The Australian Ugliness
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
What happens when a nation mistakes busyness for beauty and clutter for culture? In The Australian Ugliness, architect and critic Robin Boyd delivers a forensic and devastating indictment of Australian visual culture, arguing that the Australian built environment — its suburban sprawl, garish signage, and slavish imitation of American commercial aesthetics — reflects a deeper national crisis of identity and taste. With a razor-sharp wit and an architect's exacting eye, Boyd chronicles the rise of what he terms featurism, the compulsive Australian habit of adorning buildings and landscapes with superfluous ornamentation in a desperate bid for distinction, resulting instead in aesthetic chaos. First published in 1960 by F. W. Cheshire, this landmark work of cultural criticism remains one of the most provocative and enduring books ever written about the Australian condition. Boyd's prose is precise yet accessible, wielding irony and erudition in equal measure to illuminate how a young nation's insecurity manifested itself in its very streetscapes and suburbs. Far more than an architectural critique, The Australian Ugliness is a cultural mirror held up to a society still searching for its own identity — and the reflection it captures is as uncomfortable, and as compelling, today as it was over six decades ago.
Author: Robin Boyd
Format: Hardback
Genre: Australian history
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
What happens when a nation mistakes busyness for beauty and clutter for culture? In The Australian Ugliness, architect and critic Robin Boyd delivers a forensic and devastating indictment of Australian visual culture, arguing that the Australian built environment — its suburban sprawl, garish signage, and slavish imitation of American commercial aesthetics — reflects a deeper national crisis of identity and taste. With a razor-sharp wit and an architect's exacting eye, Boyd chronicles the rise of what he terms featurism, the compulsive Australian habit of adorning buildings and landscapes with superfluous ornamentation in a desperate bid for distinction, resulting instead in aesthetic chaos. First published in 1960 by F. W. Cheshire, this landmark work of cultural criticism remains one of the most provocative and enduring books ever written about the Australian condition. Boyd's prose is precise yet accessible, wielding irony and erudition in equal measure to illuminate how a young nation's insecurity manifested itself in its very streetscapes and suburbs. Far more than an architectural critique, The Australian Ugliness is a cultural mirror held up to a society still searching for its own identity — and the reflection it captures is as uncomfortable, and as compelling, today as it was over six decades ago.