Linoleum: History, Design, Architecture: 1882-2000 - Hardcover

Aschenbeck, Nils; Franke, Julia; Gericke, Gustav; Kermer, Wolfgang; Tietze, Andrea; Ziegler, Torsten

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 3775709908 ISBN 13: 9783775709903

Publisher: Hatje Cantz Publishers, 2001

Synopsis

What is the secret connection between linoleum and the 20th century avant-garde? What would the homes of the Bauhaus designers and other modernists be without it? This new publication explores the eventful and fascinating history of this ubiquitous but overlooked material that has stood under the feet of many an artist, at one point or another, over the past century. Invented in 1864 by the British entrepreneur Frederik Walton, linoleum's first golden age was between 1900 and 1930, when countless renowned designers--among them Josef Hoffmann and Bruno Paul--used the natural material in their collections and patterns, and even Peter Behrens tried his hand at designing linoleum patterns. And such Bauhaus architects as Mies van der Rohe and Bruno Taut used linoleum in their housing designs as an inexpensive, sturdy, and of course decorative floor covering. Linoleum: History, Design, Architecture is the first book to present this historically and ecologically important material in all of its various guises over the past one hundred-plus years. Experts on design and architecture contribute essays on linoleum's history, its ''discovery'' by modernist designers and architects and its renaissance in contemporary design and architecture.

About this title

Reviews

This fascinating yet esoteric look into the world of linoleum traces the origin, marketing, design, and uses of this versatile product, including its practical, economic, and hygienic advantages, primarily from the German industrial and commercial point of view. The four sections highlight linoleum through its history and technology, in interior design and architecture during the modern age, and in the present. Each section includes a variety of eclectic articles and reprints on the use of linoleum taken from historic resources. The essays cover such topics as the domination and influence of Deutsche Linoleum-Werke; the linocut in history, focusing on the techniques of Wassily Kandinsky, Gerd Arntz, Georg Baselitz, and others; interior and architectural examples by Mies van der Rohe, Bruno Taut, Walter Gropius, and others; and even a literary selection from Agatha Christie. Sparsely illustrated with photographs of marketing posters, factories, and interiors, this is recommended for architecture and design libraries. Stephen Allan Patrick, East Tennessee State Univ. Libs., Johnson City
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Hatje Cantz Publishers
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3775709908
• ISBN 13: 9783775709903
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 252
• Editor: Kaldewei Gerhard