Modern Interior

Penny Sparke is Pro Vice-Chancellor in the Arts at Kingston University. Her books include As Long as It’s Pink: The Sexual Politics of Taste (1995), An Introduction to Design and Culture in the Twentieth Century (Rev. Ed. 2004), and Elsie De Wolfe: The Birth of Modern Decoration (2005).

The visual reticence of this little book . . . undersells the expansiveness, diversity and materiality of its subject . . . The Modern Interior presents a compelling argument to consider interiors outside the home, just as it charts the complex interplay between public and private in all interiors, domestic and otherwise. This persuasive book is a well-crafted and engaging read - Times Higher Educationa perceptive and thought-provoking reflection on the transitory nature of modern life - TLS. . . an engaging and colourful potted history of the modern interior from the 1900s through to the present day. - RIBA JournalIn using examples of design from around the world, including the US, Scandinavia, UK, France, Germany and Italy, The Modern Interior offers some real insight into why the interior environments we inhabit look the way they do. - Designer MagazineFascinating reading for anyone interested in the theory, and practice, of design - House & GardenSet to interest design enthusiasts and those with a curiosity for the history of home trends, this compelling title describes the transition from Victorian to avant-garde style. Illustrations of furniture from across the globe shed new light on the emergence of what has become known as the "modern interior". - Essential Kitchen Bathroom Bedroom MagazineThe Modern Interior makes its argument clearly and forcefully with illustrations that effectively illuminate the narrative. Penny Sparke has here focused largely on a coherent interior, tracking it mainly through the built or written work of professional architects, designers, decorators and critics her book raises the interesting question of how this story played out on the ground, in the multitudinous everyday interiors of ordinary consumers. - Journal of Design History[Sparkes] compact study traces the impact of popular concepts of private space on public space design and of public space design theory on the design of private interiors, revealing the complex meaning of the modern interior. Recommended. - Choice