Overview

Ocean liners became floating cities for those lucky enough to travel in an era before commercial flight was widely affordable. This book explores the technical, aesthetic, cultural and political factors that came together to define such an iconic mode of travel. The shift in passenger demographic from those driven to immigrate, often by necessity, to the wealthy leisure traveller led to rapid transformations in promotion, architecture, interior design and even the engineering of the ships themselves, as companies and countries competed to provide the most luxurious, safest and fastest liners possible. This comprehensive book considers all aspects of the ocean liner experience, from the striking marketing images, aspirational booking offices and landmark edifices of the major shipping companies to the ships’ opulent interiors and triumphs of engineering. The lavish fashions required for each of the different settings – from poolside to smoking lounge, culminating in the evening ritual of the grande descente into the dining room – are also explored, along with the evolution of the ships’ social and public spaces, as once-rigid class structures and attitudes were relaxed. Closing the book is an exploration of the impact of the ocean liner on the wider art and design world – an icon of modernity that influenced everyone from the Futurists to Le Corbusier. The golden age of ocean travel is intertwined with the key decorative trends of the twentieth century – Art Nouveau, Art Deco and Modernism – making this book a visual feast and a volume to be treasured in itself.

Full Product Details

Author:   Daniel Finamore ,  Ghislaine Wood
Publisher:   V & A Publishing
Imprint:   V & A Publishing
Dimensions:   Width: 24.70cm , Height: 3.00cm , Length: 28.70cm
Weight:   1.820kg
ISBN:  

9781851779062

ISBN 10:   185177906
Pages:   288
Publication Date:   15 May 2017
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.

Table of Contents

Directors' Foreword - Dan L. Monroe and Tim Reeve; Acknowledgements; Introduction - Daniel Finamore and Ghislaine Wood; 1 Promoting Liners; Advertising the Ocean Liner - Catherine Flood; A Close-Up Picture of A Mighty Project: Promotional Exhibition Models - George Schwartz; The Architecture of Promotion - Bruce Peter; Compagnie Generale Transatlantique: Identity Through Time - Dorian Dallongeville; 2 Shipbuilding: Speed, Safety and Comfort - John R. Hume; 3 Floating Palaces: Victorian and Edwardian Ships - Bernhard Rieger; 4 Inter-War Liners: The Politics of Style - Ghislaine Wood; Liners at War - Meredith More; 5 Post-War Liners: 1945-1975 - Bruce Peter; Gio Ponti - Paolo Piccione; 6 The Idealized Society of the Ocean Liner - Daniel Finamore; SS United States, Daniel Finamore and Sarah N. Chasse; 7 Floating In a Dreamland: Fashion and Spectacle on Board - Michelle Tolini Finamore; 8 Modernist Architecture and the Liner - Tim Benton; Streamlining - Ghislaine Wood; 9 The Liner as Machine - Anna Ferrari; 10 The Afterlife of Ships - Daniel Finamore and Ghislaine Wood; Notes; Selected Bibliography; Index; Photography Credits; Notes on Contributors

Reviews

'lavish', Peyton Skipwith, Apollo, March 2018 'beautifully illustrated', Penny Hunter, The Weekend Australian, February 24th-25th 2018

'lavish', Peyton Skipwith, Apollo, March 2018; 'beautifully illustrated', Penny Hunter, The Weekend Australian, February 24th-25th 2018

Author Information

Daniel Finamore is Russel W. Knight curator of Maritime and History, Peabody Essex Museum. Ghislaine Wood is Deputy Director of the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts at the University of East Anglia.

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