Designed for Hi-Fi Living: Lecture & Book Signing

Description

Modern art, modernist furniture, and visions of a modern lifestyle appeared on many LP covers in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Jazz record covers, in particular, often featured abstract art, midcentury furniture, and modernist graphics, emphasizing a break with the past, and aligning design motifs with innovative sound technologies and the improvisation and arresting time signatures of jazz. These albums suggest that any aficionado of contemporary tastes will want to hear these sounds in hi-fi, and also surround themselves with abstract art and modernist design. Design, music, and painting that traced their origins to American culture – for example abstract expressionism, blues, and jazz – indicated that the US no longer needed to refer back to the “old world” for artistic direction after World War II, but was positioned to take contemporary society forward with its own aesthetic values and cultural contributions of individual expression and freedom. Midcentury vinyl LPs helped people imagine the place and practices of home. Many midcentury LPs revealed secrets of “gracious living” and advice for producing enticing dinners “at home” that brought the unfamiliar onto the familiar dining room table. These records include recipes, ideas for arranging food, drink, and decor, and encouragement to master the manners and behaviors designed for modern, hi-fi living.