Masters of Modern Design: A Critical Assessment

The twelve designers featured in Masters of Modern Design – originators of ideas vital to the contemporary world – have had an immeasurable impact on the buildings, houses, furniture, cars, and basic products we use daily. George Marcus offers biographical sketches and critical evaluations of William Morris, Henry van de Velde, Josef Hoffmann, Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Marianne Brandt, Raymond Loewy, Charles and Ray Eames, Achille Castiglioni, Ettore Sottsass Jr., Shiro Kuramata, and Philippe Starck. These profiles present a parallel history of design movements from the nineteenth century on: Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau, the International Style, the Bauhaus, postmodernism, and more.

Marcus discusses the history, development, philosophy, and process of these influential designers. He focuses on the definitive stances each took in regard to modernism – issues of decoration, simplicity, functionality, and mass-production – and the inescapable connections of their works and ideas. This thorough survey is an essential contribution to the history of art, art history, architecture, and design.

George H. Marcus teaches the history of twentieth-century design at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of Le Corbusier: Inside the Machine for Living, Design in the Fifties: When Everyone Went Moden, Functionalist Design: An Ongoing History, and co-author of Landmarks of Twentieth-Century Design.

Pilar Viladas is the design editor of the New York Times Magazine.