Customer Reviews

Paris-New York: Design Fashion Culture 1925-1940

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There are so many books on the 20s, 30s and 40s....One can grow really skeptical of another one out there but I am definitely pleased with this purchase.
Paris/ New York. Design/ Fashion/ Culture/ 1925-1940 is a companion book to the exhibition under the same title that is going on right now at the Museum of the City of New York. If you do not have a chance to visit it - do not despair: the book does a great job of covering all the aspects of the exhibition and beyond that, it is that kind of a book in your library you will enjoy to read and look over again numerous times. However it is not an in-depth kind of a book on individual subjects of architecture, fashion, interior design, music and arts but rather an overview and introduction to the subjects in that period.
Richly illustrated, it can be a starting point of inspiring you to study that period's design, fashion and culture more in depth and getting more material. The book actually offers the list of that material and notes in one of the final chapters.
Each part is an essay written by a different writer. You will find the following subjects of the exhibition reflected in the book after the preface and the introduction:

Metropolis In The Mirror: Planning Regional New York and Paris

Modernity and Tradition in Beaux-Arts New York

Beyond Metaphor: Skyscrapers Through Parisian Eyes

Africa on the Spiral: Jazz in New York and Paris Between the Wars

Fashion Showdown: New York versus Paris 1914-1941

The Longest Gangplank (about the Normandie ocean liner)

New York Haute Cuisine

Art Deco to American Modern at the 1929 Metropolitan Museum of Art Industrial Art Arts Exhibition

From Deco to Streamlined: Donald Deskey and Raymond Loewy

A Bridge to Postwar American Design: Gilbert Rohde and the 1937 Paris Exposition

Neo-Romantics

Further Reading and Notes

Index

Board of Trustees Museum of the City of New York

Photography credits

This book gives me the feeling that I actually took the whole exhibition from the museum back to my home.

I just got this book and haven't put it down. The photos are just sensational, and the text is both informative and interesting, something you don't always find with these kinds of books. I got it while working on a story and it's been indispensable. If you love great old interiors you will adore this book!

Very well documented, interesting articles coevring a fascinating era. A very fine book with high quality prints and documents that may be difficult to find elsewhere. Perfect gift for those who love New York, Paris and the art-deco era.