Main entry:

Armstrong, Elizabeth, 1952-

Title & Author:

Birth of the cool : California art, design, and culture at midcentury / Elizabeth Armstrong ; with essays by Michael Boyd [and others] ; with contributions by Anna Brouwer, Mary Trent.

Publication:

Description:

301 pages . : illustrations (some color) ; 26 cm

Notes:
Catalog of an exhibition at Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, California, October 7, 2007-January 6, 2008; Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, February 15-April 13, 2008; Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, California, May 18-August 17, 2008; The Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, February 27-May 31, 2009.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 290-293) and index.
Foreword / Dennis Szakacs -- Acknowledgments -- The square and the cool : California art, design, and culture at midcentury / Elizabeth Armstrong -- Domestic cool : modern architecture and its image in southern California / Elizabeth A.T. Smith -- Hard-edge cool / Frances Colpitt -- Making the scene : West Coast modernism and the movies / Bruce Jenkins -- Cool on cool : William Claxton and the way the music looked / Dave Hickey -- Formal, cool, dense : graphic design in Los Angeles at midcentury / Lorraine Wild -- The migration of modernism : from turn-of-the-century Vienna to midcentury Los Angeles / Michael Boyd -- Cold War cool / Thomas Hine -- 1959 : a snapshot of midcentury culture / Anna Brouwer and Mary Trent -- Selected texts and documents.

Summary:

"When we think of the gardens of Southern California, we tend to think of the enormous semiarid landscapes of the Huntington and Rancho Los Alamitos, often built on the sprawling grounds of former ranches. But there is another garden tradition in Southern California: the modest, rectangular suburban plots designed by the most famous architects of mid-century modernism: Richard Neutra, Rudolph Schindler, Gregory Ain, Raphael Soriano, Harwell Hamilton Harris, A. Quincy Jones, and John Lautner. These architects saw the garden as an outdoor extension of the space of the houses they designed, rather than a neo-Spanish fantasy to be added later by a "landscapist." Their modern gardens made use of low-maintenance, drought-resistant plants, and made room for informal outdoor living by children and adults with an emphasis on recreation and exercise. Private Landscapes profiles nineteen significant gardens and their accompanying houses by these celebrated architects. Using archival photographs and newly commissioned color images, along with plans and details of restorations and reinterpretations. Private Landscapes provides a never-before-seen look at these landmark gardens. As beautiful and practical now as they were 50 years ago, these designs continue to provide inspiration for gardeners and designers everywhere."--Book jacket.

ISBN:

3791338781 (hardcover)
9783791338781 (hardcover)

Subject:

Arts, American California 20th century Exhibitions.
Design California History 20th century Exhibitions.
Arts américains Californie 20e siècle Expositions.
Design Californie Histoire 20e siècle Expositions.
Arts, American California Exhibitions. 20th century.
Design California History Exhibitions. 20th century.
Arts, American
Civilization
Design
Künste
Amerikansk konst 1950-talet.
Design Förenta staterna 1950-talet.
Utställningar Förenta staterna Kalifornien 1950-talet.
California Civilization 20th century Exhibitions.
California Civilization 20th century.
California
Kalifornien
Newport Beach <Calif., 2007>

Form/genre:

Exhibition catalogues.
Exhibition catalogs.
exhibition catalogs.
History
Catalogues d'exposition.

Added entries:

Boyd, Michael, 1960-
Brouwer, Anna, 1973-
Trent, Mary, 1981-
Orange County Museum of Art (Calif.)
Addison Gallery of American Art.
Oakland Museum of California.
Blanton Museum of Art.

California art, design, and culture at midcentury

Holdings:

Location: Library main 255315
Call No.: BIB 185476
Status: Available