In calculated contrast, sharp black wedges streak mathematically across a white ground. The black and white stripes that line Eugen Trost’s Zebra cup and saucer accentuate its tapered, circular form just as cleanly as they denote the wild zebra, from which it takes its name. These stripes, however, are hand painted. The Gefle Porcelinsfabrik in...
Cowboys and Indians – that quintessential childhood game of midcentury suburbia – is here turned into a wallpaper destined for the rooms of young boys learning how to adhere to the famously rigid gender roles of the 1950s. Three little vignettes are machine printed in shades of yellow, green, red, brown and blue on a...
During a routine trade trip to Pondicherry India in 1735, French naval officer Antoine de Beaulieu was both enamored and mystified by the Indians’ techniques for dyeing cloth. He endeavored to meticulously record each of the eleven distinct steps, including a sample of fabric at every stage of the process. His book was published in...
From the eighteenth century, painted fans were one of the most popular souvenirs for any grand tourist visiting Italy. In this period, fans were part of the complex network of courtly behavior and aristocratic social codes, and they were also indispensable elements for coquetry. Such fans were made with a variety of materials such as...
Entitled “Salome,” this unusual wallcovering was manufactured c.1967 by Bob Mitchell Designs and the pattern was created by the man himself. The design was much appreciated when it was originally produced, and was featured in a collection of the best of California Design curated by the Pasadena Art Museum in 1968. The pop-art inspired floral...
It is the end of another year and there’s been many changes at Cooper Hewitt. We’ve installed new galleries and one part of the new infrastructure are new interactive experiences through which to explore our collection as it gets digitized. As collections become available through these new interfaces, the objects that people explore or want...
This study by the prolific French artist, François Boucher, offers a rich insight into the practice of collecting drawings in eighteenth-century France. The head of the turbaned man is sketched with black and red chalk, with the white of the paper used as a third shade. The sheet features the annotation, “Boucher” in the lower right...
Poul Henningsen’s childhood was illuminated by the glow of gas lamps. When electricity arrived in his small Danish hometown and left his neighbor’s windows ablaze with the stark glare of electric light bulbs, Henningsen began to grapple with a design quandary that would come to define his entire career. He was determined to calm the...
This sidewall is a lovely example of a mid-nineteenth century “medallion-style” wallpaper, and represents an oddly specific niche in the world of fashionable Victorian wallcoverings. Picturesque vignettes of a harborside town show seagulls and tiny little people busily living their lives against backdrops of windmills, sailing ships and even a chateau. The vignettes are arranged...
