Public Programs

A Grand Statement: The Surtout de Table and French Empire Style during the Napoleonic Era The extraordinary surtout de table in the collection of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum and currently on view in Tablescapes: Designs for Dining, once belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte’s stepson, Prince Eugène de Beauharnais. Created by the prominent French sculptor and... View full event details here.

Join Cooper Hewitt and the Art Deco Society of New York for an evening with design historian Marilyn F. Friedman exploring her recent publication Making America Modern: Interior Design in the 1930s. Through archival images and detailed descriptions, Friedman examines the development of modernism in United States interior design highlighting the work of 50 prominent designers and architects including such luminaries as Donald Deskey, Gilbert Rohde, Joseph Urban, Eleanor LeMaire, Kem Weber. Making America Modern draws attention to the breadth of design during this period, the focus on a practical simplicity, and how this history impacts America today. View full event details here.

This lecture will show how the Surtout de Table is part of culinary history that starts with sixteenth and seventeenth century banquets and the surtouts, often designed by architects, that served as display on tables of that period . The Napoleonic era extended this tradition with neo-classical design elements, new culinary masterpieces and superstar chefs all of which served to woo supporters and impress ambassadors and heads of state.  Eugene de Beauharnais, Napoleon's stepson often served as host for these lavish diplomatic and social events on behalf of Napoleon, giving added meaning to this surtout which has a provenance to his furnishings. View full event details here.