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      • Trusted Partner
        The Arts
        November 2013

        Out of the ivory tower

        The Independent Group and popular culture

        by Anne Massey, Christopher Breward, Bill Sherman

        The Independent Group is now the subject of global scholarly interest, and this book, a sequel to The Independent Group: Modernism and mass culture in Britain, 1945-59, explores the Anglo-American phenomenon from a new perspective. The Group included fine artists Magda Cordell, Richard Hamilton, Nigel Henderson, Eduardo Paolozzi and William Turnbull; architects Alison and Peter Smithson, James Stirling and Colin St John Wilson; graphic designer Edward Wright; music producer Frank Cordell; and writers Lawrence Alloway, Reyner Banham, John McHale and Toni del Renzio. This radical collective met at the ICA in London during the early 1950s, and worked with and within the new world of both the avant-garde and popular culture. This sequel includes an in-depth discussion of the recent historiography of the Independent Group, and examines its history from an alternative perspective - that of popular culture. The themes of domestic space, Hollywood film, fashion, mass-circulation magazines, science-fiction and popular music are explored, broadening our general understanding. ;

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        The Arts
        February 2015

        Crafting design in Italy

        From post-war to postmodernism

        by Catharine Rossi, Christopher Breward, Bill Sherman

        Crafting design in Italy is the first book to examine the role that craft played in post-war Italian design, one of the most celebrated design episodes in the twentieth century. Craft was vital to the development of Italian design, and it has been so far overlooked. This book examines the multiple ways craft shaped Italian design from 1945 to the 1980s in the context of bigger socio-economic, cultural and political change; from post-war reconstruction to the economic 'miracle' of the 1960s, to the rise of the countercultural Radical Design movement and advent of postmodernism. It consists of case studies on design areas including product, furniture, fashion, glass and ceramics to bring to light previously unknown makers and objects as well as re-examine design 'icons' such as Gio Ponti's Superleggera chair and Ettore Sottsass's Memphisware. It also offers a model for analysing design and craft's relationship in other contexts, including today. ;

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        Humanities & Social Sciences
        April 2010

        Arts and Crafts objects

        by Imogen Hart, Christopher Breward, Bill Sherman

        In this groundbreaking reassessment of the conventional understanding of a cohesive 'Arts and Crafts movement' in Britain, Imogen Hart argues that a sophisticated mode of looking at decorative art developed in England during the second half of the nineteenth century. Bringing to light a significant number of little-known visual and textual sources, Arts and Crafts Objects insists that the history of British design between the 1830s and the 1910s is more complex and interwoven than concepts of clearly differentiated 'movements' allow for. Reinvesting the objects with the original importance ascribed to them by their makers and users, this book places furniture, metalwork, tiles, vases, chintzes, carpets, and wallpaper at the centre of a rigorous reassessment of the concept of 'Arts and Crafts'. The book offers radical new interpretations of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society and the homes of William Morris, alongside illuminating analyses of less familiar but equally rich contexts. ;

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        Humanities & Social Sciences
        June 2004

        Dress and globalisation

        by Margaret Maynard, Christopher Breward, Bill Sherman

        Dress and globalisation is the first work to survey dress around the world, drawing together issues of consumption, ethnicity, gender and the body, as well as anthropological accounts and studies of representation. It examines international western style dress, including jeans and business suits, headwear and hairdressing, ethnicity and so called 'ethnic chic', clothes for the tourist market, the politicisation of traditional dress, 'alternative' dressing, and T-shirts as temporary markers of identity. It also considers dress and environmental issues, touching on adventure gear, the 'green' consumer and the possible impact of 'smart' clothing. Dispelling the myth of universal 'world' attire, this book demonstrates that western-style clothing transcends geographical boundaries but along with other forms of dress, can form a montage of differing tastes, ethnic preferences and national and local imperatives. By discussing the nature of globalisation, this book shows that, if economics permit, all cultures are selective in their choice of what to wear. Dress and globalisation will be welcomed by students of dress history and cultural studies. ;

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        The Arts
        July 2016

        Making sense of the Bayeux Tapestry

        Readings and reworkings

        by Anna Henderson, Bill Sherman

        This book aims to make sense of the Bayeux Tapestry by bringing together answers to a number of questions which this famous hanging presents to the viewer. How did the embroiderers organise the stitching of the Bayeux Tapestry? Are its limited colours used with greater sophistication than viewers have recognised? What do we know of the Tapestry's supporting cast: naked figures in the margins and clerics present at events in the main register? Can we learn anything about the original purpose of the Tapestry from detailed examination of Bayeux Cathedral's 1476 Inventory, the first known reference to the Tapestry's existence? This book combines up-to-the-minute research with an introduction that draws on the contributors' personal observations in order to interrogate the Tapestry's enduring value. Bringing together contributions from leading specialists and newer voices in the field, it will be essential reading for students and scholars of the Bayeux Tapestry, medieval art and culture. ;

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        History of Art / Art & Design Styles
        October 2016

        Hot metal

        Material culture and tangible labour

        by Jesse Stein. Series edited by Bill Sherman, Christopher Breward

        The world of work is tightly entwined with the world of things. Hot metal illuminates connections between design, material culture and labour between the 1960s and the 1980s, when the traditional crafts of hot-metal typesetting and letterpress were finally made obsolete with the introduction of computerised technologies. This multidisciplinary history provides an evocative rendering of design culture by exploring an intriguing case: a doggedly traditional Government Printing Office in Australia. It explores the struggles experienced by printers as they engaged in technological retraining, shortly before facing factory closure. Topics explored include spatial memory within oral history, gender-labour tensions, the rise of neoliberalism and the secret making of objects 'on the side'. This book will appeal to researchers in design and social history, labour history, material culture and gender studies. It is an accessible, richly argued text that will benefit students seeking to learn about the nature and erosion of blue-collar work and the history of printing as a craft.

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        The Arts
        March 2018

        Art versus industry?

        New perspectives on visual and industrial cultures in nineteenth-century Britain

        by Christopher Breward, Kate Nichols, Bill Sherman, Rebecca Wade, Gabriel Williams

        This book is about encounters between art and industry in nineteenth-century Britain. It looks beyond the oppositions established by later interpretations of the work of John Ruskin, William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement to reveal surprising examples of collaboration - between artists, craftspeople, designers, inventors, curators, engineers and educators - during a crucial period in the formation of the cultural and commercial identity of Britain and its colonies. Across thirteen chapters by fourteen contributors, Art versus industry? explores such diverse subjects as the production of lace, the mechanical translation of sculpture, the display of stained glass, the use of the kaleidoscope in painting and pattern design, the emergence of domestic electric lighting and the development of art and design education and international exhibitions in India.

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        March 2007

        Bringing modernity home

        Writings on popular design and material culture

        by Christopher Breward, Bill Sherman, Martin Hargreaves

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