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The diversity of individual artistic expressions contribute to a unique current in poster design. presented in Masters of Polish Poster Art The functional typography intensifies the original demonstrates the distinctive nature of poster illustration; intellectual metaphors and imagery art in Poland. As the artists presented are often hide the essence of the message and invite also painters, illustrators, exhibit designers a dialogue with a viewer; dark humour, irony or cinematographers, their posters are greatly or cynical criticism provide a comment on influenced by a variety of artistic styles and everyday life and popular culture. techniques. The evocative, emotional, painterly Masters of Polish Poster Art is the first work approach to poster design is employed by in a series of publications intended to present artists such as Jerzy Czerniawski, Franciszek modern Polish posters; a second volume, pub Starowieyski, Wiktor Sadowski or Wieslaw lished by Krzysztof Dydo, is entirely devoted Walkuski, whereas an intellectual, coherent to film posters and contains high-quality repro language of visual metaphors is typical of ductions of more than 900 impressions. Among Henryk Tomaszewski, Tadeusz Piechura or the many publications dedicated to Polish Mieczyslaw Wasilewski. The range of styles graphic arts, Masters of Polish Poster Art is and idioms used in contemporary Polish posters notable from several points of view: in addition is clearly visible in the works of such diverse to presenting aesthetic comment and artistic artists as Jan Mlodozeniec and Stasys Eidrigevi- interpretation of cultural events, this album cius. The art of both is deeply rooted in folklore, provides an excellent introduction to the history but Mlodozeniec's painterly compositions are of Polish poster design, exposes modern filled with joyful, bright colours and simple metaphors and iconography, and fully documents objects, while Eidrigevicius applies dark, the innovation and extravagance of the grotesque or surrealistic images to comment on contemporary language of visual communication. the loneliness of the artist in society. Although it may be difficult to find in book Nevertheless, there are common trends stores, this book is a valuable reference for in Polish graphic arts that, taken together, anyone interested in the graphic arts. Annette Carruthers, éd., The Scottish Home ANNMARIE ADAMS Carruthers, Annette, éd., The Scottish Home. It was from this position of the predisposed Edinburgh: National Museums of Scotland, convert that I approached The Scottish Home. 1996. 232 pp., 211 illus., paper, ISBN 0-948636- Why write a book on the Scottish home? How 85-8; cloth $59.95, ISBN 0-948636-72-6. did its evolution differ from houses in England? And perhaps most selfishly, I wondered what From here in the "distinct society," I applauded such a book might teach us about interpreting Scotland's hearty endorsement of a separate Canadian houses, whose history, after all, is sim parliament a few months ago. Having visited ilarly overshadowed by our neighbors to the south. Scotland as a child (and later as a student of The Scottish Home is an extremely ambitious architecture), it seemed evident to me that Scots undertaking. Seven authors (academics and are quite different than their neighbors to the museum professionals) have uncovered the south. Even by the age of thirteen, when I was history of the Scottish home from 1600 to 1950 fortunate enough to travel to Edinburgh with my in nine chapters. It may, however, have been parents, I had worn kilts and taken Scottish more accurately entitled "Stuff in the Scottish dancing lessons. A few years later I read Sir Home," since its emphasis is on objects and Walter Scott novels in high school and learned artifacts (particularly furniture), rather than about (ugh!) haggis. More than two decades buildings. An introduction to the book is later, as an architectural historian, I have little followed by two chapters on small rural and doubt that the work of the great Scottish architects, urban houses. The subsequent six sections are such as Robert Lorimer and Charles Rennie organized like the house itself, in rooms: Mackintosh, is particularly interesting because kitchen, hall/lobby, dining room, drawing room, of its Scottishness. bedroom, and bathroom. Material History Review 4 7 (Spring 1998) I Revue d'histoire de la culture matérielle 4 7 (printemps 1998) 93 This "tour" of the Scottish house is lavishly argumentative edge. From this perspective, illustrated with more than two hundred images Helen Clark's essay "Living in One or Two in a large-format volume of fewer than Rooms in the City" is superb; rather than simply 250 pages, which means it can be read in a laying out a this-happened-then-that-happened single sitting. This has as much to do with chronology of Scotland's small city houses, she the accessible style of its writing as with the focusses on actual living conditions and the density of its delightful illustrations. various solutions poor Scots found to problems Indeed, The Scottish Home is another tome caused by lack of space. This emphasis on about the minutiae of domestic life aimed at "use" allows Clark to grant the working-class general readers, connoisseurs, and scholars. A inhabitants of tenements, for example, a virtual industry has developed in this genre considerable degree of agency, rather than since the 1970s, particularly in Britain, since the portraying them as mute victims of environ publication of Mark Girouard's popular Life in ments designed by others. the English Country House of 1978. That book, Another particularly rich chapter in Girouard's subsequent house books, and a host The Scottish Home is Juliet Kinchin's piece on of volumes inspired by his work may be classified "The Drawing Room." Here she unfolds the as a "social history of domestic architecture." story of this room for show-and-tell by exploring These authors mostly use inventories, etiquette how it was perceived as the antithesis of working books, fiction, paintings, and photographs to space. In addition to presenting the now familiar interpret private spaces of the past. Because of material on the drawing room and parlour as the subject matter, the material is extremely women's space, Kinchin suggests that similar accessible to general readers. Witold Rybczynski's rooms in public and commercial buildings Home of 1986, for example, has sold more than shaped the domestic interior. This chapter is 100 000 copies in North America alone. excellent and will be extremely useful as reading For readers familiar with this literature, material in any general history of housing The Scottish Home may be disappointing. The course, as well as courses in material culture evolution of domestic spaces in Scotland, and women's studies. according to its authors, is very similar to In the end, I think the book's room-by-room the story in England and the United States, organization (and the decision to use multiple although this is seldom stated explicitly. In fact, authors) lead to several missed opportunities, several of the contributors go to great lengths to as well as some annoying repetitions. These may uncover artifacts or spaces unique to Scotland. have been avoided by a more aggressive edit in Miles Oglethorpe, in his chapter on the bath the final hour. Given the geographic limitations room and water closet, for example, goes so far of Scotland and the fact that some houses are as to apologize that Scottish bathrooms are so always better documented than others, the authors similar to English ones, but points to municipal understandably employ the same examples, re water and sewerage infrastructure and the introducing them each time. Two authors note design of bathroom fixtures to tell "a distinctly the Scottish tradition of washing at the kitchen Scottish story. " Most architectural historians will sink and two others remark on the working-class be shocked to learn, as well, that Robert Lorimer culture of families sharing toilets located on designed a toilet in 1930 that he called "The the stairs, seemingly unaware of the other. Remirol" (his name backwards). On the whole, This is also true of domestic advice books, however, the development of the Scottish home like those written by Scotsmen Robert Kerr and roughly parallels its counterparts in the English- John Claudius Loudon, whom we re-meet in speaking world, according to these authors. nearly every chapter with general introductory Unlike most of the books on English houses, information included. These repetitions are however, especially those by Girouard, The particularly troublesome since the book is Scottish Home includes considerable material clearly intended to be read cover to cover, rather on the domestic surroundings of the poor. than used as a reference volume. Working-class houses are the subjects of two Along these same lines, several method chapters, and material on room use in humbler ological issues and interesting sub-themes houses is included in most of the sections on that run throughout the chapters remain individual rooms, with the exception of the unexplored. The first of these is the assumption chapter on the dining room, for obvious reasons. adopted by all the authors, without exception, Like all collections, The Scottish Home suffers that "form follows fashion." This is implied from a certain unevenness. The chapters I found throughout the chapters: change in form most interesting were those with a purposeful (artifacts, furniture, architecture) follows a Material History Review 47 (Spring 1998) I Revue d'hh de la culture matérielle 47 (printemps 1998) 94 change in customs or behaviour. In his essay on proof that these books were widely read "The Hall and Lobby," for example, furniture in Scotland (Canadian scholars often are historian David Jones attributes the twentieth- tempted by American sources in this same century disappearance of the umbrella and way). But then again, Kerr and Loudon hall stands from the entrances of Scottish appear in nearly all the books on English houses to the decline in the use of umbrellas houses! And perhaps not surprisingly, many of and hats.

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