Steampunk: The Art of Victorian Futurism

• 22nd Sep 2011

Author: Jay Strongman

Steampunk is one of those alternative trends that has grown vividly over the past decade. It has seeped out into its own movement and is now evident in the likes of Art, Music, Fashion, film, and design. This book demonstrates this beautifully.

Author Jay Strongman takes a wide look at the various mediums from the brainchild fantasies of fiction (including the likes of Alan Moore’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) to the actual and practical objects invented and made by artists and fashion designers. His introduction rightfully opens the genre up from its origins. The following chapter “The Rise of Steam” goes much more in depth to the various art forms that have been swallowed up by the machine.

After this point Strongman has divided his book up by artist where you get an average of eight pages on each artist with some introductory text and various examples of their work. You won’t find a many better examples of the variety of artistry on display here, all in high standard visual quality.

And it’s the art forms of the visual nature that obviously get the best demonstration s here. Of course novels are mentioned, but it would be hard to reprint anything of substance here in this volume.

It’s a beautiful book and has well laid out text and pictures, working as a wonderful introduction to a world of Steampunk. If this sucks you in it will only lead you onto wanting more – be it looking for more in depth knowledge of the artists (and thankfully there are links at the end of the book that direct you to the artists).

The world has expanded all the more since. We’ve had the likes of Sucker Punch take its cue from the world of Steampunk, as we have also had games like Bio-Shock really making high use of the technical side of this world put into action. If you have very little knowledge of the genre but liked those the mass media has presented to you – then this book is a must!

Steven Hurst