Summary

For well over a hundred years certain artists have blurred the distinction between 'art' and 'design', creating works for which Alex Coles has coined the term 'DesignArt'. In a pioneering study of this dynamic area of art-making, he traces its course from the early twentieth century to the present day, when such works have become a dominant feature of the contemporary art scene and are pervasive in key international exhibitions and biennials. From Matisse's plush interior for Rockefeller's town house to the playful contemporary environments created by Jorge Pardo; from the paintings of Bridget Riley appropriated by the fashion world in the 1960s to the fabric designs Takashi Murakami recently conceived with Marc Jacobs, Alex Coles has identified a major and previously uncharted strand in art history.