OPENING SOON
Columbia Design League Selects
Walter Dorwin Teague (designer), American, 1883-1960, Eastman Kodak Company (manufacturer), American (Rochester, New York), active 1880-present,
#1A Gift Kodak Camera and Case, 1930, chrome-plated and enameled metal; enameled wood with metal inlay, 2 1/2 x 9 x 4 1/2 in., Museum purchase.
To complement the nationally traveling
exhibition, The Art of Seating, the
Columbia Museum of Art has partnered
with its design membership affiliate group,
the Columbia Design League, to organize
an exhibition focusing on design from the
Museum’s permanent collection. Opening
May 18 and remaining on view in the
Caroline Guignard Galleries through
July 29, The Columbia Design League
(CDL) Selects: Design from the Collection
contains more than 60 works in a variety
of media—wood, metal, ceramics, and
glass—and forms—sculpture, lighting,
furniture and related decorative arts—
illustrating the richness and diversity of the
Museum’s design collection.
In the years preceding and during World
War II, American manufacturers began
to experiment with new materials—
principally plastics, fiberglass, and wood
laminates—in the fabrication of household
and office furnishings due to war
restrictions on the use of metals. Following
the war, suburban sprawl fueled by a
booming housing market due to returning
GIs, combined with a rising automobile
culture, prompted such American firms as
Herman Miller, Knoll and others to design
and to mass produce quality furnishings
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columbiamuseum.org
at affordable prices. Oftentimes, the
firms engaged architects (Marcel Breuer,
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Eero Saarinen,
Frank Gehry), industrial designers (Russel
Wright, Gilbert Rohde, George Nelson,
Charles Eames and Ray Eames), and
artists (Harry Bertoia) to collaborate on
the design process. By the last quarter
of the 20th century, however, increased
competition by a global marketplace
shifted the center of the design world from
the United States to Europe—particularly
Switzerland and Italy—giving rise to such
firms as Vitra, Kartell, Memphis, Alessi,
and others.
The Columbia Design League Selects
contains a number of iconic examples of
20th century design made by many of the
leading American and European designers.
Design League members Heather Bauer,
Liz Crum, Chris Merck, Elizabeth NkuoJohnson and Dalvin Spann, working
in concert with Brian J. Lang, curator
of decorative arts, selected modern and
contemporary artworks from the collection
which exemplify the concept of good
design, as evidenced by the objects’ method
of manufacture, innovative use of materials
or overall form and aesthetic appearance.
Among the highlights in the exhibition
are: a bronze bush sculpture by Harry
Bertoia; a #1A Gift Kodak Camera and
Case, designed by Walter Dorwin Teague
for the Eastman Kodak Company (above);
a Platform Bench, designed by George
Nelson for the Herman Miller Furniture
Company; a “Tulip” Arm Chair and
“Tulip” Side Table, designed by Eero
Saarinen for Knoll International, Inc.;
a Dressing Table, designed by Gilbert
Rohde for the Herman Miller Furniture
Company;