Contemporary

Contemporary
by Lesley Jackson

Contemporary
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Book Summary Information

Author: Lesley Jackson
Edition: 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

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