CLASSIFICATION AND PERIODIZATION:
ORDER AND DISORDER IN DESIGN HISTORIOGRAPHY THROUGH CANONICAL TEXTS

"Historiography" is defined as "the study of the way history has been and is written — the history of historical writing (Furay and Salevouris, 1988:223 ). Design Historiography; the history of Design History is a field where changes in both the practice, methodology and definition of ‘design’ and of ‘history’ plays the leading role. Transformations in ‘What is design?’ and ‘What is history’ forms a crucial part of the literature of Design History in which the whole writing practice is constructed according to the accepted definitions.

After Braudel, most of the historians of today are on the wing of the inclusion of everday life into history (see Jenkins, K, 2003). Everday life has long before became a subject matter of history in general then it did for Design History, since the definition of design shifted from tactile artefacts into a more profound understanding of design later. With the introduction of the everyday life in design historical texts, a multifolded situation of disorder took place: the subject matter of design history and the methods of classification and periodization borrowed from history and art history.

Meanwhile historians have been criticizing the periodization and classification methods and terminology they have been using (see Georg G. Iggers, 2004). The aim of  any classification is to establish order in things and in thought. Periodization as subdivisions of historical time is a product of the human mind; so to be able to appraise the past and to assign to the present its place within the stream of history. Classifications based on the tactile attributions of design and a linear periodization of time did not simulate the ‘new design history’ telling the history of design from the perspective of the new definitions and understanding of contemporary history writing.

As we study 'historiography', we do not study the events of the past directly, but the changing interpretations of those events in the works of individual historians. This paper examines some of the canonical texts of Design History –by Pevsner, Banham, Lucie-Smith, MacCarthy, Pirovano, Woodham, Sparke and Raizman etc.- in terms of the classification and periodization methods they practice according to the definition of design and its history by the individual author. The objective of the paper is to look for an answer to the question ‘Did definition of design in change led the way to an alternative history of design entailing its own classification and periodization methods?’ and develop new questions.

Reference

Furay, C., and Salevouris, 1988, M.J. , The Methods and Skills of History: A Practical Guide, Harlan Davidson.
Iggers, G.G., 2004, Historiography in the Twentieth Century, Wesleyan University Press.
Jenkins, K., 2003, Re-thinking History , Routledge.