Bowl-O-Rama: The Visual Arts Of Bowling
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: N/A
Pages: Good
Long before bowling became a fixture of American suburban life, it was already a thriving subculture rich with its own iconography, mythology, and visual identity — and Bowl-O-Rama: The Visual Arts of Bowling is the definitive celebration of that culture. H. Thomas Steele chronicles the remarkable graphic heritage of America's most democratic sport, presenting a dazzling archive of vintage bowling ball advertisements, lane signage, trophy art, pin-up imagery, and the gloriously kitsch commercial ephemera that turned every alley into a cathedral of mid-century design. From the swooping neon scripts of roadside bowl-o-dromes to the hypnotic swirl of marbled resin balls, the book presents bowling not merely as a pastime, but as a genuine and underappreciated branch of American popular art. Steele writes with the infectious enthusiasm of a true collector, positioning bowling culture within the broader context of postwar American consumerism and the golden age of graphic design. The work argues convincingly that the visual language of bowling — bold, optimistic, and unapologetically populist — is a vivid mirror of mid-20th-century American identity. Richly illustrated and meticulously researched, Bowl-O-Rama stands as an essential volume for design historians, pop culture aficionados, and anyone who suspects that the greatest American art gallery was always just down the lane.
Author: H. Thomas Steele
Format: Hardback
Genre: The arts
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: N/A
Pages: Good
Long before bowling became a fixture of American suburban life, it was already a thriving subculture rich with its own iconography, mythology, and visual identity — and Bowl-O-Rama: The Visual Arts of Bowling is the definitive celebration of that culture. H. Thomas Steele chronicles the remarkable graphic heritage of America's most democratic sport, presenting a dazzling archive of vintage bowling ball advertisements, lane signage, trophy art, pin-up imagery, and the gloriously kitsch commercial ephemera that turned every alley into a cathedral of mid-century design. From the swooping neon scripts of roadside bowl-o-dromes to the hypnotic swirl of marbled resin balls, the book presents bowling not merely as a pastime, but as a genuine and underappreciated branch of American popular art. Steele writes with the infectious enthusiasm of a true collector, positioning bowling culture within the broader context of postwar American consumerism and the golden age of graphic design. The work argues convincingly that the visual language of bowling — bold, optimistic, and unapologetically populist — is a vivid mirror of mid-20th-century American identity. Richly illustrated and meticulously researched, Bowl-O-Rama stands as an essential volume for design historians, pop culture aficionados, and anyone who suspects that the greatest American art gallery was always just down the lane.