As Long as It’s Pink: The Sexual Politics of Taste
From the Publisher. In this book Penny Sparke argues that “taste” has been a quality assigned to women while “design” is a man-made construction that has taken aesthetic authority away from women. She uses familiar objects of our everyday environments—furniture, cars and domestic appliances and interiors—to look at how taste has become a gendered issue in our culture. Ever since the industrial revolution, the cluttered interior has been associated with femininity while the minimal forms of modernist architecture have acted as markers of a masculine aesthetic. This in turn has succeeded in trivializing and marginalizing women’s material culture. Ranging across histories of domesticity, feminine consumption and home-making, as well as modern design and broader cultural theories, Penny Sparke offers a rethinking of the history of our modern material culture.
This is a fantastic book for anyone who doubts the infallibility of modernism, or who harbors a secret admiration for pop and kitsch. I am sure it is too one-sided to make for a good textbook in design schools, but I enjoyed it, learned from it, and really respect Sparke for writing it.
I am eternally indebted to Alec Bernstein from Designworks USA for turning me on to this masterpiece, along with three others on my list—An Essay on Typography, The Nude, and Poetics of Music in the Form of Six Lessons. He’s a smart guy.
Library Availability provided by WorldCat
- University of Kansas
- Lawrence, KS 66045 United States
- 114 miles
- map
- libr info
- University of Oklahoma
- Norman, OK 73019 United States
- 194 miles
- map
- libr info
- Cameron University
- Lawton, OK 73505 United States
- 247 miles
- map
- libr info
- Iowa State University
- Ames, IA 50011 United States
- 329 miles
- map
- libr info
- University of North Texas Library
- Denton, TX 76203 United States
- 330 miles
- map
- libr info
- Southern Methodist University, Central University Libraries
- Dallas, TX 75205 United States
- 356 miles
- map
- libr info
- Dallas County Community College District
- Mesquite, TX 75150 United States
- 358 miles
- map
- libr info
- Washington University in St. Louis
- St. Louis, MO 63130 United States
- 364 miles
- map
- libr info
Featured Book Fair Title
Announcements
New Book Release, June 30, 2014: Supernew Supergraphics
Shows how the current generation of designers and architects are blasting typography and graphic forms across walls—even landscapes. A compendium of graphic excess on a monumental scale, it features new work from around the globe, and interviews with leading practitioners Felice Varini, Sascha Lobe, Sara De Bondt, and Boa Mistura.
Tony Brook, Adrian Shaughnessy, and Sarah Schrauwen, eds.
Published by Unit Editions
Buy and details
New Book Release, May 27, 2014: Type on Screen
The long awaited follow-up to graphic designer Ellen Lupton’s best-selling Thinking with Type is here. The definitive guide to using classic typographic concepts of form and structure to make dynamic compositions for screen-based applications.
.jpg)
Ellen Lupton
Published by Princeton Architectural Press
Buy and details
New Book Release (U.S.), June 30, 2014: BMW Art Cars
Traces the development of the BMW Art Cars, the so-called “rolling sculptures” designed by artists including Alexander Calder, David Hockney, and Andy Warhol over the last 40 years.
.jpeg)
Thomas Girst, editor
Texts by Carl Magnusson, Phil Patton, et al.
Published by Hatje Cantz
Buy/pre-order and details
New Book Release, July 1, 2014: The Good Life: Perceptions of the Ordinary
Just what is it that catches the eye, and why? What’s the significance of a broken flowerpot, a pair of identical tables side by side, a garden hose wrapped around an old car wheel? In this collection of photo essays, designer Jasper Morrison examines and imagines the life behind a series of seemingly ordinary situations.
By Jasper Morrison
Published by Lars Müller Publishers
Pre-order/buy and details
New Book Release, August 5, 2014: What We See When We Read
How we visualize images from reading works of literature, from one of our very best book jacket designers, himself a passionate reader.
Peter Mendelsund
Published by Vintage/Random House
Buy and details
New Book Release, August 5, 2014: Cover
Designer Peter Mendelsund’s completed book jackets along with ephemera from his previously unseen creative method, including jacket sketches, interior art and editorial illustrations, and scores of rejected drafts. These images are punctuated by Mendelsund’s reflections on his work and his process, as well as by texts from writers with whom he has worked and designed.
Peter Mendelsund
Published by powerHouse Books
Buy and details
Popular NowWeekMonth
- Win a Copy of Dieter Rams: As Little Design as Possible — iBooks edition for iPad
- Book List of the Week: Six French Designers and the Books That Inspire Them
- Win a Copy of Charles James: Beyond Fashion
- 15 Books on Health and Design
- 25 Books on Gardens, Landscape, and Design
- Win a Copy of Charles James: Beyond Fashion
- 15 Books on Health and Design
- Online Design Book Fair Expands to Include Art, Photography, and Rare & Out of Print Design Books
- Tell Us Your Story: Designers & Books and The Art Directors Club
- Weekly Wrap-Up & Preview: July 25
- Win a Copy of Dieter Rams: As Little Design as Possible — iBooks edition for iPad
- Book List of the Week: Six French Designers and the Books That Inspire Them
- 25 Books on Gardens, Landscape, and Design
- Charles James: Beyond Fashion: A Conversation with Harold Koda
- 10 Books Featuring Buckminster Fuller
Recent Articles
