About this ebook
Art Deco Mumbai: Writings on a Modern City is the first definitive, book-length scholarly study of a moment in a city's life that produced an architecture as prolific as Miami's. Researchers, historians and scholars of Mumbai's development have contributed essays here that extend scholarship and fill long-standing gaps on the city's Art Deco architecture and design. They draw on primary sources ranging from architectural journals and film magazines to archival drawings and oral histories.
These essays show how, even two decades before Indian independence, Mumbai's (then Bombay's) architects and patrons chose an international language of design over both colonial ideologies and an 'authentic Indian' idiom, creating a modern urbanity that was cosmopolitan and egalitarian.
Mumbai's Art Deco is explored here in all its texture, material and contradiction. Moving beyond popular imagination, the essayists examine the style's emergence, its presence in popular culture, and its expressions in furniture, interiors, product design and cinema, as well as its role in middle-class life. In Mumbai, Art Deco belonged to all, and was never solely the province of the elite.
As the first such publication following Mumbai's 2018 UNESCO recognition for its Art Deco ensembles, this book is a manifesto for preserving a fragile heritage.
These essays show how, even two decades before Indian independence, Mumbai's (then Bombay's) architects and patrons chose an international language of design over both colonial ideologies and an 'authentic Indian' idiom, creating a modern urbanity that was cosmopolitan and egalitarian.
Mumbai's Art Deco is explored here in all its texture, material and contradiction. Moving beyond popular imagination, the essayists examine the style's emergence, its presence in popular culture, and its expressions in furniture, interiors, product design and cinema, as well as its role in middle-class life. In Mumbai, Art Deco belonged to all, and was never solely the province of the elite.
As the first such publication following Mumbai's 2018 UNESCO recognition for its Art Deco ensembles, this book is a manifesto for preserving a fragile heritage.
Art Deco Mumbai: Writings on a Modern City is the first definitive, book-length scholarly study of a moment in a city's life that produced an architecture as prolific as Miami's. Researchers, historians and scholars of Mumbai's development have contributed essays here that extend scholarship and ...
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About the author
Atul Kumar is Founder Trustee, Art Deco Mumbai Trust. He has pioneered extensive research on the Art Deco style and its manifestation in Mumbai, making it synonymous with Mumbai's modern history. His endeavour is an exploration of this history that shaped not just the built form but also its enduring cosmopolitan identity. He has worked actively on civic issues, particularly pertaining to the protection of open spaces, heritage conservation of south Mumbai's Art Deco precinct, and its nomination to UNESCO as a World Heritage site. He is also a Member of the Board of Directors of the International Coalition of Art Deco Societies (ICADS) and Chairs their Preservation Committee.
Mustansir Dalvi is an architect, author, editor, and academic. A core committee member envisioning the Sir JJ School of Art Architecture and Design (de-novo, deemed to be university), he is also former Chairperson of the Board of Studies in Architecture, University of Mumbai. Dalvi is on the Board of Governors of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region's Heritage Conservation Society, and a Trustee of Art Deco Mumbai. He received his PhD from the Indian Institute of Technology - Bombay for his doctoral research, "Buildings as Text: Developing a Semiotic of Bombay's Art Deco Architecture (1930-1949)." His latest book is Citizen Charles, a biography of Charles Correa in the 'Pioneers of Modern India Series' by Niyogi Books.
Mustansir Dalvi is an architect, author, editor, and academic. A core committee member envisioning the Sir JJ School of Art Architecture and Design (de-novo, deemed to be university), he is also former Chairperson of the Board of Studies in Architecture, University of Mumbai. Dalvi is on the Board of Governors of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region's Heritage Conservation Society, and a Trustee of Art Deco Mumbai. He received his PhD from the Indian Institute of Technology - Bombay for his doctoral research, "Buildings as Text: Developing a Semiotic of Bombay's Art Deco Architecture (1930-1949)." His latest book is Citizen Charles, a biography of Charles Correa in the 'Pioneers of Modern India Series' by Niyogi Books.
Atul Kumar is Founder Trustee, Art Deco Mumbai Trust. He has pioneered extensive research on the Art Deco style and its manifestation in Mumbai, making it synonymous with Mumbai's modern history. His endeavour is an exploration of this history that shaped not just the built form but also its endu...
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