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

Stewart J. Johnson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2000

This volume presents approximately 125 works by a pioneering group of American designers. The "Machine Age" aesthetic is undergoing a revival, so the objects included here, such as kitchen appliances, glassware, ceramics, furniture, lighting, clocks, textiles, and posters, are very popular.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

When the Museum of Modern Art in New York speaks, everyone and anyone concerned with design listens. In the style-setting forefront for decades, this showcase, in concert with the American Federation for the Arts, thoughtfully has assembled a traveling collection of 125 "American Modern" objects that truly signify what this 15-year period (1925-40) means. It is, for one, the hard-edge Cubist shapes of Ferdinand Leger. Yet it is also Russel Wright's famed American Modern dinnerware, a ubiquitous sight at major flea markets and antique shows. An excellent essay by MOMA consultant Johnson kicks off this tribute, explaining its origins and practitioners, while the colorful photographs following illustrate far better than words alone the majesty of American Modern. A checklist of the exhibition, biographies, glossary, notes, and bibliography appended. Barbara Jacobs
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams; First Edition edition (May 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810942089
• ISBN-13: 978-0810942080
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 10.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,157,505 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A COFFEE TABLE BOOK--With CONTENT!, May 15, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: American Modern, 1925-1940: Design for a New Age (Hardcover)

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!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars America's own design style., May 26, 2002

By 

Robin Benson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: American Modern, 1925-1940: Design for a New Age (Hardcover)

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.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book!, July 7, 2001

By 

Steve Basile (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: American Modern, 1925-1940: Design for a New Age (Hardcover)

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.