‘Beyond the Little Magazine: middlebrow print culture, ‘art’ literature  and the formation of modernist taste in Britain, 1910-45’.

On 14 July 2010 Dr Lesley Whitworth, Deputy Curator of the University of Brighton Design Archives, will be presenting a paper at this interdisciplinary symposium in the Department of the History of Art at the University of Warwick.  The organisation of this event is indicative of the considerable growth of scholarly interest in this area of study, signalled by several research council funded projects and substantial new publications.  Its precise focus will be the circulation of ideas about modernism and the visual arts beyond the avant-garde, through more mainstream or commercial vehicles, and will consider amongst other things the audiences for such messages, and aspects of technological progress that enabled more widespread dissemination.

Whitworth will present a new aspect of her ESRC-AHRC funded Cultures of Consumption research, and will bring together two insights into the state of the post-war publishing world.  Her paper highlights firstly the ‘extra-curricular’ activities of the Council of Industrial Design’s first Director through his involvement with a publishing house as director of the company, and an Editorial Advisor to its new journal.  Secondly it will use data about the raft of Council publications in the immediate post-war years including sales figures and information about the extreme impact of paper shortages to show how a core of individuals sought to position debates about industrial design in key, accessible locations.

Image: Detail from ‘Future’ magazine cover by FHK Henrion, 1948.