Customer Reviews

Forms in Modernism: The Unity of Typography, Architecture and the Design Arts 1920s-1970s

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I was attracted first to the cover, which is exceptionally stylish and elegant. Then I was intrigued by the subtitle, The Unity of Typography, Architecture, & the Design Arts. This seemed to me to imply that the book would be of interest, not only to specialists in each of those fields, but to anyone interested in the aesthetics of one's surroundings. The content lived up to expectations, melding fashion, furnishings, architecture, and graphic design in an original but approachable, beautifully organized whole. I recommend it highly.

For anyone who is interested in comparative aesthetics, this book is an eye-opener. Showing and illustrating esthetic connections between typefaces and various designed objects, from architecture to clothing, the author points out developments and correlations in multiple areas of twentieth-century design. Typography is not an art in itself but part of a larger visual universe.

Very useful and informative. Provides an excellent overview of the development of modernism in typography, architecture and the design arts and very effectively "identifies shared actions on form - including stripping, fragmenting , compressing, elongating, and more". I've found it a very useful text to refer some of my students to (English as a Second Language Students who are studying Design), as the language is quite accessible and the text is well supported by illustrations. For example, in one section titled "the New Spirit in Couture", Virginia Smith writes about Chanel's black wool jersey dress of 1926 (often called "The Dress of the Century"). She writes, "In one black dress it incorporates many principles of Modernism: the exclusion of ornament (stripping), freedom from tradition, and geometric simplicity and utility". This is very helpful for students, particularly when it comes to providing a model for a short visual analysis where the object/design is placed within the context of the Modernist movement. I've asked our library to order copies.