Ghislaine Wood

This is a superbly, and copiously illustrated essay on the way the short-lived fin-de-siècle blooming of the voluptuous Art Nouveau phenomenon, pointing out its influences from earlier trends and concentrating on its undeniably erotic appeal. Ghislaine Wood writes succinctly and authoritatively of such influences, whether showing Art Nouveau's roots in the distant past, in literature, dance and architecture. The illustrations provided are of high quality, and closely follow the text, amplifying the points being made. An excellent introduction to one of the main erotic influences on twentieth century visual culture.… (altro)

What is best about this survey of Art Deco and allied design styles is that it aspires to a truly world-wide examination of the phenomena, from the 1925 Paris Exhibition to how the elitist style eventually became filtered through the dream factory of Hollywood and the new mass media to become the popular image of the Modern around the world, much to the dismay of the Functionalists. On the whole, this book should probaly be rated at 3.5, seeing as it could use formal chapters on the channels by which the new style was alternately disseminated and dismissed.… (altro)