Manhattan
Silk and the CityThe cityscape is a natural subject for textile design—grid-based, repetitive and boldly geometric-- well, at least Manhattan after the skyscraper boom of the 1920s and 30s. The Museum has numerous designs with the city as inspiration, including designs by Philip Johnson, Alexander Girard, Lydia Bush Brown, and Arthur Sanderson & Sons. (If you have a piece of Manhattan by Ruth Reeves you’d like to donate, we’d love to hear from you!) Clayton Knight, cityscapes, Manhattan, Stehli Silks, Kneeland Green, Edward Steichen, Helen Wallis, jazz, illustration |
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New York ClassicLike thousands of others, I pass through Grand Central Terminal every day on my way to work. Actually I am on a subway train passing below, but in my mind’s eye I picture the magnificent granite and limestone building looming above Park Avenue interrupting the busy boulevard. Even today it stands as an enduring temple to urban transportation, commerce and design. Whitney Warren, Grand Central Terminal, New York City, drawing, Charles Wetmore, Reed and Stern, Architecture, Manhattan, Columbia University, Ecole des Beaux Arts, National Historic Landmark, granite, limestone |
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Cocktail wallpapersCocktail papers followed the end of Prohibition in 1933. This design is typical of the genre, with its whimsical personifications of cocktails. The drinks shown in this design include a Pink Lady, Sidecar, a Manhattan, Scotch & Lime, and a Stinger. They are printed in bright colors on a metallic copper background. Quite often, these motifs were mixed with elements of gaming, such as cards or dice. Interior decorators began recommending game rooms for adult use in the mid-1930s. wallpaper, cocktail, Manhattan, Pink Lady, Prohibition |
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Memoriam for Lebbeus WoodsAfter a week of nature rendering havoc on the northeastern coast of the United States, and televised images of death, drowning, and destruction, it is interesting to consider the work of the experimental architect, Lebbeus Woods, who died on October 30, 2012. Woods was a visionary for whom destruction and reconstruction were two poles of human existence. He demonstrated his world view in an exquisitely rendered drawing, Geomechanical Tower, one of two works in Cooper-Hewitt’s collection from the 1987 Centricity series. Lebbeus Woods, Architecture, New York City, Manhattan, Hudson River, East River, Earth |
