American Modern, 1925-1940: Design for a New Age

by Stewart J. Johnson

Showcases a pioneer group of designers, architects, & artists who forged a new "Machine Age" design aesthetic that transformed American tastes. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0810942089
• ISBN13: 9780810942080
• Release Date: May 2000
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 3.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 10.3" x 10.3"

Customer Reviews

America's own design style.

This is a beautifully designed and printed book based on the exhibition `American Modern' at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. The 172 illustrations (142 are large color photos mostly one to a page) focus on objects rather than the wider visual aspects of streamline design such as architecture, transport, engineering. I like the idea of everyday items being used, here you can study, for instance, Lurelle Guild's 1937 Electrolux vacuum cleaner, Norman Bel Geddes' 1940 Patriot radio, Russel Wright's 1937 American Modern dinnerware or the stunning candleholders Wilbert Orme designed in 1938, there are four shown in four separate arrangements and I would really like to have a set! Author Stewart Johnson explains, in an essay at the start of the book, how a small group of American designers, several of them emigres from Europe, abandoned the ornamentation of Art Deco in favor of simple clean lines, using new materials and manufacturing techniques. Furniture designer Paul Frankl was one of this group and he became an active promoter of the new style. He tied it all down to six characteristics 1 Simplicity. 2 Plain surfaces. 3 Unbroken lines. 4 Accentuation of structural necessity. 5 Dramatisation of the intrinsic beauty of materials. 6 Elimination of meaningless and distracting motives of the past. Johnson adds one other point that Frankl would not have mentioned at the time: Streamlining. This was the idea that made the style American. The back of the book has several pages of designer biographies, a useful glossary (Aluminum to Vitrolite and I now know what Monel Metal is) bibliography and index. Joe Coscia Jr, of the Metropolitan's photo studio, should be congratulated on his wonderful photography of the exhibits, they leap right off the page. As this book only covers objects you might want to read about other areas of Streamline design, have a look at `The Machine Age in America' by Richard Guy Wilson, Dianne Pilgrim and Dickran Tashjian. I think this can be considered the standard work on the subject. Another book that I like is Martin Greif's `Depression Modern: Thirties Style in America', it has some excellent architectural (especially interior) photos that I have not seen in other books. Want to know more? Scan over my Listmania: 'Streamline' books selection. ***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

Wonderful book!

I saw the exhibition at The Met and this book captures the objects perfectly! It also serves as a great reference to the greatest period in American industrial design: 1925 to 1940.

A COFFEE TABLE BOOK--With CONTENT!

This is a great book for anyone interested in or appreciative of modern design and aesthetics. The book itself is beautiful, and all the color reproductions inside are sleek, clean, and inspiring. The author has the works divided by interesting categories such as "Streamlined," "Geometries," and "Penthouse," groupings that really help illuminate different design tendencies during this period. A beautiful publication!