Modernism on Sea : Art and Culture at the British Seaside

Modernism on Sea brings together writing by some of today’s most exciting seaside critics, curators, filmmakers and scholars, and takes the reader on a journey around the coast of Britain to explore the rich artistic and cultural heritage that can be found there, from St Ives to Scarborough. The authors consider avant-garde art, architecture, film, literature and music, from the early twentieth century to the present, setting the arrival of modernism against the background of seaside tradition. From the cheeky postcards marvelled at by George Orwell to austere modernist buildings such as the De La Warr Pavilion; from the Camden Town Group’s sojourn in Brighton to John Piper’s ‘Nautical Style’; from Paul Nash’s surrealist benches on the promenade in Swanage to the influence of bunting and deckchairs on the Festival of Britain – Modernism on Sea is a sweeping tour de force which pays tribute to the role of the seaside in shaping British modernism. The essays in this book were inspired by the ‘Modernism on Sea’ conference that was held at the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea in July 2007. ±This volume of intelligent and attractive essays is full of particular insights, and is to be applauded for its championing of the seaside as a site of cultural creativity (...).? (Peter Borsay, Times Higher Education) ±An immensely enjoyable feat of cultural beachcombing, fresh, diverse and enlightening.? (John Carey) ±From Virginia Woolf to Benjamin Britten to Sylvia Plath: a fascinating take on the wave of the avant-garde breaking on British shores.? (J.B. Bullen) ±Readers who love the British seaside (...) will find this volume as bracing as Skegness on a windy day.? (Brian Evans, Virginia Woolf Bulletin) ±Readable and thought-provoking (...) a stimulating and wide-ranging volume.? (Christiana Payne, Oxford Art Journal) __Modernism on Sea__ From the cheeky postcards marvelled at by George Orwell to austere modernist buildings such as the De La Warr Pavilion; from the Camden Town Group’s sojourn in Brighton to John Piper’s ‘Nautical Style’; from Paul Nash’s surrealist benches on the promenade in Swanage to the influence of bunting and deckchairs on the Festival of Britain - is a sweeping tour de force which pays tribute to the role of the seaside in shaping British modernism. The essays in this book were inspired by the ‘Modernism on Sea’ conference that was held at the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea in July 2007. "Considers avant-garde art, architecture, film, literature and music, from the early twentieth-century to the present, setting the arrival of modernism against the background of seaside tradition."--Back cover