Front Page: Covers of the twentieth century - Tapa dura

A history of the world in the last century as described by the front covers of international magazines. Covers are designed to sell magazines, so at any given moment, in any given week or month, the view of the world from the newsagents' racks will tell you much about contemporary obsessions. And as the images on the racks change, as one month's issues replace the last, you can observe changes not just in fashion and media, but in current events and the magazine industry's understanding of its customer base. A fascinating historical document recording the changing self-image of the world in the media mirror from the Russian revolution to the age of global terrorism. Will appeal beyond the specialist market of students of commercial design to anyone who measures the passage of time with issue dates.

'The Medium is the Message' claimed Marshall McLuhan. What better way to survey the ideas, events and leaders of the last century than through the striking images of its magazine covers? Structured thematically, Front Page provides an original and provocative visual account of the twentieth century as depicted by its best-known international periodicals (Vogue, The Tatler, Private Eye, Paris Match, The New Yorker, Newsweek etc). It covers world political and historical events such as the Russian revolution, the Spanish Civil War, Hiroshima, and the fall of the Berlin Wall, and presents the great political and historical characters of an epoch. Iconography can be propoganda, satire, fashion or plain reporting of events. The visual rhetoric of a fast-moving century provides for some startling conclusions - that the most widely featured woman of the entire period was Sophie Loren, the man - Churchill. This is a panoramic view of twentieth-century life and society; a resume of great sporting events, of rock stars, political leaders and other media heros. Fashion and design trends will also be highlighted through the work of the greatest photographers and illustrators.