Grant Wood is best known for his iconic 1930 painting, “American Gothic,” in which an unsmiling and oddly flattened couple, rather humorous in their solemnity, pose with a pitchfork in front of their farmhouse. Wood was a great proponent of the American regionalist movement, made up of rural, mostly Midwestern artists who tended to paint...

Jack Lenor Larsen (b.1927) is one of America’s most prolific and innovative twentieth century textile designers. He came to prominence in the 1950s with his distinctive hand-woven casement fabrics for the commercial contract market. But he was not surprised to later become best known for his sumptuous printed fabrics like Primavera. For Larsen, it was...

  This week and next, Cooper-Hewitt is offering extraordinary design programs hosted by Bill Moggridge. The first is this Thursday evening and will feature Professor Shinichi Takemura’s incredible interactive multimedia presentation “Tangible Earth,” which is followed next Monday by a conversation with Italian design maestro Alberto Alessi.   Tangible Earth   For the first time...