PUBLISHING PROGRAMME
We have an ambitious plan to publish an entire series on Canadian architects and designers.
PETER DICKINSON BOOK LAUNCH
DOMINION MODERN is pleased to invite you to the launch of the book
PETER DICKINSON by John Martins-Manteiga.
Thursday, January 21, 2010, 7-9pm
Dominion Modern Gallery
@ the School of Design
230 Richmond Street East (side entrance), Toronto
416-825-6489
All books will be available for purchase at the Dominion Modern Gallery following the launch.
PETER DICKINSON
By John Martins-Manteiga
ISBN 978-0-9681933-1-0
Publisher: DOMINION MODERN
$50 (plus shipping)
Every aspect of Dickinson's life was large, from his height to his wife - a former model - from his ambition to his social and professional standing. England could not contain him. He needed a larger stage and that is what he found here. The architecture he set into motion was like him: big, fresh, and bold. It was not only modern, it had an audacious individualistic style that twisted and turned in new and magnificent ways.
This is the first major book on the Canadian architect Peter Dickinson. The 304-page catalogue traces the life and work of architect Peter Dickinson from England to Canada. PETER DICKINSON is the first comprehensive catalogue on the work of this important modern architect.
Read the full article by Christopher Hume
NOXON: Architect and Industrial Designer
By John Martins-Manteiga
ISBN: 978-0-9681933-3-4
Publisher: DOMINION MODERN and SCHOOLOFDESIGN
$30 (plus shipping)
Much of Noxon's "Toronto style," as Martins-Manteiga calls it, embodies "an almost naked sensibility, a kind extreme internationalism, purity beyond pure."
Take the 1961 "garden chair, a sun cot," pictured here from the exhibit catalogue. It, and the companion seat and ottoman which are on display, consist of little more than planes on an outline of thin metal.
Yet the lounge "will go flat so you can lay face up or face down, and you can sit three or four people on it at a party," Noxon, retired and living in Prince Edward County, reflects.
Created for the first Four Seasons on Jarvis St., sets of these surely fit perfectly into the courtyard of the new "motor hotel" designed by another celebrated Toronto modernist, Peter Dickinson.
Yet they are also, in materials and spirit, the work of the no-nonsense Ontario blacksmith, whose tractor seat was an iron skeleton; whose wrench was a beam with a simple purpose (or two: in the spanner on today's Ideas cover, "Noxon" in the tool's cutout handle is readable forward, backward, and upside down).
"It's almost like alchemy, that connection between blacksmithing and modernism," MartinsManteiga observes, of Noxon's work. "It's a continuation of those (basic) materials. But there's a freshness there, and that's the language of modernism." by Alfred Holden, Toronto Star, 2009
Read the full article by Alfred Holden
Mean City: From Architecture to Design: How Toronto Went Boom!
By John Martins-Manteiga
Publisher: KEYPORTER and DOMINION MODERN
$30 (plus shipping)
The projects included in this book are some of the very best examples that our post-war architects, designers and artists have given [to] Toronto. This book is a celebration of their work, their vision and their energy.
Praise for Mean City: "Martins-Manteiga is piecing together a part of Toronto's history"
--National Post, "Ones to Watch 2007"
Read the full article by Brianna Goldberg
Endangered Species
Edited by John Martins-Manteiga
Publisher: DOMINION MODERN and the SCHOOLOFDESIGN
$30 (plus shipping)
The twenty-six buildings in Endangered Species are threatened for demolition. This book aims to engage a debate about the survival of Canadian Modernism. This project, initiated in 2005 in partnership between Dominion Modern and The School of Design at George Brown College (Toronto), is intended to spur a dialogue among students and the wider community on the topic of modern architecture and its endangerment.
Includes the Catalogue of Destruction and essays by Carole Pope, John Martins-Manteiga, Steve Russell, Gene Threndyle, José Castel-Branco, Luigi Ferrara, Peter Kuitenbrouwer and Adam Sobolak.
"The recently published book, Endangered Species, edited by John Martins-Manteiga, presents a list of Toronto buildings that are either threatened or have been destroyed. In the former category are the Half-Round building at Riverdale Hospital (now Bridgepoint Health), the Bata Shoe headquarters, Maple Leaf Gardens and even Redpath Sugar.
"The preservation of Canadian Modernism is at a crossroads," Martins-Manteiga writes in the introduction. "Indifference and hostility have lead (sic) to the demolitions (sic) of modern buildings across Canada and as these buildings fall, those who designed and built them age and die. Ironically, this comes at a time when modern architecture and design are enjoying renewed interest amongst professionals and the public." by Christopher Hume, Toronto Star, 2007
Read the full article by Christopher Hume
To order publications above: In Canada add $12 shipping and handling. Cheques should be made out to DOMINION MODERN.
Mailing Address: 153 Robert Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2K6.
For more information, contact address above, or e-mail info@dominionmodern.ca