
Backyard Oasis
The Swimming Pool in Southern California Photography, 1945-1982
Daniell Cornell(Editor)
Prestel (Publisher)
Published on 11. January 2012
Book
Hardback
256 pages
978-3-7913-5176-6 (ISBN)
Description
Since the end of World War II, southern California's backyard pools - those blue-green oases in an otherwise often arid landscape - have symbolized any number of American ideals: optimism, wealth, consumerism, escape, physical beauty, and the triumph of man over nature. Simultaneously, the field of photography developed as a transformative method for recording the human condition. This exhibition catalogue celebrates the nexus of these two phenomena in a one-of-a-kind collection that features more than two hundred works by more than forty post-war artists and photographers. It presents works by photographers and artists including Bill Anderson, John Baldessari, Ruth Bernhard, David Hockney, Herb Ritts, Ed Ruscha, Julius Shulman, and Larry Sultan. Thematically grouped into topics ranging from the rise of celebrity culture, suburbia and dystopia, avant-garde architectural landscape design and the cult of the body, these images offer a rich study of the cultural connotations of the swimming pool. Six insightful essays provide a comprehensive overview of the development of the swimming pool and its attendant aesthetic and social culture.
Reviews / Votes
"Southern California's pool culture is the subject of this unique and luscious collection of photographs that explore the parallel evolution of an iconic symbol and an artistic genre."-Photo-eye, Best Books of 2012 list
"I can't imagine a book better-suited to escaping into on a hot summer's day than Backyard Oasis."
- W Magazine
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Munich
Germany
Dimensions
Height: 289 mm
Width: 287 mm
Thickness: 31 mm
Weight
2018 gr
ISBN-13
978-3-7913-5176-6 (9783791351766)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Daniell Cornell is senior curator and deputy director of art at the Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, California.