Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The second half of the 20th century has seen British artists, architects and designers assuming a central role on the world stage. In the years after the war, the young began to challenge accepted artistic values, looking at popular culture for their inspiration. The iconoclasm of the pop movement has continued to be one of the vital ingredients of the British art scene. In the year-by-year record provided in this volume, are connections and contradictions across the entire visual scene - from architecture, interior design, furniture and the decorative arts to painting, sculpture and graphic art.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

This survey of the arts in Great Britain from 1949 through 1999 is organized as a yearly chronology, with a well-chosen sampling of painting, architecture, graphic and industrial art, and fashion design lavishly displayed throughout. The volume's contributing essayists include key personalities from the British contemporary art scene, most notably Nicholas Sertoa, the director of the Tate Gallery, and renowned painter David Hockney. As the text weaves its way through the striking layouts, Hockney's observation that "one forgets how small an art world is" rings true. The critics, teachers, artists, and others who contribute their insights to the text are obviously from this world's inner circle, and as such, their thought-provoking commentary tends to lack the perspective of an objective overview. Lacking also is a detailed index (an appendix with brief artists biographies doubles as an index to reproductions). Still, this is a handsomely produced and informative survey for larger public libraries as well as academic and art libraries.ÄDavid Soltesz, Cuyahoga Cty. P.L., Parma, OH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

Despite Prince Charles' invective against contemporary British architecture, both applied and fine arts are well treated in this compendium of the U.K.'s best since 1949. In fact, it's safe to say that aesthetics reigns in merry new England; to the likes of painter David Hockney and sculptor Henry Moore are added fanciful, punk, and serious practitioners, from a Cecil Burton portrait photograph to the raucous "Spitting Images" lampoon cartoon TV program. The brief snippets of art history, beginning with the 1951 Festival of Britain in London, enhance the pages and pages of illustrations and examples, helping browsers and students alike understand that Britain, too, deserves its place in the art world's sun. An eye-opening introduction. --Barbara Jacobs