To celebrate the opening of Nature by Design: Botanical Expressions (December 7, 2019-January 10, 2021), Object of the Day this week will feature objects from the exhibition. Sir Joseph Paxton’s name may sound familiar to architecture enthusiasts, as he was responsible for designing the famous Crystal Palace of 1851 in London. The construction, which housed...
The wallpaper manufacturer, Jeffrey & Co. published the trade catalog, The “Victorian” wall-papers, embossed leather-papers, staircase decorations, ceiling papers, detailing their collection of wallpapers, in 1887. Based at 64 Essex Road in London, the firm worked with a variety of designers who were active in the aesthetic and arts and crafts movements, such as E.W....
The Day of the Dead is celebrated in the publication, Gran Baile de Calaveras, un Libro Túnel [The Dancing Skeletons Tunnel Book], by Joan Sommers, a work in the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Library. The book is a concertina-like folding form, composed of five separate scenes, each on a different panel. When viewed through the...
In recognition of National Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15-October 15, 2019), this week’s Object Of The Day posts celebrate Latinx designers’ works in the collection. The Puerto Rican Commission for the Celebration of the Year 2000 in San Juan organized the publication of La Ciudad Infinita: Versiones de San Juan. The book highlights the...
To celebrate the opening of Saturated: The Allure and Science of Color (May 11, 2018-January 13, 2019), Object of the Day this month will feature colorful objects from the exhibition. Professor Johannes Itten created a color sphere, represented by this 12-pointed star, as a tool for students at the Bauhaus. Inspired by Philipp Otto Runge’s...
To celebrate the opening of Saturated: The Allure and Science of Color (May 11, 2018-January 13, 2019), Object of the Day this month will feature colorful objects from the exhibition. Following his groundbreaking 1839 treatise on simultaneous contrast, Michel Eugène Chevreul spent 25 years designing one of the first color systems to include brightness and...
To celebrate the opening of Saturated: The Allure and Science of Color (May 11, 2018-January 13, 2019), Object of the Day this month will feature colorful objects from the exhibition. Today’s post was originally published on February 23, 2015. A significant acquisition to the Cooper Hewitt Library’s special collections in 2014 was Édouard Guichard’s Die Harmonie der...
To celebrate the opening of Saturated: The Allure and Science of Color (May 11, 2018-January 13, 2019), Object of the Day this month will feature colorful objects from the exhibition. Farbmesstafel (1939) by German chemist and color theorist, Wilhelm Ostwald, is a color table, which displays a spectrum of brilliant hues based on his harmonious...
To celebrate the opening of Saturated: The Allure and Science of Color (May 11, 2018-January 13, 2019), Object of the Day this month will feature colorful objects from the exhibition. Before Pantone, there was the Wiener Farbenkabinet (Viennese Color Collection or Complete Book of Samples of all Natural, Basic, and Combined Colors). This manual is...
American jazz and popular dance tunes- for the foxtrot and other 1920’s and 30’s dances, dominated nightlife and entertainment in the movies and live performance.
Jennifer Cohlman Bracchi discusses this Caldwell lighting fixture, created for Rockefeller Center in 1932.
The Smithsonian Libraries’ has an Adopt-a-Book Program that the Cooper Hewitt Library has participated in for several years. Your “adoption” donation allows the Smithsonian Libraries to continue to grow the collection, preserve it for future generations, and make materials available around the world through digitization. Every year there is an “Adoption” event, so far, held...
“The Battle of the Centuries” was a dish washing contest between Mrs. Drudge and Mrs. Modern, between hand washing vs. electric dishwashers at the 1939/40 New York World’s Fair. This contest promoted all the benefits of modern appliances and is part of the history of new and improved technology in the modern age. The Cooper Hewitt Library...
Written by Weixin Jin Peter and Wendy see the New York World’s Fair in Pop-up Action Pictures is a children’s book by Mary Pillsbury published in 1963 by Spertus Publishing Company. As an official 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair publication, this book extracts and highlights key attractions at the World’s Fair in five colorful, pop-up action pictures....
Written by Rayna Wang. Pyrotechnics, The History and Art of Firework Making, from the rare book collection at Cooper Hewitt’s design library, is illustrated with several wood-block prints of Japanese fireworks made by Hirayama Firework factory in Yokohama, Japan in the late 19th century. Fireworks were firstly developed in China, then Japanese pyrotechnics developed them...
