Greek design & Decoration

This book is about the design and decoration used in architecture in general. This architectural milieu comprises the richly-decorated traditional mansions built before mid-eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries as well as the equally opulent neo-Classical mansions which replaced them, once Greece became a free state in 1827. Also included are the forms of decoration used in structures in rural areas in the distant past and in the working-class neighbourhoods.

The book is divided in three equal parts. The first, and rather more abstract, deals with the theoretical issues inherent in a study of the decorative arts. The second part singles out the crucial factor of change in the decorative arts, be it temporal or spatial. The third part concentrates on the meaning of the decorative arts in their social context.

445 colour and 13 b/w photographs, 10 drawings.