Object of the Day
Discover a different object from the Museum’s collection every day of the week!
Museum curators, conservators, and educators, as well as design enthusiasts like our teen Design Scholars, docents, and Master’s students, are sharing their favorite objects from Cooper-Hewitt’s incredible collection.
Many of these objects will be featured in the expanded collection galleries when Cooper-Hewitt reopens in 2014. Until then, “Object of the Day” is your uniquely-curated corner of the Museum!
Sea of MysteryPosted by Alison Charny, on Tuesday February 26, 2013This design for a stained glass window of a mermaid beneath the sea was commissioned by Associated Artists (the decorating firm of Louis Comfort Tiffany, Candace Wheeler, with (at times) Samuel Colman and Lockwood de Forest) for the Manhattan home of Wells Fargo President Ashbel H. Elihu Vedder, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Candace Wheeler, Samuel Colman, Lockwood de Forest, Associated Artists, New York, stained glass, drawing |
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The Wikipedians are coming and we've opened the doorsPosted by Micah Walter, on Monday February 25, 2013One of the main goals with our new collections website has been to create connections between the Cooper-Hewitt collection and the rest of the world that already exist out on the Internet. Wikipedia is a key part of that world, and Wikipedia is becoming more 'museum-friendly' every day. |
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A Busman’s HolidayPosted by Gail S. Davidson, on Sunday February 24, 2013Winslow Homer and his brother Charles Savage Homer Jr. Winslow Homer, Charles Savage Homer Jr., Quebec, Canada, fishing, Lake St. George, watercolor |
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Noah's ArkPosted by Alison Charny, on Saturday February 23, 2013In this ornate design made of cut paper, contemporary artist Ernst Oppliger depicts three pairs of couples in windows at the top of a towering structure, while the windows below contain silhouettes of many exotic animals, including elephants, giraffes, and ostriches. Ernst Oppliger, cut paper, silhouette, Switzerland, religious subjects, animals |
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Nothing's FlockingPosted by Joanna Burgess, on Friday February 22, 2013Christina Malman was born in Southhampton, England in 1912. When she was two year’s old she moved to New York City, where she lived and worked for the rest of her life. Christina began her career as a cover artist for the “New Yorker” magazine in the mid 1930’s. Over the course of twenty years, she designed numerous covers, 34 of which were actually published by the New Yorker. She also drew more than 500 "spot" illustrations, many of which were used in the “Goings on About Town” section of the magazine. New Yorker, magazine cover, Audobon, bird watching, satire |
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Back to the FuturistsPosted by Stephen H. Van Dyk, on Wednesday February 20, 2013Les mots en liberté futuristes (Futurist Words in Freedom), published in 1919, has an ingenious typographic design and an explosive layout. Its different styles and sizes of typeface defied traditional rules of structure and punctuation and heralded a revolution in modern visual communication. Marinetti, Filippo Tommasco, futurism, typography, graphic design |
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Chicken Point CabinPosted by Gail S. Davidson, on Tuesday February 19, 2013Tom Kundig, Olson Kundig Architects, Architecture, drawing, Idaho, vacation, hand-crafted |
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The Lure of the Peacock: Iridescence and ImmortalityPosted by Sarah Coffin, on Monday February 18, 2013Objects have many stories but this vase connects different cultures and different periods in more ways than most. When it appeared in Rococo: The Continuing Curve 1730-2008 at CHNDM, the Peacock Vase represented with its organic, sinuous forms the re-emergence of a curvilinear aesthetic in the Art Nouveau era of the Rococo style created in the 18th century. Louis Comfort Tiffany, Tiffany glass, iridescence, peacock, Loetz, India, Iran, aesthetic, William de Morgan |
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Studied Beauty: Textile Panel by Ethel SteinPosted by Lucy Commoner, on Sunday February 17, 2013Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum is fortunate to have in its collection three textiles designed and woven by Ethel Stein, a preeminent twentieth and twenty-first century American artist and weaver. Stein’s early design influences include studying in the 1940s with the Bauhaus artist and designer, Josef Albers (1888-1976) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Albers . Ethel Stein, ikat, damask, Josef Albers, Bauhaus, weaver |
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1965/66 Season Poster for Municipal Theater, Basel, with Weekly ProgramPosted by Niko Arranz, on Saturday February 16, 2013A column, cello, cowboy-looking boot and ballet’s foot represent the drama of the Municipal Theater in Basel, Switzerland, at the time of this event. The poster, made by a freelance designer named Armin Hofmann, was created for the famous theater in Basel for their latest performance. Hofmann believed that black and white photography gives a better visual of colors than colored photography. The black and white photo was meant to bring emotion, life and imagination of colors to the average person. poster, theater, Basil, boot, cello, ballet, column |
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