Serious Play Design in Midcentury America Monica Obniski, Darrin Alfred, Amy Auscherman, Steven Heller, Pat Kirkham, Alexandra Lange
- Price: £30.00
- Add to Basket
Share this page:
- Format:
- Hardback
- Publication date:
- 23 Oct 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780300234220
- Imprint:
- Yale University Press
- Dimensions:
- 256 pages: 279 x 241mm
- Illustrations:
- 153 color + 51 b-w illus.
- Sales territories:
- World
Categories:
A lively exploration of eclecticism, playfulness, and whimsy in American postwar design, including architecture, graphic design, and product design
This spirited volume shows how postwar designers embraced whimsy and eclecticism in their work, exploring playfulness as an essential construct of modernity. Following World War II, Americans began accumulating more and more goods, spurring a transformation in the field of interior decoration. Storage walls became ubiquitous, often serving as a home’s centerpiece. Designers such as Alexander Girard encouraged homeowners to populate their new shelving units with folk art, as well as unconventional and modern objects, to produce innovative and unexpected juxtapositions within modern architectural settings. Playfulness can be seen in the colorful, child-sized furniture by Charles and Ray Eames, who also produced toys. And in the postwar corporate world, the concept of play is manifested in the influential advertising work of Paul Rand. Set against the backdrop of a society that was experiencing rapid change and high anxiety, Serious Play takes a revelatory look at how many of the country’s leading designers connected with their audience through wit and imagination.
This spirited volume shows how postwar designers embraced whimsy and eclecticism in their work, exploring playfulness as an essential construct of modernity. Following World War II, Americans began accumulating more and more goods, spurring a transformation in the field of interior decoration. Storage walls became ubiquitous, often serving as a home’s centerpiece. Designers such as Alexander Girard encouraged homeowners to populate their new shelving units with folk art, as well as unconventional and modern objects, to produce innovative and unexpected juxtapositions within modern architectural settings. Playfulness can be seen in the colorful, child-sized furniture by Charles and Ray Eames, who also produced toys. And in the postwar corporate world, the concept of play is manifested in the influential advertising work of Paul Rand. Set against the backdrop of a society that was experiencing rapid change and high anxiety, Serious Play takes a revelatory look at how many of the country’s leading designers connected with their audience through wit and imagination.
Monica Obniski is Demmer Curator of Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Design at the Milwaukee Art Museum. Darrin Alfred is curator of architecture, design, and graphics at the Denver Art Museum.
“As several contributors . . . point out, ‘many designers . . . rejected a dogmatic modernism and hungered for something beyond rational and utilitarian motives.’ The post-World War II era was marked by an acquisitive appetite, for which designers like Charles and Ray Eames and Alexander Girard devised colorful multitiered storage units, while ceramists like Eva Zeisel created charming table accoutrements to fill them.”—Ann Landi, Wall Street Journal
-
French Rococo Ebenisterie in the J. Paul Getty Museum
Gillian Wilson£60.00 -
Object Lessons
Laura Muir£35.00 -
The Hidden Mod in Modern Art
Thomas Crow£25.00 -
David King
Rick Poynor£30.00 -
The Tastemakers - British Dealers and the Anglo-Gallic Interior, 1785-1865
Diana Davis£50.00 -
About Time
Andrew Bolton£50.00 -
The Pocket
Barbara Burman£19.99 -
speechless
Sarah Schleuning£40.00 -
Jet Age Aesthetic
Vanessa R Schwartz£30.00 -
Bard Graduate Center at 25
Bard Graduate Center£35.00 -
Cloth that Changed the World
Sarah Fee£35.00 -
Dress in the Age of Jane Austen
Hilary Davidson£30.00 -
Fashion and Politics
Djurdja Bartlett£35.00 -
Inventing Boston
Edward Cooke£45.00 -
Jan Tschichold and the New Typography
Paul Stirton£25.00 -
Art Deco Chicago
Robert Bruegmann£60.00 -
The Art of Graphic Design
Bradbury Thompson£35.00 -
Nature by Design
Stephen R. Kellert£30.00 -
From Lascaux to Brooklyn
Paul Rand£40.00