Even though the Nikolaus Pevsner's name launched an entire series of books on modern design and architecture, one would hardly be able to guess it from reading this volume alone, which was written by Pevsner himself and originally published in 1968.

Aside from the illustrations, most of which are in black and white, there are not many good things to be said about this book. Pevsner's approach covers architecture, furniture, jewelry, and the decorative arts from around the mid-nineteenth century and ends with the very beginning of the Bauhaus, with an interesting section on the Art Nouveau. Beginners will find Pevsner's approach especially unhelpful, as he does not provide an overarching approach to any of the periods that he covers: instead of starting with some of the broad themes of, say, Art Nouveau, he jumps right into some of the pieces that he wants to discuss. In addition to this, Pevsner's choices of artists and designers seem arbitrary. Much of the text is simply written description of things that are readily obvious by looking at the illustrations. He does, however, provide some biographical information of the people he discusses which goes some way in contextualizing the information he has to offer.

I would recommend against this book in general, particularly for someone who is looking for a general, thematic approach to the periods covered. ( )

Monograph Library - shelved at: B10