Stephen Bayley

High wire act

The artist progressed from a ‘circus’ of mechanical toys to delicate mobiles, moved by air currents to delightful effect

issue 11 November 2017

‘Mid-century modern’ is the useful term popularised by Cara Greenberg’s 1984 book of that title. The United States, the civilisation that turned PR and branding into art forms, wanted homegrown creative heroes. In design there were Charles Eames and George Nelson with their homey hopsack suits and wash’n’wear shirts, their sensible Wasp homilies: a counterattack against imported — and often baffling — exotics from the Bauhaus.

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