Best of
Material-Culture

2000

Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology


Paul T. Nicholson - 2000
    Drawing on archaeological, experimental, ethnographic and laboratory work, it is the first book since the 1920s to describe current research into the actual basics of life in Pharaonic Egypt. The twenty-five chapters, by well-regarded scholars, present up-to-date and accessible information on a wide array of techniques.

At Memory's Edge: After-Images of the Holocaust in Contemporary Art and Architecture


James Edward Young - 2000
    Young was invited to join a German commission appointed to find an appropriate design for a national memorial in Berlin to the European Jews killed in World War II. As the only foreigner and only Jew on the panel, Young gained a unique perspective on Germany’s fraught efforts to memorialize the Holocaust. In this book, he tells for the first time the inside story of Germany’s national Holocaust memorial and his own role in it.In exploring Germany’s memorial crisis, Young also asks the more general question of how a generation of contemporary artists can remember an event like the Holocaust, which it never knew directly. Young examines the works of a number of vanguard artists in America and Europe—including Art Spiegelman, Shimon Attie, David Levinthal, and Rachel Whiteread—all born after the Holocaust but indelibly shaped by its memory as passed down through memoirs, film, photographs, and museums. In the context of the moral and aesthetic questions raised by these avant-garde projects, Young offers fascinating insights into the controversy surrounding Berlin’s newly opened Jewish museum, designed by Daniel Libeskind, as well as Germany’s soon-to-be-built national Holocaust memorial, designed by Peter Eisenman.Illustrated with striking images in color and black-and-white, At Memory’s Edge is the first book in any language to chronicle these projects and to show how we remember the Holocaust in the after-images of its history.

An Illustrated Dictionary of Ceramics


George Savage - 2000
    It provides a comprehensive and authoritative guide to the world of ceramics, from the humble brick to the most exquisite porcelain. Specialized words and phrases are lucidly explained, together with many foreign terms. The dictionary proper is concerned with the physical nature of pottery and porcelain--materials, processes, types, decorative patterns, and styles--and with periods, dynasties, and general categories of wares. An introductory list of the principal English and Continental factories, their dates, marks, and the personalities associated with them, provides a master reference for proper names and completes an invaluable book.

Noble Dreams, Wicked Pleasures: Orientalism in America, 1870-1930


Holly Edwards - 2000
    Published to coincide with the multimedia exhibition that opens at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute and travels to the Walters Art Gallery and the Mint Museum of Art, this catalogue considers how urban, mercantile, Protestant America represented the Islamic world of the Middle East and North Africa in ways that say more about itself than the foreign culture.This gorgeously illustrated volume first looks at the use of Orientalist stereotypes by some of the country's most important high art painters of the nineteenth century: Frederic Edwin Church's treatment of the exotic terrain through a lens of deep religiosity; a more cosmopolitan reading of the harem girl by John Singer Sargent; the perfumed alternative to industrial capitalism conjured in the landscapes and market scenes of Samuel Colman and Louis Comfort Tiffany; and interpretations of the Orient as emancipatory by Ella Pell, the only major woman Orientalist. The book next traces the popularization of Orientalism in the decorative arts (including a few treasures from Olana, Church's Moorish-style home on the Hudson), on Broadway, and in Hollywood, as well as through advertising that linked consumer products with visual suggestions of exotic sexuality and through cultural objects, such as the Shriners' fez.The generous color plates show both an innocent romanticization of the Orient and a darker, heavily eroticized version of Oriental otherness. An excellent chronology and bibliography, in addition to expert essays by both Americanists and Islamicists, give context to absorbing images. Though a perfect companion for visitors to the exhibition, Noble Dreams, Wicked Pleasures is also for anyone seeking an uncommon take on the development of American self-understanding. Exhibition Schedule: ? The Sterling and Francine Clark Art InstituteWilliamstown, MassachusettsJune 11-September 4, 2000 The Walters Art GalleryBaltimore, MarylandOctober 1-December 10, 2000 The Mint Museum of ArtCharlotte, North CarolinaFebruary 3-April 22, 2001

China and Glass in America, 1880-1980: From Table Top to TV Tray


Charles L. Venable - 2000
    Illustrated with over 200 photographs of glass and ceramic objects, this book takes a comprehensive look at modern tableware used in American homes, focusing on its cultural and business history, as well as its design.

The Potter's Art (Material Culture (Indiana University, Bloomington).)


Henry Glassie - 2000
    Governed by desire, the artist's work answers questions of value. Is nature favored, or culture? Are individual needs or social needs more important? Do utilitarian or aesthetic concerns dominate in the transformation of nature?" --from the IntroductionThe Potter's Art discusses and illustrates the work of modern masters of traditional ceramics from Bangladesh, Sweden, various parts of the United States, Turkey, and Japan. It will appeal to anyone interested in pottery and the study of folklore and folk art.Henry Glassie is College Professor of Folklore and Co-director of Turkish Studies at Indiana University. He has been a Guggenheim Fellow and a Fellow of the National Humanities Institute; he has also served as President of the Vernacular Architecture Forum and of the American Folklore Society.Material Culture--Henry Glassie, George Jevremovic, and William T. Sumner, editors (Note: there is an accent egue on the c Jevremovic)Contents: The Potter's ArtBangladeshSwedenGeorgiaAcomaTurkeyJapanHagiWork in the ClayAcknowledgmentsNotesBibliographyIndex

Hollywood Beyond the Screen: Design and Material Culture


Anne Massey - 2000
    From its earliest days, Hollywood glamour in the form of make-up, hairstyles, and fashion was mimicked by women throughout Britain. But the influence of Hollywood was more than skin-deep. Nearly every form of British material culture in the twentieth century has been influenced to some extent by American style, disseminated through the medium of film to a broad and receptive market.With the erection of the Chrysler Building in New York in the late 20s, representing the city and modern American urban life, the Manhattan skyline became an enduring icon in popular culture on both sides of the Atlantic. Not only Hollywood film, but jazz and American companies all combined to bring the new Moderne style to bear on Britain. The architecture of shops, cinemas, and factories all reflect this influence, as did various forms of transportation and the interiors of homes. Even as late as the consumer boom in the 80s, revivals celebrating the Moderne style were popular in Britain as well as abroad. This influence was naturally not without its critics. The very popularity of American design challenged the aesthetics and elitism of British high arts and remains controversial.Anyone interested in design, material culture, film or architecture will find this book to be a lucid and absorbing exploration of a popular aesthetic.

British Country House in the Eighteenth Century


Christopher Christie - 2000
    Christie's clear and thoughtful analysis provides insight into many different areas: the role and rank of family and servants, furniture, landscape, architecture, painting, sculpture, style, food, and entertainment.