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9780714829852

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'The most provocative and stimulating style book of the year.' (The New York Times) 'Baroque Baroque is a carefully written and wonderfully illustrated book ... it helps to define the notion of Englishness itself.' (The Times) 'The sort of book that could itself become a landmark in taste.' (Country Life)

The most provocative and stimulating style book of the year. -The New York Times Baroque Baroque is a carefully written and wonderfully illustrated book... It helps to define the notion of Englishness itself. -The Times The sort of book that could itself become a landmark in taste. -Country Life

The word baroque comes from 'barocca', the name of the irregular pearls that were fashioned into priceless jewels in the 16th century, voraciously collected by royalty and nobility throughout Europe. But the word came to mean much more than 'strong and convoluted' and is now more synonymous with the excessive and vulgar. However, the Baroque 'artistic temprement' underwent a revival in the early 19th century and still continues today - that is the subject of this wonderfully excessive and colourful book (complete with lashings of gold). From the pared down extravagance of the early 19th-century works, inspired by a wish to recreate 'a land fit for heroes', through the film and architectural experiments forged in the blooming of 20th-century America, to contemporary fashion designers such as Lacroix, Mugler and Westwood and directors like Jarman, Burton and Greenaway. Significantly, it is as a reaction to industrialisation, war, depression and modern gloom that this underground Baroque movement has flourished, and continues to do so - with no end in sight. (Kirkus UK)

Author Information

Stephen Calloway is Associate Curator of Paintings at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. He is also a writer, lecturer, designer and consultant on historical interiors, and a frequent contributor to television and radio programmes. His books include Twentieth Century Decoration, The House of Liberty, The Elements of Style, Oscar Wilde, An Exquisite Life and Aubrey Beardsley.

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