The Independent Group

by Anne Massey

This study looks at the artists, designers and writers who formed the Independent Group in the early 1950s including such influential figures as Richard Hamilton, Eduardo Paolozzi, Nigel Henderson, William Turnball, Rayner Banham and Alison and Peter Smithson. As a group they aimed to raise the status of popular objects and icons within modern visual culture. The development of the Independent Group is mapped out against the changing nature of modernism during the Cold War era, as well as the impact of mass consumption on post-war British society. In this book, Massey examines the cultural context of the formation of the Group, covering the founding of the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, the meanings of modernism, and the creation of a national identity. Key exhibitions such as "Parallel of Life and Art" and "This Is Tomorrow" are also examined.

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 15, 1996

About the author

Anne Massey is professor of design and culture at Huddersfield University and professorial fellow at the University of the Creative Arts, England. She is the author of The Independent Group: Modernism and Mass Culture, 1945–1959; Interior Design Since 1900; and six other books. She has edited five volumes, including A Companion to Contemporary Design Since 1945, and was founding coeditor of the journal Interiors: Design, Architecture, Culture. She lives in London.

Reviews

[Roxy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very thorough and interesting account of the Independent Group's formation and history, though in all honestly I found the writing style a bit dry. I also think a lot of the "story" of the Group as detailed in this book is bogged down somewhat by many names and organisations and dates in full etc., and though of course such detail is revealing and intrinsic to the text, it somehow does at times feel like you're having to navigate through a lot of menial detail that can be confusing at times, and adds to the dry, academic feel of the writing. In truth I only really felt engaged and wholly interested in it about 5 chapters in.
Nontheless it is a useful book for those interest in the Group and certainly challenges popular notions of the Group's existence laying the groundwork for '60s Pop Art, rather focusing on their interests in modernism and mass culture, as the title suggests, as the author clearly feels that such interests are indeed overshadowed by their place in the history of Pop.