Interni moderni. Spazi pubblici e privati dal 1850 a oggi

by Penny Sparke

"This book is a persuasive account of the forces, conflicts and debates that have underpinned the emergence of something we now effortlessly refer to as the 'modern interior'. Offering fascinating and eloquent insights into the work of numerous international designers, including C. R. Mackintosh, Adolf Loos, Josef Frank, Frank Lloyd Wright, Marcel Breuer, Lilly Reich, Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, Philippe Starck, and Charles and Ray Eames, Sparke focuses on the realities as well as concepts of the modern interior, whether in the hands of professional decorators and designers or in those of its amateur inhabitants. By doing so, she deftly unravels the shift from Victorian to modern style, and demonstrates that the easy transition to the modern interior so frequently portrayed is little more than a mythology." The Modern Interior is essential reading for all students of modern design, architecture and culture, as well as anyone interested in why the interior spaces we inhabit look the way they do.

Genres: Architecture, Interior Design

256 pages, Paperback

First published August 15, 2008

About the author

Penelope Anne Sparke is a writer and academic who specializes in the history of design. She is a Professor of Design History at Kingston University, London, where she is also Director of the Modern Interiors Research Centre.

Sparke received her B.A. in French Literature and her P.G.C.E. in Education from Sussex University, and her Ph.D. in Design History from Brighton Polytechnic.

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

another spur-of-the-moment choice from the library. i found this really difficult to follow and i'm really not sure why? it was an interesting and not too technical history of interior design since the mid-C19, how it's interacted with architecture, art and industrial design, and how it's developed as through the interplay between domestic and public settings.

[cas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sparke makes a lot of important points within many of the periods of the modern interior, addressing the why and how’s. I struggled at times with how the information is presented.

As much as I love a good, long sentence, this book was actually somewhat taxing to read. I found myself rereading paragraphs as so much information was contained within a sentence that it was tough to absorb it all.

I think a better editor would have helped as the giant paragraphs of long sentences were somewhat taxing to read and digest.