Design and Aesthetics: A Reader

263 Pages·1996·11.95 MB·English

by  Jerry Palmer

Design and Aesthetics
Design and Aesthetics is a comprehensive student reader on the
relationship between design history and aesthetic theory. It includes
contributions from many significant writers in this field, including classic
articles by Raymond Williams and Roger Scruton, and new articles which
provide an overview of current concerns and debates.
The role of design in the world today has aroused much controversy. The
first half of this book deals with the main arguments which have emerged
from contemporary analysis of its role in the communication process.
Essays focus on the question of absolute aesthetic standards versus
cultural relativism, and the role of objects in cultural and social life. The
second part turns to particular areas of design history, ranging from
architecture and pottery to the history of dress. These two main sections
are prefaced by contextualizing introductions by Jerry Palmer and Mo
Dodson.
The contributors: Barbara Bender, Tony Bennett, Adam Briggs and Paul
Cobley, Jos Boys, Cheryl Buckley, David Docherty, Mo Dodson, Peter
Fuller, Gordon Fyfe, Nicholas Garnham, Daniel Miller, Stella Newton,
Jerry Palmer, Roger Scruton, Sebastiano Timpanaro, Raymond Williams.
The editors: Jerry Palmer is Professor of Communications Theory, and
Mo Dodson is Principal Lecturer in Communications at London Guildhall
University.

D e s i g n
a n d
A e s t h e t i c s
a Reader
Edited by Jerr y Palmer
and Mo Dodson
London and New York
First published 1996
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2004.
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
© 1996 Jerry Palmer and Mo Dodson, the collection as a whole;
the individual contributors, their chapters
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book has been requested
ISBN 0-203-35949-6 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-37205-0 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-07232-8 (hbk)
ISBN 0-415-07233-6 (pbk)
Contents
List of plates vii
List of contributors viii
Acknowledgements x
Part I
1 Introduction to Part I 3
Jerry Palmer
2 Judging architecture 13
Roger Scruton
3 Really useless ‘knowledge’: a political critique of aesthetics 33
Tony Bennett
4 Pierre Bourdieu and the sociology of culture: an introduction 49
Nicholas Garnham and Raymond Williams
5 Cartographies of taste and broadcasting strategies 63
David Docherty
6 On materialism 73
Sebastiano Timpanaro
7 Problems of materialism 77
Raymond Williams
8 Art and biology 87
Peter Fuller
9 Taste and virtue; or, the virtue of taste 94
Mo Dodson
10 Need and function: the terms of a debate 110
Jerry Palmer
vi Contents
Part II
11 Introduction to Part II 125
Mo Dodson
12 Fashion and ontology in Trinidad 133
Daniel Miller
13 Grecian fillets 160
Stella Newton
14 Designing HIV awareness strategies: an ethnographic approach 176
Adam Briggs and Paul Cobley
15 The roots of inequality 190
Barbara Bender
16 Art and reproduction: some aspects of the relations between
painters and engravers in London 1760–1850 196
Gordon J.Fyfe
17 Design, femininity and modernism: interpreting the work of
Susie Cooper 209
Cheryl Buckley
18 (Mis)representation of society? Problems in the relationships
between architectural aesthetics and social meanings 226
Jos Boys
Index 248
Plates
2.1 Baldassare Longhena: S. Maria della Salute, Venice 17
2.2 S.Paolo Fuori le Mura, Rome, cloister 18
2.3 Sir Christopher Wren: St Mary le Bow, London, steeple 25
2.4 Sir Christopher Wren: St Bride’s, London, steeple 25
2.5 Nicholas Hawksmoor: St Anne, Limehouse, London, steeple 26
2.6 ‘Le Roi Soleil’, stern 30
13.1 A condemnation of the chignon and the Watteau toilette 161
13.2 Femmes au Jardin, detail, by Claude Monet, 1867, Paris, Jeu
de Paume 162
13.3 Coat-of-arms, title page of Madre Natura, 1874 165
13.4 Effect of stays on the spine 166
13.5 The Venus di Mondo: ‘impeded respiration and crippled
locomotion’ 167
13.6 Thomas Armstrong: Hay Time (The Hayfield) 173
17.1 ‘Kestrel’ shape hot water jug and cover, cup and saucer, by
Susie Cooper 213
17.2 ‘Kestrel’ shape teapot, by Susie Cooper 213
17.3 ‘Curlew’ shape teapot, by Susie Cooper 214
17.4 The Susie Cooper Pottery stand at the 1938 British Industries
Fair 215
Contributors
Barbara Bender Lecturer in Archaeology, University College London
Tony Bennett Associate Professor of Humanities, Griffith University,
Queensland
Jos Boys Lecturer in Architecture, School of the Built Environment, De
Montfort University, Milton Keynes
Adam Briggs Senior Lecturer in Communications, London Guildhall
University
Cheryl Buckley Reader in Design History, University of Northumbria,
Newcastle
Paul Cobley Senior Lecturer in Communications, London Guildhall
University
David Docherty Head of Strategic Planning, BBC TV
Mo Dodson Principal Lecturer in Communications, London Guildhall
University
Peter Fuller (deceased) was a freelance writer on art history
Gordon J.Fyfe Lecturer in Sociology, University of Keele
Nicholas Garnham Professor of Communications, University of
Westminster, London
Daniel Miller Lecturer in Anthropology, University College London
Stella Newton Head of Department of the History of Dress, Courtauld
Institute of Art, London
Contributors ix
Jerry Palmer Professor of Communications, London Guildhall University
Roger Scruton Professor of Philosophy, University of Boston, MA
Sebastiano Timpanaro Teacher at Pisa University, Italy
Raymond Williams (deceased) was Professor of Drama, University of
Cambridge