20th century

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Communicate: Instant Photography Before the Internet
From the archives, an Object of the Day blog post on the Polaroid SX-70,. The 1972 point-and-shoot camera revolutionized instant photography. Now on view in Bob Greenberg Selects.
Six blocks of text outlining Stalin's 1931 "Six Conditions" speech overlap a black and white photo of Stalin. Additional quotes from the speech, printed in red and black Cyrillic appear to the right of Stalin's head at an angle against a cream-colored section. Above this, the speech's title appears in red, against a grey background.
Designing for a Dictator
Bold text surrounds a black-and-white photograph of Joseph Stalin in this Soviet poster from 1931. The poster was designed to reinforce the tenets of a speech by the leader, delivered to a meeting of industrial managers in June of the same year. The speech outlined six conditions for new industrial development, all of which are...
Length of printed cotton crepe with a teal blue ground and a wide central column made up of narrow horizontal rectangles in various shades of blue, green, yellow, white and gray; thin lines extend from the center to the edges of the fabric.
New Day
Often called “England’s Eamses,” Robin and Lucienne Day were a designing couple utterly committed to modernism. The unexpectedness and vitality of their postwar interior furnishings, particularly Lucienne’s pattern designs for textiles, carpets, wallcoverings, and dishware, shaped the look of modern England in the 1950s. Lucienne is rightfully famous for Calyx, the organic design inspired by the work...
Finnish Hop. Folly Cove Designers.
Object of the Month: Finnish Hop
The Lindy Hop was a swing dance phenomenon, but the Finnish Hop? This lively design was produced by the artists’ collective know as The Folly Cove Designers, for its location near Gloucester on the Massachusetts coast. Many Finnish immigrants had settled there, attracted by skilled work in the granite quarries or the boat building industry....
Cooper-Hewitt Visits Smart Design
Cooper-Hewitt recently acquired several original prototypes and drawings used to develop OXO's Good Grips product line. Cooper-Hewitt curators identified this line for the museum's collection because the products were a game-changing innovation iconic of late 20th century design. Watch this video to learn more about the story behind the objects.
Miami Memories
Design Watch Members from across the nation met in Miami for a memorable week of design. The seventh edition of Design Miami/ featured the world’s leading galleries specializing in 20th and 21st century collectible design. This year’s expanded fair included 28 galleries. Among them, Cristina Grajales Gallery, Galerie Maria Wettergren, Moss, Mark McDonald, Venice Projects,...
Collection Spotlight: Whitney Warren
Whitney Warren (American, 1864–1943). Tile Floor, Diane de Poitiers Bedroom, Château de Chaumont, June 12, 1888. Brush and watercolor, graphite on off-white wove paper tipped into binding with fabric, 12 5/8 × 9 3/4 in. (320 × 248 mm), irregular. Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Gift of Mrs. William Greenough, 1943-51-216 Cooper-Hewitt’s Drawings, Prints,...
Sonia Delaunay and the “New Woman”
Dr. Sherry Buckberrough, associate professor at the University of Hartford and author of Sonia Delaunay: A Retrospective, will discuss Sonia Delaunay’s role in 1920s Paris and the remarkable effect her designs had on shaping the modern woman. Placing her work in the context of Paris fashion of the time, Dr. Buckberrough will illuminate Delaunay’s impact...
Cooper-Hewitt: The Interiors of Charles Rohlfs – Joseph Cunningham
Charles Rohlfs (1853-1936) ranks as among the most innovative furniture makers from the period around 1900. Praised by the international press and exhibited in the United States and Europe, his exquisite designs reflect a unique mix of styles, including the Aesthetic Movement, Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau and proto-modernism. Despite the fame of his work...