Contemporary Style (1992)
Excerpt fr. John A. Walker’s Glossary of Art, Architecture & Design since 1945, 3rd. ed.
artdesigncafé | café library | Published 01 June 2011
This text is an excerpt from Walker’s 1992 glossary previously published by Library Association Publishing, London.
Contemporary Style
During the period 1945 to ’56 the word "contemporary" became fashionable in Britain, e.g. the Institute of Contemporary Arts was founded in 1947, Herbert Read’s book Contemporary British art was published in 1951. The result was that the word came to be identified with a certain style prevalent in the painting, sculpture and design of the ’50s: a spiky, spindly look, gaiety, lightness. The style drew upon some features of "action painting" and "geometry of fear" type sculpture. In architecture the look derived from the use of lightweight, open metal structures, while in furniture it derived from the use of thin metal rods, pale timber instead of dark, wooden legs that were tapered and splayed out, metal fittings with coloured plastic blobs at their extremities (the latter were derived from scientific models of molecules). Magazine racks were constructed from wire covered with plastic, the gaps between metal supports were bridged by decorative lacing made of plastic; the lacing reflected the influence of certain sculptures by Naum Gabo, Alexander Calder and Barbara Hepworth. Wallpaper and textile design favoured geometric patterns: snow crystals, coffin shapes or elongated hexagons. Peter Cook said of the design of 1952 that it was "a mixture of post-war spin off (the technology of laminates, alloys and micro-mechanics) and latter-day thirties styling".
The Contemporary Style was encapsulated and popularized by the 1951 Festival of Britain though this exhibition also gave rise to other terms: "festival style", "South Bank style" and "new English style". There was much debate amongst design historians as to whether or not there was such a thing as "festival style" (and whether or not it was "flimsy and effeminate"). In the context of the exhibition, experiments with new materials and new forms were acceptable, but the mannerisms of 1951 quickly became clichés disfiguring the interior decor of coffee bars and pubs, and such exterior features as street furniture. Many Contemporary Style products, it turned out, were eccentric in design, uncomfortable and poorly made. This did not prevent them from becoming, in later decades, collector’s items amongst enthusiasts for everything to do with the 1950s.
See also Art Ultra, Austerity / Binge, Populuxe.
References and further reading
> Herbert Read. Contemporary British art. (Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1951; rev. ed. 1964).
> P. Reilly. "Don’t be afraid of Contemporary design". Ideal Home yearbook, (1953).
> John Gloag. "Contemporary design". DIA yearbook, (1957), pp. 18-24.
> "FoB+ 10". Design, (149), May 1961, pp. 40-51.
> Michael Frayn. "Festival". In Michael Sissons & Philip French (Eds.). Age of austerity. (Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1964), pp. 330-53.
> Peter Cook. Experimental architecture. (Studio Vista, 1971).
> Mary Banham & Bevis Hillier (Eds.). A tonic to the nation: The Festival of Britain 1951. (Thames & Hudson, 1976).
> Artists of the Festival of Britain. (Birmingham City Art Gallery, 1978).
> "Jim Burgess: Room of my own". Observer Colour Supplement, 10 February 1985, pp. 40-1.
> Polly Powell & Lucy Peel. 50s and 60s style. (Apple Press, 1988).
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