Book Description
Art Deco New York takes readers on a historically rich and visually spectacular journey through New York in the early decades of the 20th century, when the style known as art deco, with its emphasis on machine-tooled elegance and sleekness of line, replaced the voluptuous beaux arts style that preceded it. It was an era when floating art deco palaces like the Normandie and the Queen Mary, and elegant, speedy trains like Henry Dreyfuss' redesigned Twentieth Century Limited transformed the way people perceived travel. There are dazzling photographs-many never before published-of such art deco icons as Schultze and Weaver's soaring Waldorf Astoria, Jospeh Urban's Zeigfeld Theater and Central Park Casino, and the sky-piercing spire of William Van Alen's Chrysler Building. This book takes a wise, witty, and intimate look at a style that came to New York via Paris in the 1920s and almost overnight became a quintessential symbol of modernity.
Customer Reviews:
Art Deco New York.......2007-07-12
For lovers of the 1920s and 1930s this is a fabulous book. From New York's stunning architecture to the social lives of the rich and famous, everything associated with New York when Gotham was truly the center of it all, this book is a trip back in time. Historically rich and a visual treat! New York in its finest hour.
A superbly organized and presented tour.......2004-12-09
Art Deco New York by cultural historian and author David Garrard Lowe (who is also President of the Beaux Arts Alliance and lectures in such noted forums as the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, the American Academy in Rome, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York) offers a superbly organized and presented tour of seminal decorative designs during the transformative decades of the 20s and 30s when the art style known as "art deco" was affecting architecture, fashion, furniture, textiles, graphics, trains, automobiles, even Hollywood movie and Broadway theater stage sets. Profusely illustrated with period photography and artifacts, Art Deco New York is an impressive, "reader friendly", coffee-table book that would significantly enhance any personal, professional, academic, or community library architectural studies, art history, or American popular culture collection.
The panoply of New York City's Art Deco era.......2004-11-29
Garrard revives the restless, utopian, sensationalistic mood of the 1920s and '30s giving rise to the inimitable Art Deco style not only by pointing to buildings and their design features representing the style, but also by including posters, advertising, architectural drawings, furniture, and varied aspects of popular culture. The author evokes an understanding of Art Deco not mainly by discussion of aesthetics or art criticism, but by immersion in the spirit of the time between the World Wars, frequently with bountiful and in many cases, unfamiliar visual matter. The Empire State Building and Paul Manship's sculpture of Prometheus ringed by signs of the zodiac in Rockefeller Center are familiar Art Deco images, if often taken for granted. But designs of rooms, architectural details of buildings, trains and cars, and magazine covers and clothing fashion are often overlooked. Garrard demonstrates how deeply--thoroughly--Art Deco pervaded the culture; and points to elements of this vibrant, short-lived cultural period which continue.
Book Description
The Chrysler Building is surely the jewel in the crown of New York City's skyline. Completed in 1930, the 77-story Art Deco skyscraper--the tallest in the world at the time it was finished--quickly became the symbol of big city glamour, excitement, and style. Its cloud-piercing spire and gleaming, steel-clad ornament depicting gargoyles, hubcaps, and the winged helmets of Mercury came to represent the thrill of the Machine Age at its most exuberant.
But, until now, this magnificent building has also been one of the least documented and studied, a simple result of the fact that there were no known archives relating to its design or construction. This material was lost in the decades following its completion, or so everyone believed, until author David Stravitz discovered a box of negatives on the floor of a defunct stock photo company, just days before they were to be shipped off for silver reclamation. The never-before-seen photographs, reproduced as sumptuous duotones in this oversize book, illustrate the day-by-day construction of this American icon.
The photographs were taken by professional photo companies hired to document the construction of the building. In so doing, they also captured the day-to-day life taking place on the streets and in the environs of the Chrysler Building in exquisite detail.
This book beautifully illustrates the history of one of the most important buildings in New York as it emerged from street level to spire.
Customer Reviews:
THE New York Skyscraper.......2005-05-02
This is a wonderful book with amazing vintage black and white period photos. The book mostly focuses on the building of the skyscraper in the 30's and my only qualm with the book is the lack of current photos of the building, but that is a minor critisism and should not reflect on the overall excellent quality of the book. The Chrysler Building is a pinnacle of Art Deco style and I love it. The history of the building is so interesting and story of the spire is such a quenticential New York moment. I recomend this book to anyone who loves the romance of the skyscraper and this one is magical.
A Loving Restoration.......2005-04-20
This book is very expensive, but very worth it.
As described, the author discovered, almost by accident, a real treasure trove of exquisitely high quality photographs taken to document the building's completion to architectural specification. Rounding out a wonderfully detailed description of the economic and entrepreneurial forces behind its construction, these beautiful pictures bring the reader back into not just a major building project but a whole era. See the clothes, the cars - everything that made this a pinnacle of American exuberance and optimism.
While the text is good, you might want to look at two other better examples of stories of the buildings that symbolized this era: John Tauranac's book on the Empire State building and "Great Fortune," Daniel Okrent's rendering of "The Epic of Rockefeller Center."
They were hard times, to be sure, but often remembered with special fondness for those things which symbolized what we aspired.
Fascinating--but who is the author?.......2005-03-12
The photos are undeniably great. All that is missing is the Cloud Club. But I'm still trying to figure out who David Stravitz is. Certainly not the author. Not one of the photographs is his. By his own admission he stumbled across this work. The firm actually responsible, Peyser & Patzig does merit a few mentions but not on the cover or the title page. Of course none of this detracts from the photos but as a photographer himself, Mr. Stravitz might be a little sensitive about taking credit for the work of others. Even Christopher Gray, who contributes a lot more than Mr. Stravitz gets low billing.
The glory of Van Alen's frivolity.......2003-10-06
Author David Stravitz wisely bought over five hundred, soon to be destroyed, negatives in 1979. They pictured New York in the 1920s and 30s and in particular one hundred and fifty showed the day by day construction of the Chrysler Building. Over a hundred of them are reproduced in this stunning book. Taken by commercial photographers Peyser & Patzig, most likely as a record for the contractor Fred Ley, they show the building as a hole in the ground on November nine 1929 to the completion of the annex in January nine 1931.
There is something about pre-war photos, perhaps the chemicals used on glass plates or the type of paper used for the black and white prints but whatever, old photos seem to have a richness of texture that enhances their appearance and you certainly notice this in these pictures. As well as their quality (don't forget this was straightforward commercial photo assignment) there is plenty to see of the building construction, what is going on in the surrounding streets and several panoramas of mid-town Manhattan taken from the Chrysler Building, including a dramatic four-page gatefold.
This is the sort of detail you'll see, pages eight and nine show the empty building site (taken on November nine) and traffic on three sides, turn the page to see a photo (November seventeen) showing dozens of male spectators looking down on the building site, now full of working construction equipment, traffic and a newsstand has appeared on a corner, by December one this newsstand has become a hut and incorporated into the fencing that now runs round the site. After the exterior, the cameraman went inside to capture the lovely deco detailing.
In the back of the book there are thumbnails and captions for the photos. Page 154 has five floor plans (I was rather disappointed that there were not more diagrams showing the exterior decorative work) and you realise that the building is not oblong, the non-street end has a chamfered side. Just one of the many insights that you'll get from this fascinating photo study of one of the world's great landmarks.
For the Chrysler Building lover in all of us........2003-07-01
This is it.
This is the one you want, if you have a love for the Chrysler building's construction, her insides and outsides.
Beautiful photos - all black and white, in a beautifully presented book. It creates a brilliant record of the construction of one of the most loved buildings in the world.
Highly recommended.
Book Description
The definitive full-color art guide to a New York City landmark visited by 75 million people each year.
From the beginning John D. Rockefeller incorporated art into his plans for Rockefeller Center in New York City, commissioning pieces meant to inspire the viewer with idealism, work ethics, and religion. Over one hundred major works embellish the twenty-two acre complex, making the center the world's largest indoor/outdoor urban museum. The artists include such noted figures as Gaston Lachaise, Lee Lowrie, Paul Manship, Carl Milles, Isamu Noguchi, Diego Rivera, and William Zorach. This book is the first comprehensive review of their work.
Each chapter investigates a single building, illustrated with both historic and dramatic new photographs. Also included are explanations of the themes, myths, and allegories. The book provides a color-coded map of the buildings in the center and a biographical index of the contributing artists. The Art of Rockefeller Center is a treat for the art lover and anyone who has ever marveled at this great American icon. 230 color illustrations.
Customer Reviews:
Lavish, Beautifully Done Book.......2006-01-25
Built in the middle of the depression, Rockefeller Center became a part of and a symbol of America. The buildings of Rockefeller Center were not designed as the steel and glass monoliths of today. Art from some of the best artists of the day was incorporated into virtually all aspects of the building. The most famous is the statue of Prometheus delivering fire to the mortals of the earth amidst the waters of the Plaza. But there is much much more. There are the bas-relief stone carvings on the facade, there are murals, statues, even specially designed patterns for the carpets.
This book is the first comprehensive study of the art in the center. It is a large format, beautifully printed edition of the art as it is now, and in many cases historical photographs of the artists as it was being produced in the 1930's.
Ms. Roussel is the Archivist of Rockefeller center. To produce the book she had unprecedented access to the records and files of the center.
Book Description
New York calls to mind many things: the Chrysler Building with its innovative design and sunburst pattern, the Empire State building with its amazing views and dominating size, Rockefeller Center seamlessly merging commerce and art. Each of these cherished pieces of New York were created during one of the cities most stylish and dazzling decades: the 1920s and 30s. New York Deco profiles this magnificent period of creativity in architecture when art deco thrived with its emphasis on machine-tooled elegance and sleek lines. Many of the New York City landmarks were born of this age, as well as dozens of lesser—known office buildings and apartment houses. Together, they make the skyline of the Big Apple what it is today.
Richard Berenholtz’s “extraordinary” and “voluptuous” photographs have offered the best of New York in the large scale New York New York and Panoramic New York and now brilliantly highlight the finest examples of NYC’s art deco architecture. Berenholtz’s photography is accompanied by text from writers, artists, and personalities of the era, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dorothy Parker, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Ogden Nash, and Frank Lloyd Wright to create a wonderful celebration of the era. A perfect gift for the New Yorker and tourist alike, this gem of a book is a window into one of city’s most divine periods.
Customer Reviews:
The living Deco city.......2007-05-13
The lovely Rockefeller Center rightly kicks of this photographic Deco tour of New York. The exteriors of the six buildings have delights everywhere, for all to see, too.
The book though is very generalised and probably aimed at the tourist market because it has no contents, index or bibliography. What it does have are plenty of close-ups of the detail work that seems to adorn so many Manhattan buildings, frequently way above street level so that these gems are mostly missed. There is a super shot of one of the Chrysler eagles on pages 148-9, or the ornamental metalwork of a lightning bolt and a bird on the General Electric Tower, page fifty-one.
The one hundred and thirty eight photos are all in color and each has an informative caption. Between the photos text pages contain thoughts on Big Apple by a variety of writers and historical personalities, which again suggest the title is really a keepsake aimed at the visitor.
A similar photo book by Carla Breeze New York Deco, though lacking in so many close-ups takes a more guide book approach with copy and photos covering commercial, residential, entertainment, public and religious buildings plus an index and bibliography. If your curiosity goes further David Garrard Lowe's fascinating Art Deco New York, sums it all up within a serious historical perspective.
***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.
Book Description
Millions of visitors flock to New York each year to witness the excitement of Wall Street, famous for its shoulder-to-shoulder Deco towers jostling for prominence above the canyon like streets. Skyscraper Rivals is the first book to examine the architecture of Wall Street between the wars through an amazing array of contemporary and archival images and an informed discussion of the financial, geographical, and historical forces that shaped this district. The book focuses on the AIG Building—once known as the Cities Service Building—and three other major towers in the financial district, in their race to be the tallest, the most modern, and the most lavish. We meet the tycoons who paid for these structures, the architects who designed them, the workers who labored in them, and the artists and photographers who portrayed them. The economics of skyscraper construction and the real-estate market of Wall Street are explained; also included are illuminating details and anecdotes surrounding each building's history. An essay by Carol Willis, director of New York's Skyscraper Museum and author of Form Follows Finance, provides an introduction.
Customer Reviews:
Wonders of Wall Street.......2005-05-02
What a wonderful book, the vintage black and white photos are amazing. I found this book so interesting, I had no idea about this wonderful story. I recommend this book on so many levels. If you enjoy great vintage photos, interesting history, and New York..all of which I do. This books makes you appreciate the beauty of Art Deco skyscrapers and makes you sad that the more modern buildings don't even compare. I commend the authors on reviving this wonderful history and for providing wonderful vintage photos of a more stylish past.
Production values (pictorially/editorially) are fantastic........2001-11-12
Coincidentally, I also am in Somerville, MA. I happened upon this only because it was displayed prominently in a local Cambridge institution in Harvard Square on top of a stack of new architecture and art books that I passed by just browsing. I probably buy more computer-related books (not many at all) than architecture these days, but after looking through this I easily decided to buy it then and there. Two buildings I never previously knew existed, but are richly and lovingly documented (right down to the oddball uniforms the staff had to wear during that period in time). Equal parts historical reference and architectural anthology of the two structures. It currently occupies the top shelf of my living room bookcase.
A Great Book on Skyscrapers.......2001-04-19
Daniel Abramson is a first-class writer who beautifully handles a large and interesting subject. Hundreds of photos make the book highly accessible. The text perfectly complements the photographs. Outstanding.
Book Description
Bruno Bertuccioli presents a vivid history of the Level Club,from it's origins as an exotic Masonic Club of the 1920's,to decadence after the crash of 1929,then renewal in 1984 as a residential condominium
The Level Club is representative of the Art Deco building design that fluorished in New York City in the 1920's
The book provides an itinerary of the building's origin's into the present providing a glimpse of the exciting atmosphere prevailing in New York during the twenties which led a group of Freemasons to envisage and persue their dream of building a Hotel devoted only to Masons with the latest state of the art the Hotel Industry of that time could provide.
The book examines the Level Club's Masonic tradition, the innumerous decorative symbols adorning it's facade the social context of the period,the personalities and motivation of it's founders and members (among them was Al Jolson)and explains why the building can truly be considered as the world only building size rendering of the King Solomon's temple
Average customer rating:
- Everythying you wanted to know...
- Art in the environment
|
The Guide to the Art of Rockefeller Center
Christine Roussel
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Modern
| Schools, Periods & Styles
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
Exhibition Catalogs
| Museums
| Museums & Collections
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
| General
| Guggenheim Museum
| Los Angeles County Museum of Art
| Metropolitan Museum of Art
| Museum of Contemporary Art
| Museum of Modern Art
| National Gallery Of Art
| Tate Gallery
| Whitney Museum of American Art
General
| Reference
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
Guidebooks
| Reference & Tips
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
Mid Atlantic
| Northeast
| Regions
| United States
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
New York
| State & Local
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
All Deals
| Blowout Books
| Stores
| Books
Arts & Photography
| Blowout Books
| Stores
| Books
Travel
| Blowout Books
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
The Art of Rockefeller Center
-
Art Deco New York
-
The Most Beautiful Villages of England (Most Beautiful Villages)
-
Miniature Books: 4,000 Years of Tiny Treasures
ASIN: 0393328651 |
Book Description
The first easy-to-navigate illustrated guidebook to the wonderful sculptures, murals, bas-reliefs, and mosaics of this Art Deco showplace.
From the depths of the Great Depression in 1929, John D. Rockefeller Jr. envisioned an unprecedented, modern, and luxurious building project. Given the theme "New Frontiers," nearly forty artists created everything from paintings and sculpture to fabrics and fountains. Rockefeller Center would be greater than its parts, nothing less than the heart of New York.
Today Rockefeller Center has millions of visitors, but no hands-on guidebook to help tourists easily locate and enjoy its art—until now. Each chapter covers a single building; one general map and detailed section maps make self-guided tours easy. Essential information is provided for every piece, along with color photographs of most. Biographical information and a list of artists allow visitors to single out a specific artist's work.
By the author of the acclaimed The Art of Rockefeller Center, this unique and affordable guidebook will empower tourists, students, and enthusiasts alike to discover Rockefeller's extraordinary vision. 118 color illustrations.
Customer Reviews:
Everythying you wanted to know..........2007-01-10
The title says it all: a detailed account of the history and theme of every scupture, mural, and painting in New York's Rockefeller Center. Casual visitors may find much more detail than they want or need, but anyone who works in the area or is intrigued by the art will enjoy the concise yet engaging commentary. A must-buy for professional guides.
The book is printed on high-quality stock and lavishly illustrated in full color.
Art in the environment.......2006-11-12
I recently walked round the Rockefeller Center to look at all the public art and this lovely little paperback was invaluable. Without it I doubt you will find the eighty or so works of art in the book that are on walls everywhere even though the majority are on exteriors. Items like Lee Lawrie's Atlas statue or the stunning Wisdom wall-relief are well-known but how many visitors realise that when they walk across the lobby of Radio City they are treading on a carpet (replaced in 1999) designed by Ruth Reeves and full of musical instrument motifs or that the bronze statues above the entrance at 620 Fifth Avenue celebrate industries of the British Empire.
The book is divided into fourteen building sections each with a color strip on the page edge that ties in with a color map on the contents page. Each spread features a color photo of the artwork and the opposite page has a very detailed description and technical listing. The last two sections include artist's biographies and an index. I would have liked to see an aerial photo or two of the Center to appreciate just how big the twenty-two acre site is.
This book is a hands-on version of Ms Roussel's much more substantial art book on the Center (ISBN 0393060829). Both books celebrate a modern American structural icon and it is a credit to the current owners that they keep all the external artistic embellishments in excellent condition.
*If you use the book to guide you round the buildings don't forget to have a look at the lovely grillwork set into the sidewalk to protect the trees.
Customer Reviews:
fly girl.......2002-12-17
this is the best book about art deco achitecture in NYC ever written!
Books:
- Atomic Ranch
- Barcelona and Modernity: Picasso, Gaudi, Miro, Dali
- Best Practices in Leadership Development and Organization Change: How the Best Companies Ensure Meaningful Change and Sustainable Leadership (Essential Knowledge Resource)
- Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality
- Building Expertise, Second Edition
- Built to Change: How to Achieve Sustained Organizational Effectiveness
- Business Valuation Body of Knowledge: Exam Review and Professional Reference
- Busting Loose From the Money Game: Mind-Blowing Strategies for Changing the Rules of a Game You Can't Win
- California Dreaming: Reforming Mathematics Education
- Christianity for the Rest of Us: How the Neighborhood Church Is Transforming the Faith
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- The Control Freak
- Ride the Wind
- Genetics And Evolution Science Fair Projects: Using Skeletons, Cereal, Earthworms, And More
- KDP - Family Single Crystals
- History: Fiction or Science
- Learning Autodesk Maya 8|Foundation +DVD
- Leonberger
- Trojan Goat: A Self-sufficient House
- Georgetown Houses of the Federal Period
- Gas Exchangers: Structure, Function, and Evolution of the Respiratory Process
New York, Empire City: 1920-1945
Art Deco: 1910-1939
American Art Deco: Modernistic Architecture and Regionalism
Art Deco Architecture: Design, Decoration, and Detail from the Twenties and Thirties
New York Deco
