"A Century of Design, Part II: 1925–1950"
2000-05-09 until 2000-10-29
Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York, NY, USA United States of America

This is the second in a four-part series of exhibitions surveying design in the 20th century through the presentation of significant objects in all media by major European modernist designers, drawn from the Museum's collection. While the luxurious and sensual aesthetic of Art Deco reigned in France during the late 1920s and 1930s, avant-garde German design of the same period presented an ethical and polemical antithesis.

Bauhaus designers such as Marianne Brandt, Walter Gropius, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and Wilhelm Wagenfeld explored the possibilities of functionalism, mass production, and industrial materials. Though enormously influential, the severity of their uncompromising work was soon challenged by the softer lines and natural materials of Scandinavian design from the 1930s by such designers as Alvar Aalto and Bruno Mathsson.

Related Links:

Bauhaus Archiv Museum fuer Gestaltung

Alvar Aalto Foundation

Bruno Mathsson International

Indepth Arts Resources for the State of New York

Other Important Exhibitions in New York