Contemporary
by Lesley Jackson
List Price:
Our Price: $27.68
You Save: $17.32 (38%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $22.06 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Lesley JacksonEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1998-05-03
ISBN: 0714837571
Number of pages: 240
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Book Reviews of Contemporary
Book Review: Great general guide to what was 'Contemporary'
Summary: 4 Stars
This book is a great general guide to what was 'contemporary' - including architecture of the home, public building and office. In addition, it delves into interior design - including glass, wall treatments, flooring and furniture. The prospective reader should be made aware right off that this book is written from the British perspective - one will see British English spellings of words, and names of British companies. However, the vast majority of the book deals with American developments, which is more pertinant to the US reader. I call this book a great 'general' introduction because it digs about 75% of the way into each subject. But how many other books can cover so many subjects as well? None that I've been able to find so far. The book is richly illustrated, including some photos which span the entire page. The text is interesting and easy to understand. After reading each chapter of the book, you are left with a good basic undertanding of what you've just read. The pictures themselves are generally period photos, which really help the reader see what 'contemporary' was to the eyes of the folks living at that time. If you are contemplating purchasing a 'contemporary house', or perhaps decorating in the 'contemporary' style, this book will give you some good ideas. Overall, a very enjoyable book - it would make a good present, and look great sitting on your coffee table!
Summary of Contemporary
This text provides a definition and examination of the so-called "contemporary" style that dominated architecture and design from the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s. In those years of increasing promise and prosperity, a fresh and liberating style was hallmarked by open-plan interiors and vibrant fabric design, manifesting itself in the picture window and the open plan; in vibrant fabric design and printed wall coverings; in new forms of furniture from Scandinavia and stylish light fittings from Italy; and most tellingly in the "Contemporary" kitchen with its fitted units and "mod con" appliances. Included is work by Charles Eames, Pierre Koenig, Arne Jacobsen and Lucienne Day. More than a collection of 50s nostalgia, this book provides a survey of trends in taste and interior design at the time of economic regeneration that affected not only people's homes but their communities and public buildings.In the years after World War II, the theory-laden modern movement blossomed into popular "contemporary" design. Le Corbusier and Levitt, Brussels and L.A. reinforced concrete and Formica--all became part of a trend towards sleek, functional, pared-down design. This excellent book could have been a compendium of '50s architectural and interior memorabilia, and therefore a success with nostalgia buffs (who will also love it), but it is far more than that. Lesley Jackson has written an intelligent, entertaining book on the intersection of life and design in the postwar era. Chapters include "The Birth of the 'Contemporary' Style"; "The House"; "The Interior"; "Decoration and Fittings"; "Furniture and Furnishings"; and "Society Goes 'Contemporary.'" Its scope is broad, beginning with a beguiling, campy advertising photo showing a housewife at cocktail time, poised in her powder-blue cocktail dress, and her husband, who is reaching into a sleek, chrome-and-Formica credenza, perhaps the home of their record player. The book ends with Brasília, the capital city built between 1956 and 1960 that brought Brazil to the verge of economic collapse. In between are colorful looks at the houses and furniture of Ray and Charles Eames; the early European proponents of modernism; Frank Lloyd Wright's seminal Fallingwater; the various uses of concrete, stone, brick, and other materials for texture and color; the melding of interior and exterior space; the fun colors of prototypical Marimekko fabrics; the early idealism of designing for "the masses"; and the now almost quaint social optimism from which the pervasive culture of materialism emerged. --Peggy Moorman
Decorative Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Decorative Books
The Repair of Cloth Bindings: A Manualby Arthur W. Johnson
British Library Board; Published: 2002-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $148.43
Instant Style: Over 40 Projects to Do in an Hour or a Weekend (Decorating Tricks)by Maggie Colvin, Margaret Colvin
Hamlyn; Published: 2000-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.98
Price in other shops:
Basketry: A World Guide to Traditional Techniquesby Bryan Sentance
Thames & Hudson; Published: 2007-06-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.17
Price in other shops:
Masterpieces of the J. Paul Getty Museum: Illuminated ... Hb (Masterpieces of Getty Museum)by Museum J.Paul Getty
Thames & Hudson; Published: 1997-10-13; Hardcover; Book
Masterpieces of the J.Paul Getty Museum: Antiquities (Japanese Edition)by J. Paul Getty Museum
Thames & Hudson Ltd; Published: 1997-10-13; Paperback; Book
Floral Illustrations: A Treasury of Nineteenth-Century Cuts (Dover Pictorial Archive)Dover Publications; Published: 1990-02-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.00
Price in other shops:
Racinet's Historic Ornament in Full Color (Dover Fine Art, History of Art)by Auguste Racinet
Dover Publications; Published: 1988-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.00
Price in other shops:
Rothschild on Antiques & Collectibles: A practical guide to collectingby Sigmund Rothschild
World Almanac Publications; Published: 1986; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.49
Iconography Byzantine Gospel Book (College Art Association Monograph)by Richard R. Nelson
Pennsylvania State Univ Pr; Published: 2000-09; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $55.95
Amelia Saint George's Painted Furniture and Wallsby Amelia Saint George
Harpercollins; Published: 1996-10-18; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $24.49
Similar Books and other products
Basic Mathematics for College Studentsby D. Franklin Wright
Houghton Mifflin College Div; Published: 1991-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.35
Price in other shops:
Neutra: Complete Works (25)by Barbara Lamprecht
Taschen; Taschen; Published: 2010-10-20; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $44.09
Price in other shops:
The Sixtiesby Lesley Jackson
Phaidon Press; Published: 2000-01-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $17.99
Price in other shops:
Atomic Ranch: Design Ideas for Stylish Ranch Homesby Michelle Gringeri-Brown
Gibbs Smith; Published: 2006-08-29; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $26.36
Price in other shops:
Case Study Houses (Taschen 25th Anniversary Special Editions)by Elizabeth Smith
Taschen; Published: 2009-06-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $44.09
Price in other shops:
Drawing Words and Writing Pictures: Making Comics: Manga, Graphic Novels, and Beyondby Jessica Abel, Matt Madden
First Second; Published: 2008-06-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.22
Price in other shops:
Carried to the Wall: American Memory and the Vietnam Veterans Memorialby Kristin Ann Hass
University of California Press; Published: 1998-08-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.81
Price in other shops:
Mid-Century Modern: Interiors, Furniture, Design Details (Conran Octopus Interiors S.)by Bradley Quinn
Conran; Published: 2006-07-28; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $19.01
Price in other shops:
Populuxeby Thomas Hine
Overlook TP; Published: 2007-08-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.95
Price in other shops: