No Visible Means of Support: a Study Day on 1950s Style, hosted by Bristol University’s Institute for Garden and Landscape Studies, on Saturday 24 April, 2010 at Clifton Hill House, Bristol

‘No visible means of support’ takes an interdisciplinary look at Britain in the 1950s to see if the decade produced a unique and distinctive style. The title recalls a response to the Skylon, the futuristic sculpture that epitomised the 1951 Festival of Britain; predictably, the phrase was soon applied to the nation itself. While America emerged from the Second World War as the Affluent Society, Britain had to buckle down to a period of ‘reconstruction and regeneration’. It was the era of milk bars and dance halls, slacks and cigarettes, spies and sputnik, cocktails and carnivals; it saw the rise of the Cold War and the death of the Debutante. The Festival of Britain, followed two years later by the Coronation gave rise to a self-conscious patriotism and by 1957 Harold Macmillan could finally assure his people, ‘you’ve never had it so good’.

Examining major figures in visual arts, architecture and garden design we will attempt to tease out preoccupations, themes and motifs to determine if there really is a 50s style, and if so, what it looks like. Speakers include Frances Spalding on John Piper, Rachel Flynn on Graham Sutherland, Anne de Verteuil on Sir Frederick Gibberd, Trish Gibson on Brenda Colvin, Jeremy Gould on suburban architecture of the period, Timothy Mowl on the architecture of the Festival of Britain, and Paige Johnson on atomic gardens. For application forms or further information, contact katie@gardenhistoryinstitute.co.uk

This post was submitted by Charles Boot.