Taste

by Stephen Bayley

British design critic Stephen Bayley has drawn on a vast range of sources to create an original study of a subject he feels is "notoriously elusive and naggingly present". The history of art, architecture and design points to much dispute about taste, and Bayley takes the opportunity to discuss those famous for their good taste, high style, and wretched excess. Illustrated.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Design

256 pages, Paperback

First published November 4, 1991

Reviews

[Fozz]

I liked the first look into kitsch. And obvs a mega research project.

I do think that the author would find me far too ‘woke’ if I called out some of misogyny and elitism creeping into his writing though.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written from a British perspective, it's somewhat academic but interesting and sometimes amusing. For those of us not fluent in several languages, the frequent use of French, Italian or German, with very few translations to English, is a bit frustrating. I don't have the patience to stop reading and go online to try to translate everything, but at least that's an option now, I guess. It wasn't when the first edition was published. (I read the 2017 edition so it felt fairly current.)

The book would have also benefited from more photos to illustrate the specific architecture, etc. that he was discussing. Martin Mull once said, "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture." Writing about all these visual topics needed more pictures.

[Amanda Witt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good compact read of how taste in the areas of fashion, building/architecture, food etc have evolved and changed over the last 200 years.

[Ron Kastner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think there is no hope for taste or for style. It happens or it doesnt. This is a wonderfully erudite, witty and scathing discussion of taste and style and the impossibility of pinning them down.