“Lust for Lifestyle: Modern Adelaide Homes 1950-1965,” at the State Library of South Australia, 3 December 2021-24 July 2022

Abstract

Curated by Dr James Curry of the University of Adelaide and Mark Gilbert of the State Library of South Australia, the Lust for Lifestyle: Modern Adelaide Homes exhibition offers an insight into a particular arena of post-war architectural modernism in Adelaide: the single-family domestic house, architect-designed, artistically furnished, and thoughtfully attuned to exist-ing site conditions and natural and scenic surroundings. It presents a thematically oriented display of a select number of individual houses, beautifully captured in black-and-white and colour photographs, copies of original drawings and descriptive texts. The first theme “Economy and Excess” draws attention to what is a primary interest of the exhibition – the owners of the houses, the luxuries afforded by their wealth, and the desire to achieve a modern lifestyle inspired by international trends. The exhibition catalogue explains: