From the 1930s through the 1980s, a shy and somewhat reclusive amateur photographer named Lyle Oberwise devoted much of his spare time to documenting his adopted hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Over a period of nearly fifty years, Oberwise amassed a collection of 43,000 color slides depicting the city's architecture and its people, as well as their daily lives and celebrations. The Milwaukee County Historical Society created this selection of 150 carefully chosen images to bring his work to life.
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.
"Across the city, fading advertisements and ghost signs tell the story of Milwaukee as it was in years gone by ... Join Milwaukee native and ghost sign hunter Adam Levin as he explores the national brands and local shops of the Cream City's past"--Back cover.
Essential reading for all collectors and design aficionados, this book is the ultimate survey of mid- century modern design and architecture now available in a sleek, compact form. A definitive survey of mid-century modern design and architecture in an accessible compact edition, this book offers a rich overview of one of the most popular, collectable, and dynamic periods of design. With rich and diverse examples of everything from furniture and lighting to ceramics and textiles to graphics and posters to interior design and architecture, this sleek compendium of mid-century style includes over 1,000 illustrations representing classic designs and little-seen rarities, as well as entries on nearly 100 major creators, such as Dieter Rams, Robin Day, Isamu Noguchi, Lucie Rie, Charles and Ray Eames, Alvar Aalto, and Oscar Niemeyer. An additional illustrated dictionary features hundreds more influential mid-century designers, manufacturers, organizations, schools, and movements. Organized into three parts—“Media and Masters,” with six sections on applied arts; “Houses and Interiors,” featuring twenty seminal homes and their furnishings; and an “A–Z of Designers and Makers”—and complete with thirteen specially commissioned essays by renowned experts, this illustrated book is a must-have for collectors, design aficionados, and anyone seeking inspiration for their home.
In the late 1800s, the area was developed by immigrant Poles, who became the dominant population for over 100 years. A survey nearly a half century later revealed that people of 110 national backgrounds now live on the Old South Side.
Mid-20th century sacred architecture in America sought to bridge modernism with religion by abstracting cultural and faith traditions and pushing the envelope in the design of houses of worship. Modern architects embraced the challenges of creating sacred spaces that incorporated liturgical changes, evolving congregations, modern architecture, and innovations in building technology. The book describes the unique context and design aspects of the departure from historicism, and the renewal of heritage and traditions with ground-breaking structural features, deliberate optical effects and modern aesthetics. The contributions, from a pre-eminent group of scholars and practitioners from the US, Australia, and Europe are based on original archival research, historical documents, and field visits to the buildings discussed. Investigating how the authority of the divine was communicated through new forms of architectural design, these examinations map the materiality of liturgical change and communal worship during the mid-20th century.
