FEATURES BLOG

CONTEMPORARY PAINTERS SERIES - Nicole Eisenman

Posted on 23 July 2021

It should come as something of a surprise to realize that this is the first comprehensive monograph on the paintings of Nicole Eisenman. Maybe it’s taken this long precisely because her oeuvre is so wide-ranging, so hard to encompass. Slowly but steadily, it has become clearer and clearer to many that Eisenman is, at midcareer, one of today’s outstanding artists, anywhere, in any medium. A virtuoso printmaker and, increasingly, a formidable sculptor, she has always been first and foremost – and most emphatically – a painter.

Tags: artist monographs, artists monograph, contemporary, contemporary art, contemporary artists, Contemporary painters, Contemporary Painters series, contemporary painting, Dan Cameron, figurative painting, large scale painting, monograph, Nicole Eisenman, painter, painting, paintings, Trafalgar Square Fourth Plinth,

Scotland’s Rural Home: Beyond Brigadoon - by John Brennan

Posted on 08 July 2021

The book was sparked by the work of the Saltire Society whose Housing Design Awards have charted Scotland’s social and design histories for some 80 years. The awards themselves have reflected the constantly shifting relationship between tradition and modernity in Scottish architecture. Until relatively recently, the Society awarded work mostly in Scotland’s towns and cities. The rural was somewhat of a backwater where recognition was a nod from time to time for some suitably deserving work of restoration. Only in the last 25 years have we seen rural housing transformed in its scope and ambition in the Scottish countryside.

Tags: architectural design, Architectural Photography, Architecture, Architecture Blog, architecture book, Contemporary Architecture, John Brennan, Modern Architecture, organic architecture, Saltire Society, Scotland's Rural Home, Scottish Architecture, Scottish Design, sustainability,

Walter Segal: Self-Built Architect - In Conversation with Alice Grahame and John McKean

Posted on 30 June 2021

Walter Segal: Self-Built Architect by Alice Grahame and John McKean is PUBLISHED TODAY!

‘This book is a huge pleasure because it reveals the man and revels in his energy and wit. It is also a delight because it is so authoritative, written by the two people who know Walter Segal’s life, personality and work better than anyone.’
- Kevin McCloud, Designer, writer and presenter of Channel 4’s Grand Designs

To celebrate the book's publication and to give you an enticing insight into the story of Walter Segal's Self-Build architectural style, Meris Ryan-Goff talked to authors Alice Grahame and John McKean about Walter Segal's inspirations, motivations and legacy... Read on for the full conversation:

Tags: Architecture, Architecture and Drawing, Architecture Blog, architecture book, Contemporary Architecture, history of architecture, London Architecture, Modern Architecture, Segal, Self-Build, Self-Build Architecture, Walter Segal,

Conserving the Historic Environment Following Covid-19

Posted on 28 June 2021

Conserving the Historic Environment by John Pendlebury and Jules Brown sets out the values and principles that underpin the current conservation-planning systems, explaining their historic context and evolution and critically examining these systems and possible counter approaches.
It discusses how the conservation of the historic environment has become increasingly linked to other social and economic policy objectives and identifies key lessons and implications for future policy development and planning practice.

Key among the factors influencing these future policy decisions, is the effect of Covid-19 on our High Streets and town centres. Authors John Pendlebury and Jules Brown consider how conservation will look going forward...

Tags: architectural conservation, Concise Guides to Planning, conservation, conservation areas, Conserving the Historic Environment, high streets, historic buildings, pandemic planning, Planning, Planning Theory,

Designing A World For Everyone - by Jeremy Myerson

Posted on 24 June 2021

Designing A World For Everyone by Jeremy Myerson is published to mark the 30th anniversary of the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design at the Royal College of Art. The book takes the reader through a selection of 30 innovative designs -- from product design and graphics to interior and urban design -- which increase inclusivity and ease of access for all ages and abilities.

In this article, author Jeremy Myerson, co-founder of the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, and current Helen Hamlyn Professor of Design at the Royal College of Art, reflects on the importance of the inclusive design that he explores in his new book:

Tags: architectural design, Contemporary Design, Design, designer, Designing A World For Everyone, Furniture Design, Future of Design, graphic design, Helen Hamlyn, Helen Hamlyn Centre, Inclusive Design, industrial design, Jeremy Myerson, New book, product design, Published Today, Royal College of Art,

CONTEMPORARY PAINTERS SERIES - Hurvin Anderson

Posted on 12 June 2021

Hurvin Anderson is known for painting loosely rendered ‘observations’ of scenes and spaces loaded with personal or communal meaning. Anderson’s painting style is notable for the ease with which he slips between figuration and abstraction, playing with the tropes of earlier landscape traditions and 20th-century abstraction. His paintings of barbershop interiors, country tennis clubs and tropical roadsides teem with rich brushwork and multitudes of decorative patterns or architectural features, at once obscuring and adding to underlying ruminations on identity and place.

Tags: British art, British Landscape Painting, contemporary, contemporary art, contemporary landscape painting, Contemporary painters, Contemporary Painters series, contemporary painting, Hurvin Anderson, identity, landscape, landscape painting, post-colonialism,

Mid-Rise Urban Living - by Chris Johnson

Posted on 07 June 2021

Author of the newly published book, MID-RISE URBAN LIVING, Chris Johnson discusses his motivations for writing this book and the importance of the mid-rise design type for contemporary society's needs...

Tags: Amsterdam, architectural design, Architecture, Architecture Blog, architecture book, ARM, Barcelona, Contemporary Architecture, dRMM, Gaudi, London, London Architecture, Mid-Rise Urban Living, MVRDV, New book, Perth, Singapore, WOHA,

CONTEMPORARY PAINTERS SERIES - Liu Xiaodong

Posted on 29 May 2021

John Yau's monograph on Chinese artist Liu Xiaodong (b.1963) was published earlier this week (27th May). Yau's text explores Xiaodong's development as a truly global artist who has depicted scenes from his native China to Europe, South Africa, Tibet, Israel, Egypt and beyond, in the context of China's history beyond the Cultural Revolution.

Below are two excerpts - from the book's Foreword and Introduction - which give an insight into the position of Xiaodong's oeuvre in the context of contemporary painting internationally...

Tags: Book excerpt, contemporary art, contemporary artists, Contemporary painters, Contemporary Painters series, contemporary painting, John Yau, Liu Xiaodong, Xiaodong,

On Opening Ceremonies - by Tom Wilson

Posted on 27 May 2021

On Tuesday May 18th this year, the Design Museum finally re-opened following the latest COVID-19 lockdown. Given the unexpected nature of the shutdown, the museum’s reopening was relatively lowkey. However, the occasion nonetheless made me think about the nature of opening ceremonies and the rhetoric surrounding openings in general – and, in particular, the way in which they reveal something about how a nation sees itself and its place in the world.

Tags: Commonwealth Studies, Covid-19, Design Museum, Exhibitions, Imagining Empire, Museums, Opening Ceremonies, Queen Elizabeth II, Re-Openings, Terence Conran, The Commonwealth Institute, The Design Museum, Tom Wilson,

Adrian Berg - British Landscape Painter

Posted on 16 May 2021

The first major monograph on the work of Adrian Berg (1929-2011), written by Marco Livingstone and published to accompany a retrospective exhibition of Berg's work at the Frestonian Gallery London, is now available.

This book provides a long overdue appraisal and celebration of an artist who is key to the conversation around the development of British landscape painting, that most celebrated of British traditions. Read on for two introductory extracts from the book...

Tags: Adrian Berg, Berg, British art, British Landscape Painting, British Modernism, British painters, contemporary landscape painting, English landscape painting, Frestonian Gallery, landscape, landscape painting, Marco Livingstone, Modern British Art, Modern British Artists, Royal Academician, Royal Academy, Royal Academy of Arts,

Introducing 'The Ends of Art Criticism' by Patricia Bickers

Posted on 14 May 2021

Working under lockdown conditions during the Covid pandemic has underlined, perhaps as never before in recent memory, the vital importance of communication, of making your voice heard. Art criticism is first and foremost part of a conversation, and the role of the art critic or writer is to join in, and sometimes initiate informed – critical – conversations about art. The critic’s role is not about achieving critical consensus, which only serves the art market, but about helping to open up debate, not least about the nature of art and criticism, and reaching out to the widest possible audiences while never forgetting that they themselves constitute part of those audiences for art.

Tags: Art Criticism, Art Monthly, Art Theory, Barry Schwabsky, contemporary, contemporary art, contemporary artists, Criticism, New Directions in Contemporary Art, Patricia Bickers, The Ends of Art Criticism,

BOOK LAUNCH: SPACE FRAMED

Posted on 11 May 2021

Lund Humphries is pleased to host this special online event to mark the publication of Space Framed by Hugh Campbell.

Thu, 20 May 2021

18:00 – 19:30 BST

Tags: Architectural Photography, Architecture, Book Launch, Hugh Campbell, Photography, Space Framed,

EVENT: Ralph Beyer’s Coventry Architectural Inscriptions

Posted on 19 April 2021

Ralph Beyer’s Coventry Inscriptions Presented by John Neilson

Hosted by C20 Society - Thursday 22nd April 2021 at 6.30pm

Celebrating Provenance Research Day 2021 - Arbeitskreis für Provenienzforschung

Posted on 29 March 2021

Lund Humphries is delighted to be celebrating Provenance Research Day 2021 on 14th April with a series of social media posts and blog content considering the social, historical and cultural importance of Provenance.

Follow along with the hashtag #PRD2021 via our Twitter thread.

Tags: Cultural Artefacts, IFAR, PRD2021, Provenance, Provenance Research, Provenance Research Day 2021, Restitution,

Illuminating Women Artists: The Fifteen Volumes Under Contract, Spring 2021

Posted on 21 March 2021

Women’s History Month is barely half over, and already there is almost too much news about women artists to keep up with!

Adding to this cornucopia, on 8th March, Lund Humphries and Getty Publications announced the collaboration of the two presses in publishing at least four volumes in the forthcoming book series Illuminating Women Artists.

Tags: Art Herstory, Art History, Artemisia Gentileschi, Barbara Longhi, Clara Peeters, Elisabetta Sirani, Gesina ter Borch, Illuminating Women Artists, Joanna Koerten, Josefa de Obidos, Judith Leyster, Louise Moillon, Luisa Roldan, Mary Beale, Plautilla Nelli, Rachel Ruysch, Rosalba Carriera, Sofonisba Anguissola,

Introducing 'Biennials: The Exhibitions We Love to Hate' by Rafal Niemojewski

Posted on 18 March 2021

After an unprecedented year of postponements and cancellations, Biennials are emerging at the forefront of the new directions in contemporary art in 2021 - with the first, Liverpool Biennial, beginning this weekend with purely exterior displays. As we move into this new chapter, Rafal Niemojewski’s observations on the role of the biennial could not be more pertinent.

Read on for an extract from the book, in which Rafal Niemojewski assesses the changing landscape around the 'exhibitions we love to hate'…

Tags: Biennale, Biennials, contemporary art, contemporary art market, contemporary artists, Exhibitions, New Directions in Contemporary Art, Rafal Niemojewski, The Exhibitions we love to hate,

The Wild Ducks of the IBM Poster Program

Posted on 12 March 2021

THE IBM POSTER PROGRAM was first initiated by Ken White, a staff graphic designer, during the late 1960s. White, who had studied under [Paul] Rand at Yale University, was recommended by him to lead the graphic design efforts within the new IBM Design Center at Boulder. Shortly after, Ken added two new designers to his staff, John Anderson and Tom Bluhm.

Tags: graphic design, IBM, IBM Poster Program, industrial design, John Anderson, Ken White, Paul Rand, Tom Bluhm,

In Memory of Sir Alan Bowness (1928-2021)

Posted on 08 March 2021

In the early 1960s, Alan Bowness became an informal editorial adviser to Lund Humphries and a regular author, contributing to the development of a growing programme of monographs and catalogues on contemporary artists in the period following the death in 1959 of Lund Humphries chairman Peter Gregory. It was a role in which Alan was to continue for nearly 40 years.

Tags: Alan Bowness, Alan Davie, Bernard Meadows, British Modernism, Henry Moore, Henry Moore Sculpture and Drawings, Herbert Read, history of Lund Humphries, Ivon Hitchens, Lund Humphries, Modern British Art, Modern British Artists, Modern British Sculpture, Peter Gregory, William Scott,

Reflections on The IBM Poster Program by Robert Finkel and Shea Tillman

Posted on 06 March 2021

The story behind the book The IBM Poster Program: Visual Memoranda is fun because it is really about us sharing a gift. It began in 2016, when retired IBM industrial designer John Stram, of Kansas City, Missouri gave Auburn University a collection of industrial and graphic design work from the IBM Design Center at Boulder where he had worked 40 years earlier. Part of this gift included a stack of over 90 posters strikingly designed and produced within the Design Center for the sole purpose of informing and educating IBM’s employees.

Tags: book design, Contemporary Design, corporate design, Design, Design Blog, design classics, designer, graphic design, IBM, IBM Poster Program, industrial design, Poster Design, Visual Memoranda,

Arts and Crafts Pioneers: Herbert Horne in Italy

Posted on 15 February 2021

Herbert Horne’s life was transformed by his first significant architectural commission from a wealthy philanthropist, Mrs Emelia Russell Gurney, for him and the artist Frederic Shields to design a chapel of meditation, the Chapel of the Ascension, on a site near the Bayswater Road. Mrs Gurney paid for them both to travel to Italy for five weeks between September and October 1889 to research architecture and mural paintings. It was his first visit to Italy, and the effect was immediate,

Tags: Arts and crafts, Arts and crafts movement, Arts and Crafts Pioneers, Century Guild, Frederic Shields, Herbert Horne, Italian architecture, William Morris, William Morris Gallery,

Arts and Crafts Pioneers: Fitzroy, the Rhymers, Stewart Headlam and Oscar Wilde

Posted on 12 February 2021

From 1889 the Century Guild’s base after Southampton Street was ‘Whiteladies’, no 20 Fitzroy Street– known as ‘Fitzroy’– an 18^th-century house on four floors which Mackmurdo extended at the back with a studio. The glamour of the Fitzroy ménage amid the gloom of late Victorian London is memorably described by writers and artists who flocked there, among them author Victor Plarr, who recalled the February 1891 meeting:

Tags: Arts and crafts, Arts and crafts movement, Arts and Crafts Pioneers, Century Guild, Fitzroy, Herbert Horne, Hobby Horse, Mackmurdo, Oscar Wilde, Stewart Headlam, The Rhymers, William Morris, William Morris Gallery,

Peter Gregory: Publisher, Patron and Promoter of Contemporary British Art

Posted on 09 February 2021

To mark the anniversary of the death of Eric Craven Gregory (6 October 1887 – 9 February 1959), Lund Humphries’ joint Managing Director (from 1930) and Chairman (from 1945) who was always known as ‘Peter’ Gregory, author Valerie Holman reflects on the significant achievements of this important patron of the arts, under whose guidance Lund Humphries became one of the most accomplished printers and publishers of illustrated art and design books.

Valerie Holman is co-author of The Sculpture of F.E. McWilliam (Lund Humphries 2012), and wrote a short history of Lund Humphries for our 75th anniversary. She is currently researching a book on Peter Gregory.

Tags: Alan Bowness, Alan Davie, Contemporary Art Society, Eric Craven Gregory, Henry Moore, Henry Moore Sculpture and Drawings, history of Lund Humphries, Institute of Contemporary Art, Lund Humphries, Lund Humphries 75th Anniversary, Lund Humphries Landmarks, New Directions in Contemporary Art, Paul Nash, Peter Gregory, Roland Penrose, Valerie Holman, War Artists Advisory Committee,

Voysey and The Dig

Posted on 07 February 2021

Those who have seen the trailer for the new Netflix film The Dig will have spotted that there is a third celebrity performer in addition to the two ‘above-the-title’ film stars. That is Norney Grange, the house near Shackleford in Surrey that was designed by C.F.A. Voysey for the Rev. Leighton Crane in 1897. Twenty-five years ago, when Ralph Fiennes was first achieving acclaim for his role in Quiz Show, Norney Grange drew attention when it stood in for Ham Spray, the Berkshire home of the writer Lytton Strachey in Christopher Hampton’s film Carrington and the setting for its dramatic denouement.

Tags: Architecture, Architecture Blog, architecture book, CFA Voysey, Norney Grange, The Dig, The Edwardians and their Houses, Timothy Brittain-Catlin, Voysey,

Planning for an Ageing Population - by Rose Gilroy

Posted on 05 February 2021

We have been aware of the ageing demographic for some time, since the 1840s actually - aware but fearful. The age quake, the grey tsunami, the discourse of the older person as a burden. During the pandemic almost every story about older people has been accompanied by a photograph of a pair of wrinkled hands. Let’s make a pledge that of the many lessons we need to learn from this sombre time, one of them will be to confront and root out ageism. Yes, there are challenges in growing older but there are challenges in all life stages. Existence is not for cowards. Let’s see older people as they really are - workers, volunteers, care givers, civic and community participants.

Tags: Ageing Society, Concise Guides to Planning, Covid-19, pandemic planning, Planning, Planning and Accessibility, Planning and Ageing, Planning and Transport, Planning Theory,

Introducing: Arts and Crafts Pioneers - the Century Guild and their Hobby Horse

Posted on 29 January 2021

Arts and Crafts Pioneers by Stuart Evans and Jean Liddiard will be the first and only monograph on The Century Guild of Artists, the earliest Arts and Crafts guild, making a major contribution to a hitherto neglected but important area of art and cultural history. The Century Guild and its associates became a hub of art, design and culture from the 1880s to the 1890s, at the centre of key issues in fin-de-siècle London, and was a significant event between the High Victorian and Bloomsbury periods. Largely obscured by later Modernist developments, the Guild’s own architecture, distinctive new designs and new models of creative practice are for the first time revealed as valuable and innovative influences on the Arts and Crafts movement and its successors Art Nouveau and Modernism.

Tags: Arthur Burgess, Arts and crafts, Arts and crafts movement, Arts and Crafts Pioneers, Benjamin Creswick, Century Guild, Hobby Horse, Mackmurdo, Selwyn Image, William Blake,

How accessible is your local neighbourhood? - by Carey Curtis

Posted on 21 January 2021

In advance of the publication of her book 'Planning, Transport and Accessibility' later this month, Carey Curtis considers the spotlight on transport and accessibility that has resulted from the Covid-19 pandemic... she asks: How accessible is your local neighbourhood?

Tags: Concise Guides to Planning, pandemic planning, Planning, Planning and Accessibility, Planning and Transport, Planning Theory,

Writing 'The Inscriptions of Ralph Beyer' - by John Neilson

Posted on 11 January 2021

... I slowly became aware of Ralph Beyer’s carved lettering, and came to see that although his letterforms had little to do with conventional notions of correctness, there was a quality about his inscriptions which set them apart from simply mediocre work and made them extremely interesting. Writing this book has, in part at least, been an attempt to pin down – or at least discuss – what that quality might be.

Tags: Basil Spence, Coventry Cathedral, Edward Johnston, Eric Gill, Humphrey Stone, John Howard, John Neilson, Letter Carving, Ralph Beyer, Tablets of the Word, Tom Perkins,

Introducing: Building Bad by Jonathan Ochshorn

Posted on 08 January 2021

Building Bad by Jonathan Ochshorn is a lively and compelling discussion of how architects need to be made more aware of key technical, social and business issues, in order to understand the constraints they face in designing better buildings for society as a whole. The book examines whether regulation is effective in creating safe, secure and healthy buildings and whether the focus on 'fashionable' architecture detracts from creating buildings which fulfil their role sustainably, safely and for the good of the users.

Tags: Architecture, Architecture Blog, architecture book, Building Bad, Design, Design Blog,

Creative Legacies: Interview with Fred Noyes

Posted on 06 December 2020

Kathy Battista and Bryan Faller, editors of the recently published book, Creative Legacies, talk to Fred Noyes, Principal of Frederick Noyes Architects and son of the architect Eliot Noyes, about Noyes' New Canaan house and the challenges of preserving an architectural legacy.

Tags: Architecture, Artist Estates, Creative Legacies, Eliot Noyes, Estates and Legacies, Fred Noyes, In Conversation, Preservation,

Provenance Research Today - by Arthur Tompkins

Posted on 04 December 2020

Provenance Research Today: Principles, Practice, Problems, the new Lund Humphries book edited by Judge Arthur Tompkins and launched at the International Catalogue Raisonné Association's Annual Conference - 'Provenance and the Catalogue Raisonné', on 3rd December - brings together essays from a wide variety of contributors from many different disciplines - art and art history, law, archaeology, anthropology, criminology, forensic science, and others.

In this blog, Judge Arthur Tompkins reflects on the wide-ranging expertise brought together in this publication, and the true complexity of provenance research:

Architectural Tourism by Shelley Hornstein

Posted on 20 November 2020

Around the world, architecture is a magnetic draw for tourists of all stripes. Since the era of pre-industrial religious pilgrimages, architecture has beckoned travellers. Religious and historic sights, or contemporary buildings designed by ‘star’ architects demonstrate that architecture has always been undeniably tied to our cultural and architectural heritage, our collective identity and perhaps above all, to the tourist industry. Think about what we remember about a city and why. Landmark buildings such as the Eiffel Tower in Paris by Gustave Eiffel or the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain by Frank Gehry, mark their place and leave an indelible memory for tourists. When we think of a place we’ve travelled to see, we usually think of the buildings or sites that linger in our memory.

Tags: Architectural Photography, Architecture, Architecture Blog, architecture book, Commercial Architecture, Contemporary Architecture, Cultural Heritage, history of architecture, Site-Seeing, Starchitect, Theory of Architecture, Tourism, Travel,

Into the Light: The Art and Architecture of Lauretta Vinciarelli : In Conversation with Rebecca Siefert

Posted on 29 October 2020

Going back to the title of the book, it seems to me that Vinciarelli’s work is united by light, both literally and as a metaphor – from the courtyard typology and pergolas, to the luminous watercolours, it always comes back to bringing in light. Vinciarelli once made a connection between some of her watercolour paintings and the 'Annunciation' scene from the Bible, and how light penetrates the protected space of the Virgin, who is in an enclosed garden (the 'hortus conclusus'); the hortus conclusus, in turn, had influenced Vinciarelli’s designs of gardens. So as diverse and varied as her work might appear, it is all connected, and it always comes back to the light.

Tags: Architecture, Architecture and Drawing, Architecture Blog, architecture book, Columbia University, Donald Judd, history of architecture, Italian architecture, Lauretta Vinciarelli, Minimalist Architecture, Modern Architecture, Modernist architecture, Museum of Modern Art New York, New York, watercolour,

The Architectural Association in the Postwar Years - by Patrick Zamarian

Posted on 24 October 2020

The heightened reputation of the AA in the second half of the 1950s owed much to the fact that it provided a home for the vanguard of British architecture, notably Peter Smithson and John Killick, at just the moment when, through their activities in CIAM and the agency of Architectural Design, they were thrust into the international limelight.

Tags: 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, architect, Architectural Association, Architecture, Architecture Blog, architecture book, brutalist architect, brutalist architecture, Modern Architecture, Modernism, Modernist architecture, Post-War, RIBA, RIBA Journal, Second World War,

Reflections on 1 FINSBURY AVENUE - by Kenneth Powell

Posted on 16 October 2020

1 Finsbury Avenue, vacated by its long-term tenant, has been reborn as a building for a new-style City of London. AHMM’s refurbishment project, the outcome of a fruitful collaboration with English Heritage, has stripped the building back to its bare bones, with column encasements and ceiling panels stripped away to reveal the austere dignity of Foggo’s architecture – an aesthetic in tune with the tastes of a new breed of tenants. 1 Finsbury Avenue is a building that looks forward to a changing City of London, a place where creative industries work alongside bankers and restaurants and bars operate seven days a week.

Tags: 1 Finsbury Avenue, AHMM, architecture, Architecture Blog, architecture book, Arup, Broadgate, City of London, Contemporary Architecture, listed buildings, London, Office Architecture, redevelopment, The Architectural Review,

Behind the Scenes at the Museum with Dinah Casson

Posted on 15 October 2020

To mark the BBC's #MuseumPassion campaign and the recent announcement of the Art Fund's Museum of the Year winners, we go 'behind the scenes at the museum' with Dinah Casson as she reflects on the challenges faced by museums and the future of exhibitions, post-Covid-19...

Tags: #MuseumPassion, Behind the Scenes, Closed on Mondays, Dinah Casson, Exhibition Design, Exhibitions, Framing, Future of Museums, Museum Architecture, Museum Curation, Museum Design, Museum of the Year, Museum Week, Museums, Towner Eastbourne,

Provocations: The Work of David Connor

Posted on 10 October 2020

David Connor is a British interior and architectural designer, who in the early 1980s was one of a few pioneers who changed perceptions of what design could be. A graduate of the Royal College of Art, Connor began his career as an interior designer before branching out into architecture. His clients and collaborators include Vivienne Westwood, Anish Kapoor, Malcolm McLaren, Adam Ant, Janet Street Porter, Marco Pirroni and Leyton House, amongst others.

Tags: Architecture, Architecture and Drawing, David Connor, Design, Designing Interiors, Drew Plunkett, interior design,

Building Brands : In Conversation with Grace Ong Yan

Posted on 09 October 2020

Good branding makes emotional and experiential connections with its audiences. In Building Brands, I build upon this truth of contemporary branding practice by expanding it to the three-dimensional discipline of architecture. We don’t often think of having emotions towards buildings and spaces, but just like hearing an old familiar song will bring back specific memories, certain places, buildings, and spaces elicit strong emotions from their inhabitants. My intention of bringing the architects’ and designers’ point of view to branding practice is to enrich branding as three-dimensional and spatial.

Tags: 1950s, 1960s, American Architecture, architect, Architectural Photography, Architecture, Architecture Blog, Brand Identity, Building Brands, Commercial Architecture, corporate design, Design, Design Blog, design classics, Frank Lloyd Wright, history of architecture, Modernist architecture, Pietro Belluschi, PSFS, Rohm & Haas,

Photography of Protest and Community : In Conversation with Noni Stacey

Posted on 05 October 2020

In the 1970s the work and photographs that came out of these collectives constituted a sustained political challenge. Today, there is much talk of social and cultural challenge – yet this is an anodyne and in many ways amorphous space. The collectives were immersed in the political events of the day – around equality in terms of gender, race, work and housing. The exhibitions and publications that came out of the collectives bristled with political data, sociological analysis and evoked and emulated the protests of the Civil Rights Movement, the protests on American involvement in the Vietnam War and the Women’s Liberation Movement.

Tags: Community, In Conversation, Noni Stacey, Photography, Photography Collectives, Political Photography, Protest, Social Engagement, Social Movements,

Quiet Architecture: In Conversation with Rabih Hage

Posted on 02 October 2020

My vision and advice to architects and designers today is to go back the schematic of social exchange of the high streets and the traditional village markets, creating new hubs, decentralising the city, and unmaking the shopping malls, refusing to create bedroom quarters for workers and shortening the commute between family, social life, work, and economic centres.

Basically, we architects and designers must work with politicians, towards a reversal of the rural exodus the industrial age created 150 years ago and decentralise the city.

Tags: adaptive reuse, Architecture, Architecture Blog, architecture book, Contemporary Architecture, Dominic Bradbury, interior design, Modern Architecture, Quiet Architecture, Rabih Hage,

Conran + Partners: A Way of Living – In Conversation with Tim Bowder-Ridger

Posted on 30 September 2020

Whilst “Conran” represents the ethos of the practice, the “partners” are the human manifestation of that ethos. Architecture and interior design are inherently collaborative disciplines, and the partners therefore spend much of their time meeting with their design teams, clients, and colleagues in the industry, generating discussion and mentoring or workshopping the complex creative and delivery processes involved in making spaces and buildings. Often this is done through sketch books, butter-paper rolls and 2B pencils, and involves fluidity of thought and communication… which is so vital in ensuring the central spirit of a project is not lost in the complexity of the details or different layers of the brief.

Tags: A Way of Living, Architecture, Architecture Blog, architecture book, Conran and Partners, Contemporary Architecture, Dominic Bradbury, London Architecture, Modern Architecture, Terence Conran,

Richard Seifert: British Brutalist Architect : In Conversation with Dominic Bradbury

Posted on 25 September 2020

Jonathan Meades called Seifert ‘the most wrongly reviled architect of the half century’ and I would agree with that. There was a lot of negative press around Seifert and his work even when he was at the height of his powers and success. It’s taken time, or history, to see a very gradual reassessment of the work, the architect and his practice. The key buildings are gradually being listed and many are finding a new lease of life. It’s really interesting that other architects tend to be the most positive about Seifert’s work, while other commentators get too caught up with who commissioned a particular building and how it was used.

Tags: Architecture, Architecture Blog, architecture book, brutalist architect, brutalist architecture, Centre Point Tower, Conran and Partners, Dominic Bradbury, King's Reach Tower, London Architecture, Richard Seifert, Seifert and Partners, South Bank, Space House,

Cullinan Studio: Reconnecting with Nature - by Roddy Langmuir

Posted on 24 September 2020

Now, at a time when there is a mass re-awakening towards the urgency of addressing climate change, it is as though we have been practicing for this moment. The need for a broader interpretation of sustainable design, and the need to reconnect people with the natural world through the buildings we design is in our blood – it’s our DNA. The last paradigm shift in architecture was brought to us through the soul-searching quests of the great modernists. Brilliant and flawed, it has led to our shared architectural language – and we all design within this frame of reference. Now we are entering another period of transformation, centered on how we all respond to the challenges of climate change.

Tags: Architecture, Architecture Blog, architecture book, Biodiversity, Building for the future, Climate Action, Climate Change, Contemporary Architecture, Cullinan Studio, Natural Materials, organic architecture,

Reflections on 'Underground Cities: New Frontiers in Urban Living' - by Pamela Johnston

Posted on 21 September 2020

... Constructed underground spaces used to be hermetically sealed, sterile environments. Now there is the possibility of setting up a connection with nature, incorporating the elements of living vegetation, light, water, air. Equally, they can revel in their own distinct ‘subterranean’ atmosphere, chiming with James Turrell’s assertion that ‘we’re made for the light of a cave, and for twilight … When we dim the light down, and the pupil opens, feeling comes out of the eye like touch’. Either way, these new kinds of underground space are not built around utility, but are people-centred, allowing for an expansion of the inhabitable realm of the city.

Tags: Architecture, Architecture Blog, Contemporary Architecture, Modern Architecture, Underground Architecture, Underground Cities,

Winifred Knights : The Deluge - by Sacha Llewellyn

Posted on 21 September 2020

2020 marks the centenary of Winifred Knights becoming the first woman to be awarded the prestigious Prix de Rome with her epic The Deluge (Tate). Winning the prize against three much older male artists was a transformative experience for the 21-year old Knights, who gained instant fame for the breathtaking originality of her style. ‘Girl Artist Remodels the Flood!’ blasted the front-page headline of the Daily Graphic, who described the painting ‘as an example of anarchy in art, original, tragic, and inspiring and something distinctly new and compelling in its treatment of a great theme’.

Below follows an extract from Sacha Llewellyn's 'Winifred Knights (1899-1947)':

Tags: 20th Century Art, 20th Century Painting, British art, British painters, Celebrating Women Artists, figurative art, figurative painting, Prix de Rome, Religious Art, Sacha Llewellyn, Winifred Knights, Women Artists, Women Painters,

Creative Legacies : The Changing Landscape of Artists' Estates - by Kathy Battista and Bryan Faller

Posted on 17 September 2020

Creative Legacies is OUT TODAY!
Beyond simply offering advice for effective legacy management, the book seeks a nuanced investigation of specific topics relevant to artists' legacy... What is an artist’s legacy? Should artists' estates be maintained in perpetuity or permitted to sunset? How do younger artists engage with estate planning today? What are the new and emerging strategies for documenting and making artists' estates accessible?
Below is a teaser extract from the book's introduction to pique your curiosity further...

Tags: Artists' Estates, contemporary art, contemporary artists, Creative Legacies, Estate Management, modern art, Sotheby's,

Happy Birthday George Fullard! - by Michael Bird

Posted on 15 September 2020

George Fullard would have turned ninety-seven today. I don’t know what he’d be working on now – a monument to Boris Johnson, maybe, constructed from U-shaped sewage pipes. Because I imagine the humour and anger and inventiveness of the younger Fullard still burning bright. I know these qualities well, because for the best part of a year, between May 2015 and the spring of 2016, I lived with Fullard. At least, that was how it felt. Fullard himself wasn’t actually physically present – he’d died of a heart attack on Christmas Day 1973, aged fifty. But, if there was no body in the room, there was plenty of evidence.

Tags: 20th Century Sculpture, British Sculptors, British Sculptors and Sculpture, British Sculpture, George Fullard, Michael Bird, Modern British Sculpture, sculpture,

The Art of Richard Eurich : In Conversation with Philippa Bambach and Caroline Martin

Posted on 03 September 2020

To coincide with the much anticipated release of The Art of Richard Eurich by Andrew Lambirth, Philippa Bambach and Caroline Martin talk to Meris Ryan-Goff about their memories of their father Richard Eurich's life and art. [...]

My first memory of Dad’s studio was the “white hut” in the garden, a wooden shed with wide window on one side, and a steep step up into it. He worked here until the 50s, when...

Tags: Andrew Lambirth, figurative painting, landscape painting, Modern British Art, Modern British Artists, painting, Richard Eurich, The Art of Richard Eurich, War Artist,

Re-Issue Re-Imagine Re-Make : Bert Loeschner’s Re-interpretations of the Fibreglass Rocking Chair by Charles and Ray Eames - by Elisabeth Darby

Posted on 01 September 2020

Icons of twentieth century furniture occupy a prominent position in the contemporary interior and design landscape. Although often conceived decades ago, many have remained in production, while others are brought back into the marketplace on a regular basis. Several of these iconic works have also been the subject of re-interpretation by designers, artists and other creatives. These re-imaginings constitute a notable aspect of design practice in the new millennium, just as appropriation and remix are integral themes in contemporary art.

Tags: Bert Loeschner, Charles and Ray Eames, Charles Eames, Contemporary Design, Furniture Design, interior design, Lis Darby, Monobloc, Ray Eames, Re-Issue Re-Imagine Re-Make,

The Art Collector's Handbook : Considerations Before You Click: Buying Artwork Online - by Mary Rozell

Posted on 31 August 2020

When it comes to viewing art, the digital experience is no substitute for seeing a work in person. Buying art online nonetheless had become an appealing option for many collectors over the last several years due to the convenience it offers as well as the greater transparency and accessibility to the market. Millennial collectors have demonstrated a robust appetite for online art buying, and higher priced sales have increased as technology evolves and greater trust is established.

Tags: Acquiring Art, Art Business, Auctions, Collecting Art, Mary Rozell, The Art Collector's Handbook, UBS Art Collection,

CONTEMPORARY PAINTERS : Stanley Whitney

Posted on 26 August 2020

Matthew Jeffrey Abrams does something in this book that’s harder than it sounds: he talks about Stanley Whitney’s paintings in the only way they can be talked about – by way of attentive and prolonged looking.

Tags: Barry Schwabsky, Colorist, Colourist, contemporary art, Contemporary painters, Contemporary Painters series, contemporary painting, Lisson Gallery New York, Matthew J Abrams, No To Prison Life, painting, Stanley Whitney,

A blog dedicated to Modern British Art from Lund Humphries, the leading publisher of books on the subject.

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