Description
Showing how humour - whether cartoons, caricature, satire or parody - has long been a potent agent of architectural criticism.
About the Author
Michela Rosso is Associate Professor of Architecture at the Politechnico di Torino, Italy. In 2014 she was elected General Chair of the Advisory Board of the European Architectural History Network, and in 2016 she was awarded a residential fellowship at the Yale Center for British Art.
Reviews
Satire opens the mind even as it leaves the mouth gaping... and it turns out to have been an inherent ingredient in the symbiotic rise of public debate and modernization since the mid-18th century. That is one of the many conclusions of this anthology of ribald images and erudite analyses that place humour in its social ad political context. The collection is as delightful as it is insightful, the humor runs the full gamut from affectionate to wickedly biting. -- Barry Bergdoll, Meyer Schapiro Professor of Art History and Archaeology and Director of Undergraduate Studies * Columbia University *
Although architecture is usually regarded as too ponderous a matter to allow much space for humour, some of its sharpest and most memorable criticism has been in the form of wit and satire. The essays in Laughing at Architecture, both diverting and serious, range from Pugin to Loos, to Steinberg, and open up this important, but neglected, mode of architectural criticism. -- Adrian Forty, Professor Emeritus of Architectural History * The Bartlett School of Architecture UCL *
This pathbreaking collection of essays brilliantly links architecture to social history and to the multiple cultural contexts and interpersonal exchanges implicit in acts of ridicule and satiric irony. The section by Rosso herself, on the irrepressible, often volcanic, pasquinade of the 1930s Italian architectural scene launched by Mino Maccari and Leo Longanesi in the journal Il Selvaggio, is a true gem. Edited with an incisive critical introduction and beautifully produced with copious illustrations, this book will be a scholarly reference for years to come. -- Daniel Sherer, Lecturer in Architectural History and Theory * Princeton University *
Book Information
ISBN 9781350022782
Author Michela Rosso
Format Hardback
Page Count 288
Imprint Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Weight(grams) 594g