A number of pink flowers with green, spiky stems and leaves dance on an untreated, cream-colored paper.
Florals by Sophia
Sophia Crownfield's delicate floral drawings informed her range of patented wallcoverings and textiles for a variety of manufacturers.
Read Time
5 minutes
Posted By
Kimberly Randall
Date
July 13, 2022
A group of transparent, colorless, starburst-shaped glass trophies sit on a black background.
Year of Glass: Cooper Hewitt’s National Design Awards
Learn how the iconic National Design Awards trophies at made in glass.
Read Time
4 minutes
Posted By
Sarah Barack
Date
June 29, 2022
A moody black-and-white photograph shows the exterior of a Southern-style mansion with tall white columns and a porch chair. On a splotch of bright orange, the title BABY DOLL appears in letters made of yellow dots. The author’s name appears at the bottom in all caps: TENNESSEE WILLIAMS.
Tennessee Williams and the Art of the Book Cover
Alvin Lustig and Elaine Lustig Cohen designed covers for many works by Tennessee Williams that employ type and image to build an emotional setting for the text.
Read Time
7 minutes
Posted By
Ellen Lupton
Date
June 29, 2022
Layers of blue and purple lines and shapes form the symmetrical background of a photomontage of a nude man, pictured from behind, with large butterfly wings. The word "LOVE" is repeated on the bottom in yellow on either side of the background shape.
An Avant-Garde Argentine: Edgardo Giménez
Designer Edgardo Giménez synthesized a variety of artistic styles to establish one of his own, a style that he blended with provocative imagery (including his own nudity) to produce graphics that both captured a moment in Argentine history and created a tool for self-promotion.
Read Time
4 minutes
Posted By
Christina L. De León
Date
June 22, 2022
Side-by-side posters with oval portraits of male military personnel in uniform.
To Die For: Posters Against Homophobic Violence, 1993
The tragic murder of Allen R. Schindler inspired Marlene McCarty and Donald Moffet to take a stand against anti-gay violence through graphic design.
Read Time
4 minutes
Posted By
Ellen Lupton
Date
June 10, 2022
The finished Art Clock displayed on a horizontal tablet sitting on a light wood shelf with books to the right and a Christmas cactus to the left. The Art Clock shows a close cropped etching of a medieval figure with the minute hand pointed to their chin (at 30 past the hour) and the hour hand a 1pm, corresponding to the angle of the figure's eyes.
Design Retrospective: Art Clock
This article is part of a series of Design Retrospectives on the prototypes commissioned by Cooper Hewitt’s Interaction Lab as part of Activating Smithsonian Open Access. It was written by Zander Brimijoin, Creative Director and Partner at Red Paper Heart. Experience the Art Clock through your web browser, and help source times of your own!...
Read Time
13 minutes
Posted By
Rachel Ginsberg
Date
June 2, 2022
Stout brick-red glass vessel with amber details on its sides and amber half round removable stopper resting on its short cylindrical neck.
Year of Glass: Wild Beasts in Glass
Artist Maurice Marinot translated the bold modern painting style of Fauvism into inventive glass objects.
Read Time
4 minutes
Posted By
Sarah Barack
Date
May 27, 2022
In the center of the image is a medium-skin toned hand holding a cell phone. The cell phone displays two butterflies superimposed against the flower garden in the background of the image. One of the butterflies is bright blue with a slight iridescent quality, and the smaller one, a Monarch, contains various shades of orange and yellow with black veining on the wings.
Design Retrospective: ButtARfly
This article was written as part of a series of Design Retrospectives on the prototypes commissioned by Cooper Hewitt’s Interaction Lab for the Activating Smithsonian Open Access Challenge. It was co-authored by the ButtARfly team: Jonathan Lee, Project Lead and Animation Programmer; Rianne Trujillo, Web Developer; Lauren Addario, Audio Advisor and Content Developer; Miriam Langer,...
Read Time
8 minutes
Posted By
Rachel Ginsberg
Date
May 6, 2022
A glass decanter, with a bulbous bottom ascending into a narrow-necked top and a disc-like stopper, glows electric blue in a dark space.
Year of Glass: Old Glass in a New Light
An electron microscope and ultraviolet illumination can change what we know about the life of a glass object.
Read Time
5 minutes
Posted By
Sarah Barack
Date
April 21, 2022