Designing Modern Germany - Softcover

Jeremy Aynsley

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1861894015 ISBN 13: 9781861894014

Publisher: Reaktion Books, 2009

Synopsis

German design and architecture reflects the country's rich and fraught political history in its structure and aesthetic philosophy. Jeremy Aynsley offers an in-depth study of this relationship between German history and design since 1870 and the complex principles underlying it. Designing Modern Germany reveals how German attitudes toward national identity, modernity and technology are crucial to understanding German design. Aynsley traces the historical development of German design, beginning in the 1870s with the first dedicated Arts and Crafts schools and stretching through to the famous institutions of the Bauhaus and the Ulm Hochschule fur Gestaltung.He analyses the works of leading figures such as Peter Behrens and Hannes Meyer, through to Ingo Maurer and Jil Sander, and many others in design specialties including graphics, industrial and furniture design, fashion and architecture. He also offers the first consideration of the contrasting design traditions of East and West Germany between 1949 and 1989. Whether examining the pre-First World War department store, the National Socialist fashion system or East Germany's official design culture, Designing Modern Germany reveals that German design significantly affected citizens' daily lives. An essential read for designers and scholars of German design and history, Designing Modern Germany is a key text for understanding Germany's major contribution to twentieth-century design.

About this title

Review:

'Based on extensive research and a profound knowledge of German design history, this ambitious book covers the period between 1870 and 2005 . . . Jeremy Aynsley manages to focus on the main tendencies and thus makes this complex history accessible, especially for those who are not familiar with it. The research and the scope of this book are vast and inform the reader extremely well about all the relevant movements and debates of the period . . . All in all this is a much needed, excellently researched and well-documented book for various kinds of English-speaking readers, which will no doubt enhance the understanding of German culture and design.' --Journal of Design History

'An excellent summary of material from numerous sources with considerable new material in English about postwar design in East and West Germany.'
--Design Issues

'Based on extensive research and a profound knowledge of German design history, this ambitious book covers the period between 1870 and 2005 . . . Jeremy Aynsley manages to focus on the main tendencies and thus makes this complex history accessible, especially for those who are not familiar with it. The research and the scope of this book are vast and inform the reader extremely well about all the relevant movements and debates of the period . . . All in all this is a much needed, excellently researched and well-documented book for various kinds of English-speaking readers, which will no doubt enhance the understanding of German culture and design.' --Journal of Design History

'An excellent summary of material from numerous sources with considerable new material in English about postwar design in East and West Germany.' --Design Issues

'There are very few books that survey the complicated history of German design from the first stirrings of modernism in 1870 to the post-reunification Germany of today. More than a roll call of great designers, Aynsley provides a fully contextualised history with sections on design education, department stores and publishing, and throughout, a close examination of design's often uneasy relationship with politics and national identity.' --ARLIS

'a welcome book that should be on the shelf of every university library . . . this book, more than any source outside academic specialist literature, brings the complexity of German developments to the public . . . should be required reading for all professors teaching history of design courses. Essential.'
--Choice

About the Author:

Jeremy Aynsley is Professor of History of Design and the Head of Humanities at the Royal College of Art, London. He is also the author of Nationalism and Internationalism in Design - Design in the Twentieth Century (1994), Graphic Design in Germany, 1890-1945 (2000), and A Century of Graphic Design (2001).

About this edition

• Publisher: Reaktion Books
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1861894015
• ISBN 13: 9781861894014
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256