Modernism 101

From Aalto to Zwart, Modernism 101 specializes in rare and out-of-print design books and periodicals. Our carefully selected and ever-changing online inventory spotlights both famous and forgotten modern architects, photographers, typographers, and industrial designers in all their published glory.

See our first catalogue of 2013, on graphic design.

www.modernism101.com

Modernism 101 Rare Design Books
P. O. Box 53256
Shreveport, Louisiana 71135
512.914.8388

Most Popular Design Books (April)

Images à la Sauvette Add to My Reading List

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Henri Cartier-Bresson’s intuition and lightning grasp of the perfect composition captured in "the decisive moment," the story from a stranger's casual gesture or the fleeting confluence of shadow and reflection. $2,000.00

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Il Design In Italia: 1945–1972 Add to My Reading List

Paolo Fossati

Excellent overview of these 10 Postwar Italian Designers: Franco Albini, Bruno Munari, Carlo Scarpa, Ernesto N. Rogers, Marco Zanuso, Ettore Sottsass, Achille Castiglioni, Alberto Rosselli, Roberto Sambonet and Enzo Mari. $100.00

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The International Style: Architecture Since 1922 Add to My Reading List

Henry-Russell Hitchcock
Philip Johnson

First edition of the work regarded as the most influential work of architectural criticism and history of the 20th century. $500.00

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Bruno Munari: Design As Art Add to My Reading List

Aldo Tanchis

Pablo Picasso described Bruno Munari as "the new Leonardo." Munari insisted that design be beautiful, functional and accessible. This Munari-designed volume was the first comprehensive accounting of his achievements. $125.00

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Design: Vignelli Add to My Reading List

Massimo Vignelli
Germano Celant et al.

This remarkably comprehensive book vastly expands upon the 1981 catalogue for the Vignelli exhibition at Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan, which originated at the Parsons School of Design. $250.00

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Notable & Quotable

Industrial Design: February, April, June 1954 (Volume 1, Nos. 1-3)

Alvin Lustig (Designer)

As the art director for the first three issues of Industrial Design magazine, "[Alvin Lustig] left behind a modern design icon—the cover—and a format that continued to define the magazine for years after...” — Steven Heller Buy from Modernism 101 $1,000.00

Books Every Designer Should Own

Italy: The New Domestic Landscape Add to My Reading List

Emilio Ambasz Editor

Subtitled “Achievements and Problems of Italian Design,” this 1972 exhibition catalogue from The Museum of Modern Art and the Centro Di, Florence, was published with five cut-outs of furniture and objects inserted into the translucent glassine dust jacket. More

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The New Graphic Art Add to My Reading List

Karl Gerstner
Markus Kutter

Association copies don't get much better than this: warmly inscribed by Gerstner to Piet Zwart. A book with the stated intention ". . . a pictorial survey [that] takes modern graphic art from its origins through present-day achievements and concludes with a look into the future" that embodies via association the origins and the future of graphic art in the 20th century. Form and content indeed. More

Bauhaus 1919-1928 Add to My Reading List

Herbert Bayer Editor
Walter Gropius Editor
Ise Gropius Editor

One of the most important art books of the twentieth century. “It may be considered as much a work of the Bauhaus as it is a work about it; even the typography and layout for the volume were designed by a former Bauhaus master.” More

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Organic Design in Home Furnishings Add to My Reading List

Eliot Noyes

Eliot Noyes defined Organic Design as “. . . harmonious organization of the parts within the whole, according to structure, material, and purpose . . . “ 1940 MoMA catalogue that introduced the furniture designs of Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen to the world. More

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Thoughts on Design Add to My Reading List

Paul Rand

One of the most desirable graphic design books ever published. After a decade of establishing himself as the wunderkind of graphic design, Paul Rand sat down to codify his beliefs and working methodology into a single volume. Here is the result—an exceptional copy of the 1947 first edition. $400. More

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Graphic Design in the Mechanical Age Add to My Reading List

Deborah Rothschild
Ellen Lupton
Darra Goldstein

Selections from Merrill C. Berman’s spectacular private collection of twentieth-century posters, ads, photomontages, and graphic ephemera. All schools of early design are well represented here: the Russian Constructivists, the Bauhaus, DaDa, American Depression Moderne, Surrealism, etc. Essential. More

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