A stunning celebration of the architect’s residential masterpieces Louis Kahn (1901–1974), one of the most important architects of the postwar period, is widely admired for his great monumental works, including the Kimbell Art Museum, the Salk Institute, and the National Assembly Complex in Bangladesh. However, the importance of his houses has been largely overlooked. This beautiful book is the first to look at Kahn’s nine major private houses. Beginning with his earliest encounters with Modernism in the late 1920s and continuing through his iconic work of the 1960s and 1970s, the authors trace the evolution of the architect’s thinking, which began and matured through his design of houses and their interiors, a process inspired by his interactions with clients and his admiration for vernacular building traditions.
Richly illustrated with new and period photographs and original drawings, as well as previously unpublished materials from personal interviews, archives, and Kahn’s own writings, The Houses of Louis Kahn shows how his ideas about domestic spaces challenged conventions, much like his major public commissions, and were developed into one of the most remarkable expressions of the American house.

The Houses of Louis Kahn

Arts & Photography

Marcus, George H.

Whitaker, William

History & Criticism

Yale University Press

Continuing the popular and illuminating "Speak" series, this handsomely designed volume offers a user-friendly lexicon of the decorative arts. Understanding antiques requires knowledge of a specialized vocabulary that tells initiates what something is, where it came from, and when it was made. AntiqueSpeak provides this essential information in concise but illuminating essays that cover almost a millennium of styles (such as Baroque and Art Deco), materials (glass, ivory), types of objects (furniture, toys and games), specialized areas of collecting (folk art, Judaica), and concerns involved with acquiring and caring for antiques (auctions, condition, marks and signatures). In addition, the book includes a handy one-page StyleChart; a section of color plates (one for each major style); an album of ornaments and classical orders, represented by line drawings; labeled drawings of selected furniture types; an introduction that explains how to use the book; and an invaluable index that provides dates and nationalities for all the designers, craftsmen, artists, and others discussed in the entries.

AntiqueSpeak: A Guide to the Styles, Techniques, and Materials of the Decorative Arts, from the Renaissance to Art Deco (Speak Series)

Hiesinger, Kathryn B.

Abbeville Press

Understanding antiques requires knowledge of a specialized vocabulary that tells initiates what something is, where it came from, and when it was made. AntiqueSpeak provides this essential information in concise but illuminating essays that cover almost a millennium of styles (such as Baroque and Art Deco), materials (glass, ivory), types of objects (furniture, toys and games), specialized areas of collecting (folk art, Judaica), and concerns involved with acquiring and caring for antiques (auctions, condition, marks and signatures). In addition, the book includes a handy one-page StyleChart; a section of color plates (one for each major style); an album of ornaments and classical orders, represented by line drawings; labeled drawings of selected furniture types; an introduction that explains how to use the book; and an invaluable index that provides dates and nationalities for all the designers, craftsmen, artists, and others discussed in the entries.

Antiquespeak: A Guide to the Styles, Techniques, and Materials of the Decorative Arts, from the Renaissance to Art Deco

Crafts, Hobbies & Home

Antiques & Collectibles

Celebrating the ultimate masterpieces of modernist design, from the Arts and Crafts movement up to the twenty-first century, Total Design offers an intimate tour of houses conceived as complete works of art. Each of the spectacular houses making up Total Design demonstrates how an architect realized a unifying vision through all aspects of design—architecture, furniture, fittings, decorative objects, color, and gardens. Presenting masterpieces of modern architecture conceived as complete works of art inside and out, author George H. Marcus, a veteran chronicler of modernist design, delivers a highly accessible tour of the creations of some of the twentieth century’s greatest architects and designers, including Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe, Alvar Aalto, Eero Saarinen, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and Gio Ponti. Together these masterworks of design offer a stunning survey of the many modes of modernist design, from the inventive refinement of Pierre Chareau to the colorful Nordic forms of Finn Juhl to the twenty-first-century expressionism of Daniel Libeskind.

Total Design: Architecture and Interiors of Iconic Modern Houses

Rizzoli Universe Promotional Books

Why are so many of us uncertain of design's meaning and its role in our lives? Here, George H. Marcus offers much-needed clarification and a tour of the often smart, political and savvy imagery that characterizes the ever-changing world of products and grapics today.

What is Design Today?

Harry N. Abrams

Photography & Video

Rizzoli

With some 280 colour illustrations, Introduction to Modern Design takes us on a visual survey of design from the Industrial Revolution of the eighteenth century to the Maker Movement of today. It offers a new understanding of the birth of modern design in the early twentieth century and chronicles the way its meaning has changed over the decades. The narrative is supported by twenty-six readings from significant texts by designers and critics, offering readers an opportunity to learn about design from those who created it and those who commented on it as it was done.
The focus of this book is on the objects themselves-from industrial design, furniture, ceramics, textiles, graphics, electronics, to automobiles-and explores the development of these designs in relation to industrialization, technology, environmental responsibility, consumerism, individual needs, and the expression of the social values of their day. Clearly written and accessible, Introduction to Modern Design provides a succinct history of, and fascinating insights into, the world of design.

Introduction to Modern Design: Its History from the Eighteenth Century to the Present

Decorative Arts & Design

Bloomsbury Visual Arts

The ideas of Le Corbusier on modern furnishings, modern houses, and modern cities are still, more than three decades after the architect's death, persuasive and extremely influential. He considered the objects of daily life -- a chair, a cabinet, a bottle -- as "tools," elements whose form and function could be rationally resolved and then standardized. His own metal furniture, designed in collaboration with Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte Perriand, was based on strict conceptions of utility and typology that nevertheless resulted in pieces that were among the most elegant and luxurious creations of modern design. While Le Corbusier's reputation was based on his rhetoric of functionalist utility, standardization, and the machine, his rational approach was modulated by human experience and had a poetic and complex relationship to the built and furnished environment. In this authoritative volume, George H. Marcus analyzes this relationship as it informed Le Corbusier's domestic interiors and furnishings spanning his entire career, from the revolutionary Esprit Nouveau pavilion of 1925 to the celebrated Villa Savoye to the controversial Unité d'Habitation in Marseilles and other works of his later years. Marcus pays particular attention to the often unappreciated role of color in these projects and focuses in great detail on the seminal pieces of furniture produced by Le Corbusier's studio -- including the famed grand confort chair and chaise longue - documenting not only the conditions surrounding their conceptualization and design but also the vicissitudes of their original production and their continuing manufacture. Extensively illustrated with new color photography, archival photography, and the architect's sketches and drawings, Le Corbusier: Inside the Machine for Living offers fresh insight into this relatively little-studied aspect of the great architect's career.

Le Corbusier: Inside the Machine for Living

The Monacelli Press

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.

Masters of Modern Design: A Critical Assessment

Biographies & Memoirs

In this copiously illustrated volume, George H. Marcus presents a corrective history of functionalism, the aesthetic that defined the course of progressive design in this century, and his work is particularly illuminating with regard to the use of color in architecture and design. Tracing the development of functionalism from Victorian times, Marcus establishes its basis as socially beneficial and without allegiance to style, material, or context. All that changed as the definition of functionalism narrowed and became closely identified with metal furniture, industrial materials, and austerity in the 1930s and was subsequently redefined simply as a modernist style. With the advent of postmodernism, functionalism has been overshadowed, but its classic designs - the metal furniture of Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, and Marcel Breuer - are now becoming broadly accessible, fulfilling social goals promoted over a century ago. The profileration of these designs today, however, belies the difficulties of bringing them into production. Based on his archival research, Marcus documents the history of their manufacture and sheds new light on the creation and dissemination of some of the most important examples of modern design.

Functionalist Design: An Ongoing History

Graphic Design

Prestel Pub

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Marcus, George H.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Marcus, George H.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Marcus, George H.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Houses of Louis Kahn

AntiqueSpeak: A Guide to the Styles, Techniques, and Materials of the Decorative Arts, from the Renaissance to Art Deco (Speak Series)

Antiquespeak: A Guide to the Styles, Techniques, and Materials of the Decorative Arts, from the Renaissance to Art Deco

Total Design: Architecture and Interiors of Iconic Modern Houses

What is Design Today?

Total Design: Architecture and Interiors of Iconic Modern Houses

Introduction to Modern Design: Its History from the Eighteenth Century to the Present

Le Corbusier: Inside the Machine for Living

Masters of Modern Design: A Critical Assessment

Functionalist Design: An Ongoing History