Beauty and Power, Global Design, 1840-1914

Beauty and Power serves as an accessible general introduction to the originsof modern design and an original contribution to understanding therole that cross-cultural processes have played in design's history. How didmodern design in its origins begin to transform lives globally? This is thefirst history of the origins of modern design intended for general readersto discuss examples from Africa, Asia, and the Islamic World. Beauty andPower not only accounts for cross-cultural sources and effects, it supportstheir centrality to the growth of modern design. National competitiveness in this age of empire forms the basis of emerging global design.Throughout the period and in all its cultural contexts, a focus on thedisplay of wealth and power through ornament helped distinguish socialclasses. Increasingly, citizens in the West borrowed ornamental motifsfrom non-Western cultures and the reverse was also true. While this bookpresents these visual aspects of design, it also seeks the meanings associatedwith the visual traits. Increasingly, those meanings emerged out of theeconomic interaction between members of different nations.