A selection of four new books that cover some high points in the history of the decorative arts.
Apostles of Beauty: Arts and Crafts from Britain to
Chicago
Edited by Judith A. Barter
Yale University Press, $45, November
The Arts & Crafts movement sought to restore design and craftsmanship to
the decorative arts and architecture during the 19th-century industrial boom. Accompanying
an exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago (November 17 through January 31), this
collection of essays homes in on the movement’s heyday: 1880 to 1910, from the
floral forms favored by William Morris to the organic flow of Frank Lloyd Wright’s
Midwestern modernism.
Bauhaus 1919-1933: Workshops for Modernity
Text by
Barry Bergdoll and Leah Dickerman
Museum of Modern Art, New York, $75, November
The catalogue for MoMA’s first major exhibition since 1938 to focus
on the Bauhaus (November 11-January 25, 2010), this collection of essays takes a fresh
look at the school’s star artists, architects and designers, who sought to capture
the ethos of modern industrial life.
Star Pieces: The Enduring Beauty of
Spectacular Furniture
By David Linley, Charles Cator and Helen Chislett
The
Monacelli Press, $65, November
The age-old issue of form versus function comes
to a head in this greatest-hits-of-furniture book. Market-savvy experts on the topic, the
authors advise readers on identifying "star pieces" in their local antiques
shops or commissioning them from designers.
Wallpaper: A History of Style and
Trends
By Carolle Thibaut-Pomerantz
Flammarion, $75, October
This enlightening survey is the result of a 20-year study of artisanal
wallpapers. The author, an antiques dealer based in Paris and New York, touches on
everything from fashion to fabrication techniques in her in-depth tour through four
centuries of wallpaper making, beginning with its invention as an affordable substitute
for frescoes and tapestries and moving on to its evolution in the hands of top designers.
"Design Digest" originally appeared in the October 2009 issue of Art+Auction.
For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see
Art+Auction's October 2009 Table
of Contents.
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