Some designers, manufacturers, and artists represented or discussed include: Christopher Dresser, William Morris, Alberto Issel, Gordon Russell, Hector Guimard, Alphonse Mucha, Eliel Saarinen, Ernesto Basile, Carlo Bugatti, August Endell, Joseph Maria Olbrich, Peter Behrens, Henry Van De Velde, Karl Klaus, Richard Riemerschmid, Gerrit Rietveld, El Lissitzky, Bruno Munari, Kem Weber, Peter Muller-Munk, Alfonso Iannelli, Walter Dorwin Teague, Norman Bel Geddes, Paul Frankl, Mies Van Der Rohe, Herbert Bayer, Marcel Breuer, Isamu Noguchi, John Vassos, Donald Deskey, and many others.

out of stock