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摘要
摘要
"One of the most significant contributions to design history in recent years." Financial Times
评论 (3)
出版社周刊评论
A social history of industrial and consumer design, this provocative study opens up new ways of looking at thousands of objects in our daily environment. Forty, a British architectural historian, notes that design changes have played a key role in gaining acceptance for products and creating wealth. Eighteenth century manufacturers drew heavily on archaic models to overcome consumer resistance to new technology, whereas contemporary makers of high-tech gadgets design utopian images promising a better future. The Victorian home, a sentimental ``palace of illusions,'' was stuffed with theatrical furniture and intricate harmonies that smothered all associations with the unscrupulous world of commerce and work. Notions of cleanliness and hygiene have figured prominently in design, from Le Corbusier's polished exteriors to the streamlining of railway compartment upholstery to remodeling of bathroom fixtures and vacuum cleaners. Forty shows that much more than artistic taste goes into design considerations. Hundreds of illustrations are interwoven with the text. (March 28) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Choice 评论
Forty's book deals with the cultural significance of the design of objects. It is not about the aesthetics of design: rather, Forty tries to discover why great differences in design exist at the same time. He posits that the way things look is a result of the condition of their making. An example is that of Josiah Wedgwood, who introduced new techniques to produce china: Wedgwood understood that the middle and upper classes sought to distinguish themselves by exclusion and by fashionable tastes. Another example is how the invention of the sewing machine affected the design of women's clothing. Dresses of the 1870s and 1880s were loaded with trim because machine sewers, who were paid a fraction of hand sewers' rates, made up the difference in pay by working longer hours, which left more time for sewing on trim. Thus the ultimate case for heavily trimmed dresses was not the sewing machine but its use within a capitalist manufacturing system. Forty (architecture, University College, London) has published articles and essays on the history of architecture and design. The book has many black-and-white photographs, a wonderful bibliography, and an index. Recommended for design and industrial design historians and for readers interested in the capitalist manufacturing effects on society.-V.M. Juergensen, Mohawk Valley Community College
《图书馆杂志》(Library Journal )书评
Intriguing for its illustrations of oddities in the history of industrial design (e.g., the Squirrel sewing machine, 1858), Forty's analysis is basically soft-sell Marxist ideology, written for general readers. The author's research is based primarily upon secondary sources, with comments added to demonstrate his thesis: ``To make sense of design, we must recognize that its disguising, concealing, and tranforming powers have been essential to the progress of modern industrial societies.'' Chapters are thematic: ``Hygiene and Cleanliness,'' for example, treats refrigerators, bathrooms, railway coach cars, school chairs, and vacuum cleaners. Recommended, with reservations, for large collections. Mary Hamel-Schwulst, Art Dept., Goucher Coll., Towson, Md. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.