Shop America
Subtitle: midcentury storefront design, 1938-1950
By: edited by Jim Heimann ; essay by Steven Heller.
Contributors: Heimann, Jim, 1948-
Publisher: Taschen
Published: 2007
Place of publication: Köln; Los Angels
Language: eng; fre; ger
Number of pages: 245
ISBN-13: 9783822842690
Subjects: Storefronts -- United States -- History -- 20th century
Description: In postwar America, everything pointed to a bright, shiny future. Sheer optimism and opulence informed everything from automobile design to architecture, infusing design with larger-than-life planes and curves. Storefront design of the era is particularly indicative of this phenomenon, incarnated here in an extensive collection of hand-illustrated shop window designs from 1938 to 1950. These spectacular, often grandiose plans for grocery stores, shoe shops, beauty salons, bakeries, and more are reminders of a time when stores were sacred shrines for the congregation of American shoppers - impressive and even slightly intimidating, just like the future itself. Collected for this unique book, the designs viewed in retrospect reveal the mindset of a unique period in history. In addition to an extensive selection of drawings are historical black and white photographs of actual shops built in a similar style. "Shop America" offers a rare look at mid-century commercial America as it pictured itself.
Notes: Includes index.

Text in English, French and German.