The Politics of the Artificial
The Politics of the Artificial

Author: Victor Margolin

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2018-01-11

Total Pages: 286

ISBN-13: 022651837X

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Emerging from the world of commercial art and product styling, design has now become completely integrated into human life. Its marks are all around us, from the chairs we sit on to the Web sites on our computer screens. One of the pioneers of design studies and still one of its most distinguished practitioners, Victor Margolin here offers a timely meditation on design and its study at the turn of the millennium and charts new directions for the future development of both fields. Divided into sections on the practice and study of design, the essays in The Politics of the Artificial cover such topics as design history, design research, design as a political tool, sustainable design, and the problems of design's relation to advanced technologies. Margolin also examines the work of key practitioners such as the matrix designer Ken Isaacs. Throughout the book Margolin demonstrates the underlying connections between the many ways of reflecting on and practicing design. He argues for the creation of an international, interdisciplinary field of design research and proposes a new ethical agenda for designers and researchers that encompasses the responsibility to users, the problems of sustainability, and the complicated questions of how to set boundaries for applying advanced technology to solve the problems of human life. Opinionated and erudite, Victor Margolin's The Politics of the Artificial breaks fresh ground in its call for a new approach to design research and practice. Designers, engineers, architects, anthropologists, sociologists, and historians will all benefit from its insights.

John Betjeman
John Betjeman

Author: William S. Peterson

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 584

ISBN-13: 9780198184034

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This bibliography describes all John Betjeman's known writings, including his own books, contributions to periodicals and to books by others, lectures, and radio and television programs. Other categories include editorships and interviews, as well as a section devoted to writings about him. Manuscripts and drafts of his works are described in detail.

Wartime Fashion
Wartime Fashion

Author: Geraldine Howell

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 2013-08-01

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 0857854283

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A comprehensive analysis of Second World War dress practice and appearance, this study places dress at the forefront of a complex series of cultural chain reactions. As lives were changed by the conditions of war, dress continued to reflect important visual narratives regarding class, gender and taste that would impact significantly on public consciousness of equality, fairness and morale. Using new archival and primary source evidence, Wartime Fashion clarifies how and why clothing was rationed, and repositions style and design during the war in relation to past expectations and ideas about clothes and fabrics. The book explores the impact of war on the dress and appearance of civilian women of all classes in the context of changing social and economic infrastructures created by the national emergency. The varied research elements combined in this book form a rounded and definitive account of the dress history of British women during the Second World War. This is essential reading for anyone with an active interest in the field, whether personal or professional.

The 1950s
The 1950s

Author: William H. Young

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2004-04-30

Total Pages: 372

ISBN-13: 0313052956

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Have the 1950s been overly romanticized? Beneath the calm, conformist exterior, new ideas and attitudes were percolating. This was the decade of McCarthyism, Levittowns, and men in gray flannel suits, but the 1950s also saw bold architectural styles, the rise of paperback novels and the Beat writers, Cinema Scope and film noir, television variety shows, the Golden Age of the automobile, subliminal advertising, fast food, Frisbees, and silly putty. Meanwhile, teens attained a more prominent role in American culture with hot rods, rock 'n' roll, preppies and greasers, and—gasp—juvenile delinquency. At the same time, a new technological threat, the atom bomb, lurked beneath the surface of the postwar decade. This volume presents a nuanced look at a surprisingly complex time in American popular culture.

The Independent Group
The Independent Group

Author: Anne Massey

Publisher: Manchester University Press

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 180

ISBN-13: 9780719042454

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This study looks at the artists, designers and writers who formed the Independent Group in the early 1950s including such influential figures as Richard Hamilton, Eduardo Paolozzi, Nigel Henderson, William Turnball, Rayner Banham and Alison and Peter Smithson. As a group they aimed to raise the status of popular objects and icons within modern visual culture. The development of the Independent Group is mapped out against the changing nature of modernism during the Cold War era, as well as the impact of mass consumption on post-war British society. In this book, Massey examines the cultural context of the formation of the Group, covering the founding of the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, the meanings of modernism, and the creation of a national identity. Key exhibitions such as "Parallel of Life and Art" and "This Is Tomorrow" are also examined.

The Collectible '70s
The Collectible '70s

Author: Goldberg

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2011-02-28

Total Pages: 638

ISBN-13: 1440225214

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A funkadelic trip to the not-so-distant past... Disco, Smiley Faces, 8-tracks and platform shoes - retro is in and '70s rule! The Collectible '70s is a pop-culture history and price guide to treasures of this unforgettable decade. Covering everything from leisure suits to Pet Rocks, Saturday Night Fever to Punk Rock, this full-color guide will take you back to your fads, foibles and fashions of the polyester years. This book is an essential reference for Baby Boomers and their younger siblings gathering the artifacts and memories of their youth. Includes: • Hundreds of listings in over 20 categories • Up-to-date market prices • Informative and extremely entertaining background histories A funkadelic trip to the not-so-distant past... Disco, Smiley Faces, 8-tracks and platform shoes - retro is in and '70s rule! The Collectible '70s is a pop-culture history and price guide to treasures of this unforgettable decade. Covering everything from leisure suits to Pet Rocks, Saturday Night Fever to Punk Rock, this full-color guide will take you back to your fads, foibles and fashions of the polyester years. This book is an essential reference for Baby Boomers and their younger siblings gathering the artifacts and memories of their youth. Includes: • Hundreds of listings in over 20 categories • Up-to-date market prices • Informative and extremely entertaining background histories

19 Century America
19 Century America

Author: Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.)

Publisher: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Published: 1970

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 0870990047

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This book illustrates and discusses 300 prime objects displayed in the 1970 exhibition of American decorative arts displayed during the Centennial exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1970. Presented as a series of lavish room settings and galleries, the exhibit included pieces in the 19th century’s principal styles of furniture and decorative arts--Federal, Empire, Gothic, rococo, Renaissance, art nouveau, and reform. Objects featured in this book include various pieces of furniture, silver, glass, ceramics, and metalwork from the Museum’s American wing.