Reviews: Editorial

Journal of Art & Design Education

Vol 10, No 2,1991

Before dealing with the main reviews of texts selected for their particular relevance to either current events, and/or the broad range of membership, there are a few texts that are of more specialized interest that deserve comment. In the main they are recommended as reference books in that they are relatively special- ized, clearly written and well illustrated.

The first two are concerned with interior design. Anne Massey’s Interior Design of the 20th Century published by Thames and Hudson in their World of Art series, deals admirably with histori- cal analysis, the interplay of art and design, the emergent role of the professional interior designer, and the effects of modernism and post-modernism. From the same publishing house Patricia Bayer’s Art Deco Interiors: Decoration and Design Classics of the 1920s and 1930s is a more expansive and detailed examination. It reveals the origins and influences, the Great Exhibitions, the particularity of the French interiors and an international perspec- tive. The effect of Art Deco in public places is meticulously covered as is its revival as an art form during the last twenty years. Its scholarly approach is highly readable and enjoyable, and the book is very well illustrated.

Design specifically for personal adornment is examined in another large book from Thames and Hudson; Mascetti and Triossi’s Eam’ngs:from Antiquity to the Present. The title is a little misleading if the reader is expecting a detailed chronological survey as the title suggests-it is more of a selection of the periods and styles considered important by the authors. Nevertheless, the text and illustrations are good, and the detailed information of archives and other sources valuable for students. The next two books are also concerned with the experience of fine crafting-one concerned with handlettering, the other with wood. A series of publications concerning calligraphy and lettering has recently begun with the formation of the Cardozo Kindersley Editions. These texts range from instructional copy books, examples of good practice, to studies of particular individuals and their work. A recent book, Letters Slate Cut by David Kindersley and Lida Lopes Cardozo offers carefully presented advice to the learner coupled with photographs of fine examples. The books from this press are produced well and reflect a deep passion for the qualita- tive experience of handlettering. A book list and order forms are available from Cardozo Kindersley Editions, 152, Victoria Road, Cambridge CB4 3D2. Betty Norbury’s British Craftsmanship in Wood is published by Stobart Davies and is actually an alphabeti- cally arranged and illustrated guide to British woodworkers. As such it is perfectly satisfactory-but the title leads one to expect

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Reviews some discussion about the nature of crafting, and there is none. The gender bias of the title is accurately reflected in the number of women craftworkers included.

The final book in this summary review section is Edward Tufte’s Envisioning Information available here only from Graphics Press, UK, PO Box 8, Godalming, Surrey GU7 3HB. This is a superlatively produced book which deals with information design. It selects examples, over many centuries and cultures, of ways of creating clear visual information for complex, multi-dimensional cognitive problems, e.g., maps, timetables, dance notation, geo- metry, electrocardiograms, computer visualizations, and the draw- ings of Calder and Klee. It explores and celebrates the ways in which complex sets of information can be made available in elegantly readable forms which are intended to ‘enhance the dimensionality and density of portrayals of information’. The text and ideas demand a fine printing, and the book offers this. I have rarely found so much pleasure in the relationship between the concepts of the text and their visual embodiment. The book is beautifully organized and illustrated and should be required read- ing for anyone interested in visual communication and graphic design.

The main sections consist of six book reviews and three exhibi- tion reviews. The first two book reviews examine publicatons on design and technology; the third features the creative process of an eminent designer; the fourth surveys the conclusions of the Arts in Schools project; the fifth the writings and works of an artist and art educator; and the sixth examines two philosophical texts addressing art and perception. The exhibition reviews feature two major touring exhibitions: the Design Council’s Primary Design, and the ‘Arts Education for Multicultural Society’ exhibition entitled Duniya K i Ankhe (Eyes of the Word), sponsored by the Commission for Racial Equality, the Gulbenkian Foundation, and the Arts Council. This section is completed with a comparative review of a recent initiative of the Liverpool Tate Gallery in displaying sculpture to be experienced by the visually handi- capped, considered in the light of a similar enterprise some six years earlier in Brazil.

Following publicaton of the N C Technology report, there has been a rush of texts intended to clarify and assist the teacher’s role in applying the report. Eight such texts-which principally link technology with design, craft and (occasionally) art-have been examined in a comparative review that is the combined efforts of two reviewers. An additional book in this field, and the other main works surveyed, have been reviewed following the more usual pattern. Included is a book devoted to a single work of architec- ture, which will be of interest to teachers of art, craft, design and technology for its insights into designing with reference to prece- dents. The publication of the National Curriculum Councils, ‘Arts in schools’ project’ under the title The Arts 5-26 is carefully examined. It is a little ironic that much of the dispute concerning subject inclusion that the National Curriculum raised by initially

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arguing for a ‘broad and balanced’ curriculum taught through to sixteen, has been defused. The host of rival views on the specific single or grouped subject areas to be included as foundation subjects is no longer significant-the new Secretary of State, at a stroke has undone one of the major positions of the Education Reform Act, by creating optional subjects after fourteen. Of course this does not invalidate the theoretical positions taken, but it does place them in a rather different perspective. The comme- morative publication of Peter MacKarell’s drawing, painting and writing, and others’ views of him as educator, illustrator, and artist in Depictions of an Odyssey, combine as an eloquent testimony. The final review is of two philosophically based texts which are intended to assist art educators. The first deals with cognition in aesthetic understanding, and the second with assisting the under- standing of our responses to the visual world, and constructing meaning from visual experiences.

Following the exhibition review in the previous volume, it is a pleasure to have the opportunity to include three further reviews. Readers may remember that the policy was altered to that of reviewing exhibitions with a strong educational content, rather than reviewing exhibitions per se. Such reviews could consist of several exhibitions and workshops which are considered in the light of educational impact, as Elspeth Court’s review in the previous volume successfully demonstrated, or examine a specific exhibition. The reviews of the exhibitions, Primary Design, and Duniyu Ki Ankhe (Eyes of the World) are especially valuable in that both are directly concerned with art and design education, and that both will continue to tour during 1991. The third exhibition review addresses ways in which people with visual disability engage with sculpture, and asks the salutory question of whether, in respect of this activity, it is they or the sighted majority who are the more handicapped.

J O H N S W I F T

Reviews

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