Avant-Garde in the Cornfields

By - Sabatino, Michelangelo

Floor - Floor 3

Published - University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 2019

ISBN 10 - 1517903149

ISBN 13 - 9781517903145

Book Status - 1 Qnty Available with us.

Subject - Indiana--New Harmony

Shelf No - 1

Call Number - 720.9772 AVA

Physical Description - 408 pages; Illustration 28 cm

Notes - Includes Index

Book Information

A close examination of an iconic small town that gives boundless insights into architecture, landscape, preservation, and philanthropy Avant-Garde in the Cornfields is an in-depth study of New Harmony, Indiana, a unique town in the American Midwest renowned as the site of two successive Utopian settlements during the nineteenth century: the Harmonists and the Owenites. During the Cold War years of the twentieth century, New Harmony became a spiritual "living community" and attracted a wide variety of creative artists and architects who left behind landmarks that are now world famous. This engrossing and well-documented book explores the architecture, topography, and preservation of New Harmony during both periods and addresses troubling questions about the origin, production, and meaning of the town's modern structures, landscapes, and gardens. It analyzes how these were preserved, recognizing the funding that has made New Harmony so vital, and details the elaborate ways in which the town remains an ongoing experiment in defining the role of patronage in historic preservation. An important reappraisal of postwar American architecture from a rural perspective, Avant-Garde in the Cornfields presents provocative ideas about how history is interpreted through design and historic preservation--and about how the extraordinary past and present of New Harmony continue to thrive today. Contributors: William R. Crout, Harvard U; Stephen Fox, Rice U; Christine Gorby, Pennsylvania State U; Cammie McAtee, Harvard U; Nancy Mangum McCaslin; Kenneth A. Schuette Jr., Purdue U; Ralph Schwarz; Paul Tillich.

Open Book