Twentieth-Century Design FROM THE PUBLISHER
The most famous designs of the twentieth century are not those in museums, but in the marketplace. The Coca-Cola bottle and the McDonald's logo are known all over the world, and designs such as the modernist 'Frankfurt Kitchen' of 1924, the 1954 streamlined and tail-finned Oldsmobile, or 'Blow', the inflatable chair ubiquitous in the late 1960s, tell us more about our culture than a narrowly-defined canon of classics. Drawing on the most up-to-date scholarship (not only in design history but also in social anthropology and women's history), Jonathan M. Woodham takes a fresh look at the wider issues of design and industrial culture throughout Europe, Scandinavia, North America, and the Far East. He explores themes such as national identity, the 'Americanization' of ideology and business methods, the rise of the multi-nationals, Pop and Postmodernism, and contemporary ideas of nostalgia and heritage. In the history which emerges design is clearly seen for what it is: the powerful and complex expression of aesthetic, social, economic, political, and technological forces.
FROM THE CRITICS
Library Journal
One of the first six volumes of the new Oxford series, this is a useful and concise summary of 20th-century design in both the Western industrialized world and the Far East. Woodham (history of design, Univ. of Brighton) freely admits that some influences, such as multiculturalism, perestroika, and the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, have been omitted in hopes that this will enhance future studies in these areas. The work reads like a global who's who of designers, architects, cultural and national design organizations, and corporate icons. Each of the ten chapters focuses on a component of design, such as modernism, consumerism, reconstruction after World War II, nostalgia and heritage, and social responsibility. The illustrations fit the text and reflect classic design examples. Woodham successfully highlights design as a powerful marketing tool that has captured the international consumer through culture, socioeconomics, politics, and technology. Highly recommended.Stephen Allan Patrick, East Tenn. State Univ. Lib., Johnson City
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