This is the second in a four-part series of
exhibitions surveying design in the 20th
century through the presentation of
significant objects in all media by major
European modernist designers, drawn from
the Museum's collection.
While the luxurious
and sensual aesthetic of Art Deco reigned in
France during the late 1920s and 1930s,
avant-garde German design of the same
period presented an ethical and polemical
antithesis.
Bauhaus designers such as
Marianne Brandt, Walter Gropius, Ludwig
Mies van der Rohe, and Wilhelm Wagenfeld
explored the possibilities of functionalism,
mass production, and industrial materials.
Though enormously influential, the severity of
their uncompromising work was soon
challenged by the softer lines and natural
materials of Scandinavian design from the
1930s by such designers as Alvar Aalto and
Bruno Mathsson.
On view in
the Museum's Gallery for
Modern Design and
Architecture through
October 29, 2000, the
exhibition traces design in
Europe during the second
quarter of the 20th
century-from Art Deco
through the influences of
Bauhaus Functionalism,
Russian Constructivism,
and organic Scandinavian
design.
Key objects in all
media-including furniture,
metalwork, glass, ceramics,
textiles, and drawings-by
such leading figures of
Modernist design as Marcel
Breuer, Ludwig Mies van der
Rohe, and Alvar Aalto are
arranged thematically and
stylistically.
Focusing on significant
developments in European
design, "A Century of
Design, Part II"
complements "American
Modern, 1925-1940: Design
for a New Age," an
exhibition of more than 150
objects examining the
parallel rise of a distinctively
American modern design
aesthetic, which is on view
through January 7, 2001, in
the Helen and Milton A.
Kimmelman Gallery.
The series of exhibitions
continues with "A Century of
Design, Part III:
1950-1975," from November
2000-April 2001, and A
Century of Design, Part IV:
1975-2000, from May-
October 2001.
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