Synopses & Reviews
This volume is the single best source for anyone interested in exploring and experiencing Mid-Century Modern, the international design movement that still influences homes and lifestyles from Palm Springs to Long Island and from Japan to Scandinavia. It is divided into three main sections: and#147;Media and Masters" profiles key creators, including Charles and Ray Eames, George Nakashima, Jean Prouvand#233;, and Eero Saarinen; and#147;Houses and Interiorsand#8221; presents 20 seminal and complete Mid-Century Modern homes and their furnishings, including buildings by Philip Johnson, Mies van der Rohe, Alvar Aalto, and Marcel Breuer; and an alphabetical dictionary of people, terms, and places is a comprehensive reference to the movement. The informed and accessible texts are illustrated with more than 1,000 images that bring together classics and rarities, mass-produced items and unusual objets dand#8217;art.
Review
andldquo;Mid-Century Modern Complete is an encyclopedic volume that sets out to create a comprehensive portrait of every aspect of post-war production. That means a shelf-busting size, around 1,000 illustrations and a fascinating text that places objects in their often tumultuous historical context.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;The organization is impeccable. . . . With each flip of the page, there is another recognizable image, and the reader is constantly in awe of the breadth of this movement and its evident impact on contemporary design.andrdquo;
Synopsis
Charles and Ray Eames gave shape to America's twentieth century. From the 1940s to the 1970s, the Los Angeles-based husband-and-wife team practiced design at its most virtuous and its most expansive: their furniture, toys, buildings, films, graphics, exhibitions, and books all aimed to improve society - not only functionally but also culturally and intellectually. While designers with a social mission are now regarded with some skepticism, in the Eameses' time it was plausible that designers, businessmen, and government leaders had common goals, and their mutual aims were considered in their country's best interest. This volume is published on the occasion of a major exhibition organized by the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., and the Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany, the holders of the two richest Eames collections in the world. The book takes a multifaceted approach to the multifaceted careers of Charles and Ray Eames. Rather than focus on separate aspects of their work, the book examines the Eameses' projects in the contexts of science, corporate patronage, and politics as well as those of modern design, architecture, and art.
About the Author
Dominic Bradbury is the author of Mediterranean Modern, The Iconic House, New Natural Home, and The Iconic Interior. He writes about design for House and Garden, the Daily Telegraph, the Sunday Times (London), and Wallpaper*.