Popcorn Palaces: The Art Deco Movie Theater Paintings of Davis Cone - Hardcover

Kinerk, Michael; Wilhelm, Dennis

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0810943611 ISBN 13: 9780810943612

Publisher: Harry N. Abrams, 2001

Synopsis

"Davis Cone's extraordinarily realistic paintings of old movie theatres . . . [produce] a sharp ache of recognition of a kind of innocence that is somehow irretrievably lost. Or perhaps, because Mr. Cone's work represents these images of Americana so accuratelyóand with such a subtly elegiac quality-the emotion we feel is as of a distant memory suddenly recaptured."

-Peter Bogdanovich For more than two decades, in his widely collected paintings of America's old movie theatres, Realist artist Davis Cone has been preserving cherished memories from an era gone by. Cone's brilliantly precise paintings of the glittering Art Deco fantasy palaces that once lent magic to main streets across the nation recall the thrill of going to the movies in the days before malls and multiplexes. The text not only reveals much about Cone the artist but also covers the history and architecture of the theatres themselves. Sadly, many of the theatres painted by Cone no longer exist. But the spirit of all Popcorn Palaces remains alive in this evocative and nostalgic book.

About this title

About the Author:

Michael D. Kinerk, director of newsroom technology for the Miami Herald, is a longtime student of and writer about theatres and architecture. He has compiled several databases of worldwide architecture relating to historic theatres and Art Deco masterworks.

Dennis W. Wilhelm is the archivist for the international architectural design firm Arquitectonica. An authority on many aspects of 20th-century design, he has collected widely in the Art Deco style.

From Publishers Weekly:

In Popcorn Palaces: The Art Deco Movie Theatre Paintings of Davis Cone, the artist captures the paradoxes of these iconic showplaces from the perspective of the generation that inherited rather than created them; their tackiness, peeling paint, gaudiness and often neglect contrast with the cool assurance of their fantastical design in its futuristic optimism, lurid wit and irony. Architecture writer Michael D. Kinerk and archivist and art deco collector Dennis W. Wilhelm compiled the paintings and provided an informative text. Cone has been photographing and painting theaters for more than 20 years; the 86 images presented here convey the richness of his effort.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0810943611
• ISBN 13: 9780810943612
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 144