Serious play : design in midcentury America /
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. Stora...
Saved in:
Corporate Authors: | ; |
---|---|
Group Author: | ; |
Published: |
Yale University Press,
|
Publisher Address: | New Haven, CT : |
Publication Dates: | [2018] |
Literature type: | Book |
Language: | English |
Subjects: | |
Summary: |
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 architectu |
Item Description: | Catalog of an exhibition held at Milwaukee Art Museum, September 28, 2018-January 6, 2019 and Denver Art Museum, May 5-August 25, 2019. |
Carrier Form: | xi, 244 pages : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 29 cm |
Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
ISBN: |
9780300234220 0300234228 |
Index Number: | NK1404 |
CLC: | TU238.2-097.12 |
Call Number: | TU238.2-097.12/S485 |
Contents: |
Playful domesticity / Charles and Ray Eames: Serious play, serious pleasure / "What is a clock, anyway?" / Eva Zeisel: the "merry-souled" designer's playful search for beauty / Toys as furniture/Furniture as toys / Alexander Girard and play in the corporate environment / The play principle: Paul Rand and graphic design / Serious business: the wonderful, imaginative spirit of Alcoa's forecast program / |