The

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Bulletin
Winter 1979/80

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he MetropolitanMuseum's
involvement with the decorative
arts of this century is one of long
standing. A decade of intense collecting began in 1922, when
Edward C. Moore, Jr.,donated a
generous sum for the purchase of
objects of the finest quality from
America and Europe. Thanks to
the discriminating eye of Joseph
Breck, the Curator of Decorative
Arts, the fund was used judiciously
to buy examples of the now celebrated Art Deco style. Upon
Breck's death in 1933, the impetus
for collecting temporarily lapsed,
but a succession of exhibitions
already underway continued as
planned. Inspired by the 1925
Paris Exposition, Richard Bach,
the Museum's Director for Industrial Relations, organized a series
of shows presenting innovative
design. For "The Architect and the
IndustrialArts," which opened in
February 1929, a committee of
architects headed by Eliel Saarinen
created room settings with specially manufactured furnishings.

The spectacularlypopularexhibi- to be builtin the finalphase of the

tion drew an unprecedentedatten- Museum'smaster plan.
dance of 185,256, and was
Modernart in all its aspects was
extended fromsix weeks to seven given new focus at the Metropolimonths. In 1934 architectswere
tan in 1967 withthe establishment
of the Departmentof Contemthe
first
of
joined by
generation
Americanindustrialdesigners, as
poraryArt,soon renamedTwenexhibitsby DonaldDeskey,Raytieth CenturyArt.At the instigation
of HenryGeldzahler,who was head
mond Loewy,and GilbertRohde
of the departmentuntil1978, Penwere featured.The programwas
discontinuedduringWorldWarII. elope Hunter-Stiebel,
Assistant
Interestin the field of twentieth- Curatorand authorof this publicacenturydecorativearts was slow to tion, broughtout of storage
regenerateafterthe war.Itwas not Breck'soutstandingpurchases of
until1966 that the Museummade the 1920s and began again the
another majoracquisitionwiththe systematic buildingof the collection, extendingfromArtNouveau
purchase of an entiredining
room-wood paneling,murals,and to contemporaryStudioCraft.
furniture-createdfor a Parisian
The best of moderndecorative
townhouse between 1910 and
arts is today sought by collec1914. The ensemble by the Symtors and museums the worldover.
bolist painterLucienLevy-Dhurmer The supportof the Friendsof
DecorativeArts,
evokes an exotic garden, with
Twentieth-Century
carved wisteriaoverhangingthe
whose contributionshave created
the firstpurchase fund since the
paintedmurals.The detail on the
1922 Mooregift, promises new
illustrates
the
room
opposite page
as it stood in Paris;now dismanvitalityto the Metropolitanin the
tled and in storage, it awaits reas- now highlycompetitivefield it piosembly in the Southwest Wing,still neered halfa centuryago.
PHILIPPE
De MONTEBELLO
Director

The MetropolitanMuseumof ArtBulletin

Winter1979/1980
VolumeXXXVII,
Number3 (ISSN0026-1521)
Publishedquarterly.Copyright? 1979 by The Metropolitan
Museumof Art,FifthAvenueand 82nd Street,New York,N.Y.10028. Second-class postage
paidat NewYork,N.Y.andAdditionalMailingOffices.Subscriptions$11.50 a year.Singlecopies $2.95. Sentfreeto Museummembers.Fourweeks' notice
fromUniversityMicrofilms,
313 N. FirstStreet,AnnArbor,Michigan.VolumesI-XXVIII
requiredforchange of address. Back issues availableon microfilm,
(1905-1942) availableas a clothboundreprintset or as individualyearlyvolumesfromArnoPress, 3 ParkAvenue,New York,N.Y.10016, or fromthe
MuseumPhotographStudio.General
Museum,Box255, GracieStation,New York,N.Y.10028. Photographyinthisissue bySheldanCollins,Metropolitan
Managerof Publications:John P. O'Neill.Editorin Chiefof the Bulletin:Joan Holt.Associate Editor:Joanna Ekman.Design:AlvinGrossman
On the cover: Detail of the muralfrom the Grand Salon of the liner Normandie (see pages 32-35). Frontispiece:Detail of the WisteriaDining Room by Lucien
Levy-Dhurmer(1865-1953). 1910-14. HarrisBrisbane Dick Fund, 66.244.1-26
1

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he decorativearts of the
twentiethcenturycannot be
considered withoutacknowledging
that the creationof objects
appealingto both hand and eye,
for use and decoration, is a practice as old as civilizationitself.A
distance of centuries makes it
easier to appreciateand evaluate
these objects as art, for nostalgia
tends to cloud our view in dealing
with artifactsof eras we can
remember.Whereart is concerned,
however,age or the lack of it
should be subordinateto the
centralissue of quality.A workthat
is badlydesigned and shoddily
made should not be sanctioned
only because it has surviveda
hundredyears or more;nor should
one be dismissed because it
cannot qualifyas antique.The
challenge of collecting twentiethcenturydecorativearts is to
divorceoneself fromthe emotional
bias of memoryin orderto judge
each workin the perspective of its
predecessors and for the degree to
which it succeeds in fulfillingthe
aims of its creator.As a repository
of worksfrompast epochs and
foreigncultures,The Metropolitan
Museumof Artaffordsa unique
vantage pointfromwhich to scan
the accomplishmentsof this
century.
The single most importantfactor
setting our age apartfromothers
Inthe
has been industrialization.
continuousdialogue concerning
the decorativearts and the
machine,there has been a
constant dispute over the aesthetic
and moralvalue of objects fashioned by skilled handworkas
opposed to those made in quantity
by mechanizedprocesses. On the
one hand, the traditionalistshave
sought to humanizethe industrial
age by embellishment.On the
other,the modernistshave
espoused an ideology of puritanical socialism and Platonic
idealism,inveighingagainst what
they perceive to be the anachronistic traditionsof those who create
beautifulobjects for the privileged
few. Out of theirvarious manifestos
comes a common theme, that the
aim of the decorativeor applied

arts should be to create perfect

forms standardizedto accommodate the needs of modern
everydaylife.
Althoughmodernismappeared
brieflyin Viennaabout 1900, it
found its most effective spokesman
duringthe 1920s in the great architect Le Corbusier.Modernisttheory
was given its most thoroughapplication at the Bauhaus, founded by
the architectWalterGropiusin
1919. This Germaninstitutewas
dedicated to the creationof prototypes for industrialproduction.In
the fourteenyears of its existence,
the Bauhaus developed mechanistic designs featuringmetal,glass,
and other industrializedmaterials.
Itthen became the dominantinfluence on a subsequent generation
of architectsand designers
workingin what was to be identifiedfromthe 1930s on as the
International
Style.

towardthose worksthat continue

traditionsrepresentedin its historic
collections, but the field has too
long been dealt with as an afterthoughtand is just beginningto
come into its own. The following
pages illustrateexamples fromthe
Metropolitan'scollection, which
cannot yet tell the fullstory of the
decorativearts in this century.
They do, nonetheless, bear
witness to a sequence of styles,
and to moments in the historyof
artthat have not received their
due. The works of Art Nouveau,
WienerWerkstatte,ArtDeco,
Moderne,ScandinavianModern,
and the Studio CraftMovement
deserve attentionas successive
mannersby which art has transformedthe environmentof our
time.
PENELOPE
HUNTER-STIEBEL

he most serious interpreters

of twentieth-centurydecorative arts have been historiansof
the International
Style, who have
treatedonly those aspects that can
be construedas prefiguringor
contributingto the style. A broader
vision must apply in a museum of
the Metropolitan'sencyclopedic
scope, which imposes a pluralistic
aesthetic on anyone exposed to
worksof art as diverse as Chinese
Buddhasand Renaissance altarpieces. Itis logical, then, that the
Museumshould attemptto acquire
importantworks in every significant
mode. In moderndecorativearts
the Metropolitannaturallytends
At the end of the nineteenth century a
desire for novelty infused the arts of
Europe and America. This found expression in such outbursts of fantasy as Carlo
Bugatti's imaginative turn-of-the-century
secretary replete with Moorish arches and
inlays of pseudo-calligraphy (see detail on
the opposite page). Workingin Milan,
Bugatti (1855-1940) gained considerable
notoriety for his exotic furniture. The
animal sculptures of his younger son,
Rembrandt, also won recognition, but it
was the classic automobile of his older
son, Ettore, that made the name Bugatti
famous.
Vellum, walnut, copper, pewter, and mirror
glass, h. 88 in. Purchase, Edward C.
Moore, Jr Gift, 69.69
3

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin

www.jstor.org

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rt Nouveau, the first decorative style

of the twentieth century, emerged in
the 1890s to challenge the historicism of
revival styles that held sway at the time. Its
advocates broke with the past and sought
to engender a new art for the new century,
drawing on the forms and forces of nature.
Flowering vines, waves, a woman's
flowing hair,and even organic abstraction
are described by an undulating line that is
the hallmarkof Art Nouveau.
The origins of the style can be traced, in
part, to the writings of WilliamMorris, who
had focused attention on the need for a
renewed energy in the decorative arts. But
while Morrisfound his ideal in the European Middle Ages, the practitioners of Art
Nouveau looked for aesthetic direction to
Japan, opened to the West since the
1850s. Contrary to the tenets of the Arts
and Crafts Movement initiated by Morris,
commerce and the machine bore no
stigma, and every attempt was made to
tailor art production to current economics.
A

In Paris the new style was named,

popularized, and discreetly molded by the
art dealer Samuel Bing, already established in the field of Japanese art. In
December 1895 he issued invitations to
the public and press to the reopening of
his gallery transformed into the "Salon de
I'ArtNouveau." Here he exhibited contemporary objects and furnishings alongside
paintings and sculptures by Pierre
Bonnard, Edouard Vuillard,Mary Cassatt,
Auguste Rodin, and others. His firm then
expanded into the manufacture of applied
arts designed by artists that he selected.
Bing's major triumph, and the triumph of
the new style, came at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900, where the "Art
Nouveau Bing" pavilion contained entire
rooms by the designers Edward Colonna
(1862-1948) and Georges de Feure
(1868-1928).
Restraint distinguished Bing's approach,
and the artists working for him avoided the
more flamboyant aspects of Art Nouveau.

Colonna devised curvilinear flourishes to

enliven the corners of a basically conservative table, a model featured in Bing's
1900 Exposition pavilion. Colonna's addition of a swirling silver collar and attenuated handle transformed an unassuming
ceramic by Alexandre Bigot into a
precious object worthy of Bing's showcases. On de Feure's vase, below, the
arch of a swan's neck echoes the
emphatic sweep of a flower stem, but the
decoration is kept within strict limits. His
use of negative space accords with Bing's
advocacy of the principles of Japanese
art. In this vase, as in many examples of
Art Nouveau, the strength of the design
overcomes the indifference of its commercial execution.
Table. About 1900. Palisander wood. Jug.
1899. Glazed stoneware with silver mount,
h. 31/8 in. Vase. About 1900. Porcelain, h.
121/2in. Purchase, Edward C. Moore, Jr
Gift. 26.228.4, 7,9

mages of women pervade Art

Nouveau, but the modish young lady
on de Feure's fan is far from the typical
siren. Her reverie transforms a city park
into a hallucinatory vision in which everything, as in a distorting mirror,seems to
turn in on itself: the city buildings
reflected upside-down in a pond, an
impossibly poised tree, and the twisting
lilies that loom almost ominously in the
foreground are all locked into a sinuous
linear pattern. The theme is chosen with
piquant symbolism for the decoration of
a fan destined to relieve the atmosphere
oppressing a lady of aesthetic bent.
About 1900. Printed silk, celluloid sticks
witli ivory I. 8 in. Purchase, Edward C.
Moore, Jr Gift. 26.228.19

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An earlycenter of ArtNouveaudevel-

oped at Nancy,in the Frenchprovince of Lorraine,underthe leadershipof

the glass and furnituredesigner Emile
Galle. Beginningin the 1880s, Galle
exhortedhis colleagues to derive their
ornamentfromthe directstudy of nature,
citingthe precedentof Japanese art. This
naturalisticconcern is evident in details of
the Museum'sdressing table-sinkby Louis
Majorelle(1859-1926), a prominent
memberof Galle's circle. The bronze
pulls,cast in the formof leaves and
berries,are typicalof the Ecole de Nancy
Majorelle,however,went beyond the

surface applicationof floralornamentto a

fundamentalreinterpretation
of structure
along organic lines, and was, as a result,
consideredthe eccentric of the group. In
this uniquework,commissioned by
Eugene Corbin,a noted patronof the
Ecole de Nancy,Majorelleincorporated
the technology of modernplumbingin a
bold artisticstatement,creatinga structurethat branches majesticallyoutward
likea loftytree risingfroma massive base.
1900-10. Hondurasmahogany Macassar
ebony gilt-bronze,mirrorglass, with
marbletop, h. 86%in. Giftof TheSydney
and FrancesLewis Foundation,1979.4

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avrile glassware, patented in 1894,

established Louis Comfort Tiffany
(1 848-1933) as America's leading exponent of Art Nouveau. The flowing contours and iridescent colors, as well as
the floral imagery of these vases, make
them exemplary expressions of the
style, although many other products of
Tiffany Studios bore no reference to it.
Under the aegis of Samuel Bing,
Tiffany's fame became international.
The two met in 1893 when Bing was
engaged in a survey of American decorative and industrial art for the French
government. A close relationship developed in which Bing supplied oriental art
to Tiffany, and, in turn, became Tiffany's
exclusive European distributor, feeding
appropriate works into the mainstream
of Art Nouveau.
(Left to right) 1892/3-96. H. 27/8in. Gift
of H. O. Havemeyer, 96.17.46. Late 19thF

early 20th century. H. 15112 in. Anonymous Gift, 55.213.27

1898. H. 18/11/6 in.

Gift of the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, 51.121.17. 1902-28.

H.

41/16

in.

Anonymous Gift, 55.213.12

England, the career of Arthur

Lasenby Liberty, founder of Liberty &
Co. in London, paralleled that of Samuel
Bing. Both began as dealers in oriental
imports, progressed to marketing
contemporary European wares, and
finally engaged in the manufacture of
designs conforming to their own tastes.
In 1899 Liberty launched the Cymric line
of silver exemplified by this spoon
commemorating the coronation of
Edward VII in 1902. The design was
commissioned from Archibald Knox
(1864-1933), who has recently emerged
from anonymity as the principal author
of the company style. Knox supplied
designs to Liberty from 1893 to 1912.
initially for textiles, then for metalwork
that, like the spoon, was often embellished with champleve enamel. Deriving
an endless variety of interlaced ornament from the Celtic antiquities of his
native Isle of Man, Knox formulated an
unmistakably English version of Art
Nouveau.
L. 8 in. Purchase. Andrew J. Crispo Gift.
1979.69
In

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Hoffmann (1870Tbearhitcof
5r)ewas rinthe forefront of the
crtindtowardrectilinear modernism, far
removed from French Art Nouveau, that
appeared in Vienna at the turn of the
century. This desk set, dating from 1905,
the year Hoffmann received the commission to build his masterpiece, the Palais
Stoclet in Brussels, embodies his architectural vision. It illustrates his doctrine that
aesthetic principles should be applied
equally to architecture and the decorative
arts. Hoffmann insisted that an object, no
matter its category or material, could
attain the highest level through the quality
of its design and workmanship.
Inkstand, note-pad holder, pencil holder,
candlestick, and seal. Mother-of-pearl,
ebony leather, and silver, greatest height
41/4

in. Purchase,

1977. 72.1-5

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Gift,

Hoffmann co-founded the Wiener

Josef
Werkstatte in 1903 with the purpose
of bringing together artists and craftsmen
to raise the level of applied arts in Austria.
In 1897 he had participated with other
young artists, including Gustave Klimt,
Egon Schiele, Oskar Kokoschka, and
Koloman Moser, in the Vienna Sezession,
which broke with the conservative
Academy and began to hold independent
exhibitions, in part motivated by the desire
to revitalize the disdained minor arts. After
a trip to England, where they visited
Charles Robert Ashbee's Guild of Handi-

14

craft, Hoffmann and Moser convinced the

banker FritzWarendorfer to back a
comparable workshop in Vienna. Under
Hoffmann's direction, the Werkstatte made
and marketed a wide range of products,
from jewelry to wallpaper, until 1932.
The Wiener Werkstatte style followed an
independent course, changing from the
rigorous geometry of early works to a
bizarre glamour that proved popular in the
1920s. The impetus toward baroque
extravagance came from Dagobert Peche,
(1887-1923) who joined the organization
in 1915. His personal and stylistic influ-

ence was pervasive, and the work of his

colleagues was immediately infused with
the nervous brilliance that still radiates
from the fawn improbably perched atop
his jewel box (opposite). Hoffmann, himself
affected by Peche's decorative energy,
abandoned the puritanical grids of his early
work for shimmering surfaces, although
this bowl (below) shows the master retaining his rational control of proportion.
Jewel box: 1920. Silver-gilt, h. 151/8in.
Purchase, Anonymous Gift, 1978.8. Bowl:
About 1920. Silver, h. 71/2 in. Gift of
Jennifer Johnson Gregg, 1976.415

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Art Deco, succeeding ArtNouveauin

France,flourishedfromthe close of
WorldWarI untilthe Depression.These
years, termed "les annees folles,"
witnessed a frenziedquest for the good
things in lifethat had been jeopardizedby
the war.Redoubledin the 1920s was the
craze for fabulouselegance that had been
touched off by the sets and costumes of
Diaghilev'sBallets Russes, which first
performedin Parisin 1909. Although
offshootsand imitationsoccurredelsewhere, ArtDeco was quintessentially
French,linkedto the historyof French
decorativearts. Lookingto the eighteenth
centuryas the golden age, the 1920s style
answeredthe postwardesire for luxury
goods fashionedwith consummate
craftsmanship.
Frenchdesigners and craftsmen
updatedan established repertorywith
pared-downgeometric shapes and the
judiciousapplicationof stylizedornament.
They revivedforgottentechniques and
employedprecious materials,yet their
idiomwas distinctlycontemporary.This
mirrorand fan, for example, fulfillthe qualificationsof the traditionalobjet de luxe,
but convey a strikinglymodernchic.
The great 1925 ParisExpositionsponsored by the Frenchgovernmentmarked
the apogee of ArtDeco. Machineryand
copies of earlierworkswere specifically
excluded fromthis mammothfestivalthat
focused worldattentionon currentFrench
luxuryproduction.An abbreviationof its
officialtitle, "I'ExpositionInternationale
des Arts Decoratifset Industriels
Modernes,"was coined in the 1960s,
when ArtDeco was rediscoveredby
collectors. The success of the Exposition
was overwhelming.Few were aware of the
pioneeringworkof the Bauhaus between
1919 and 1933, which was to define the
perimetersof modernismfor several
decades. Tothe publicof the 1920s,
modernmeant Frenchor French-inspired.
Fan: 1925. By Georges Bastard (18811939). Mother-of-pearl, I. 8%/in. Mirror:
1921. By Raymond Templier(1891-1968).
Silver with niello, gold, and carnelian, h.
41/2 in. Purchase, Edward C. Moore, Jr
Gift, 25.208, 23.1 72.ab

ormal elegance permeated Art Deco,

down to the smallest item. The spontaneous convolutions of Art Nouveau were
abandoned in favor of tightly organized
patterns, such as the flower, volute, and
raindrop configurations on these vases,
confined within simple, often spherical or
ovoid shapes. Geometry ruled throughout,
but arcs and ovals yielded over a decade
to angles. The influence of recent trends
in painting was reflected in the gradual
replacement of stylized flowers with cubist
motifs. Small, unique objects, like these
vases, executed in a wide variety of techniques, played an important role in the
larger context of interior design. They
were often used, with theatrical flair,as
the focal points for entire ensembles
by artistes decorateurs, the master
designers and interior decorators who
dominated Art Deco.
(Left to right) Vase: About 1923. By Jean
Dunand (1877-1942). Brass plated with
silver, h. 10/4 in. Vase: 1925-30. By Rene
Buthaud (b. 1886). Glazed stoneware, h.
131/2 in. Vase: 1925. By Emile Lenoble
(1875-1939). Glazed stoneware, h. 121/2
in. Jar: About 1929. By Henry Simmen
(18 79-1963); cover by Mme O'Kin
Simmen. Glazed stoneware, wood, and
ivory h. 6 in. Purchase, Edward C. Moore,
Jr. Gift, 23.206,69.289.1, 25.210,29.127.2ab

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Ruhlmann (1879Jacques-Emile
1933) was generally acknowledged
as the leader of the Art Deco style. The
artiste decorateur par excellence, he
showed furniture in the salons of the
Societe des Artistes Decorateurs from
1913 and undertook interior design with
his own firm of Ruhlmann et Laurent
after the war. His pavilion, tellingly titled
"I'Htel d'un Riche Collectionneur," was
the most popular exhibit at the 1925
Exposition. Ruhlmann used ebenisterie.
the technique of veneered furniture
perfected in eighteenth-century France,
to execute designs distilled from earlier
furniture forms. The Metropolitan's desk
and file cabinet were commissioned
by David David-Weill, president of the
National Museums of France, for use
in his own home, where they.were
surrounded by the eighteenth-century
art of which David-Weill was a
renowned collector.
Desk: About 1918-19. Amboyna, ivory.
and sharkskin, I. 4 7/2 in. Purchase.
Edgar Kaufmann. Jr. Gift, 1973.154.1.
File cabinet: About 1918-19. Amboyna
and ivory. h. 271/2 in. Purchase,

Bequest

of Collis P Huntington. by exchange,

1973.154.3. Chair: 1918-28. Amboyna,
silvered bronze, and leather, h. 29% in.
Purchase, Bequest of Mr. and Mrs.
Graham F Blandy. Bequest of Jeanne
King de Rham, in memory of her father,
David King, and Gift of Vera Bloom, in
memory of her father, Congressman Sol
Bloom, by exchange, 1973.154.2

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lawless quality was maintained in

Ruhlmann's workshops, where the
highest paid artisans in Paris were
employed under his close supervision. The
extravagant prices he asked were justified
by the elegance of his concepts and their
superb execution. Details of the work
reveal the lengths to which Ruhlmann was
willing to go to realize his exquisite
designs. To further enhance the effect of
luxury he contrasted ivory ornament
against exotic wood veneers in seemingly
simple designs that were extraordinarily
difficult to execute, for example,the hairline
ivory fillets on the drawers of the file
cabinet and defining each facet of the
torpedo-shaped leg of the desk(pp.20-21).

23

cquired in 1923, Ruhlmann's fallfront desk (below) was the Metropolitan's first important purchase of
twentieth-century decorative art. Ruhlmann was called "the Riesener of the
twentieth century" and the claim bears
up in comparing his works with those of
the favorite cabinetmaker of Marie

24

Antoinette in the Museum's collection.

Convinced of Ruhlmann's merit, the
Metropolitan wanted to acquire a showpiece adorned with a marquetry basket
of flowers featured in the 1925 Exposition. That cabinet, however, was sold to
the French State, and only after considerable persuasion did the artist agree to

repeat the model (opposite page) for the

Museum.
Desk: Macassar ebony, ivory, and
leather, h. 441/4in. Chair: Macassar
ebony and silvered bronze, h. 3312 in.
Cabinet: Macassar ebony, rosewood,
and ivory, h. 50/4 in. Purchase, Edward
C. Moore, Jr. Gift, 23.174,25. 231.3,1

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ArtDeco style. The orientalmethodof

applyinglayeron layerof 'resins,which he
had firstused to decorate hammered
metalvases, became his all-consuming
craft.Dunandeventuallyhad to employup
to one hundredIndo-Chineseassistants in
his Parisworkshopto help himcomplete
ordersfor lacquer panels, screens, and
furniturethat flowed in fromarchitects,
artistes decorateurs,and privateclients.
This pairof screens, titled Battleof the
Angels:Crescendo and Pianissimo,was
commissionedfor the music roomof Mr.
and Mrs.SolomonR. Guggenheim'sLong

Island home. Golden airborne figures

designed by Seraphin Soudbinine (18701944), a favorite student of Rodin, charge
through clouds interpreted by Dunand in
shattered eggshell pressed into a damp
layer of lacquer. Dunand was so lavish in
his use of gold for angels that he was
obliged to write requesting an additional
500 dollars to cover his expenditure. The
heroic figural aspect of Art Deco never
received great emphasis in France, but it
was quickly adopted for architectural
ornament in the United States, notably at
Rockefeller Center.
1925-26. Lacquered wood, h. 98 in. Gift
of Mrs. Solonion R. Guggenheim,
50.1023.4

s
aurice Marinot (1882-1960) was
the first artist of the modern
period to master the arduous skill of
glassblowing. Originally a Fauvist
painter, who participated in the 1913
Armory Show, he became fascinated
with the molten medium in 1911 on a
visit to a glass factory owned by friends
at Bar-sur-Seine. With these facilities put
at his disposal he first worked on the

decoration of finished pieces while

apprenticing himself to the glassblowers, or gaffers. It was not until 1922
that he felt he could exhibit glass he had
blown himself. His interpretations of the
life of the material, recording in the
finished piece its transmutation from
liquid to solid, earned him great esteem.
Within simple shapes that relate to Art
Deco, he captured galaxies of change-

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able light and substance, surfaces

exploding one within the other. Upon
the closing of the Bar-sur-Seine factory
in 1937, Marinot's work in glass
ceased. It would be another 25 years,
and then in the United States, before
glassmaking would become available to
the independent artist.
Jar and bottle: 1925-29. H. 9 in., 43/4 in.
Rogers Fund, 1970.198.2,3ab

he couturier Jacques Doucet was an

extraordinary patron of the arts. In
1912 he sold his collection of French
eighteenth-century art at an auction that
broke all records, and used the profits to
acquire avant-garde works. He later
constructed a studio in the Paris suburb
of Neuilly specifically to house his paintings by Picasso (from whom he
purchased the Demoiselles d'Avignon),
Douanier Rousseau, Braque, Picabia,
and Matisse, as well as his African art.

30

This stool and table formed part of the

furnishings of the studio, completed only
months before Doucet's death in 1929.
While the shape of the stool by Pierre
Legrain (1889-1929) was certainly
inspired by an African chieftain's throne,
its crisp carving is French stylization. The
table is by an unsung master of Art Deco,
Clement Rousseau (b. 1872), whose
signature was discovered concealed in
the structure by a Museum conservator A
religious medal secreted under the

tabletop was also uncovered and restored

in place. For all their obvious preciousness, the table's materials are practical,
since sharkskin is impervious to handprints and the rings left by wet drinking
glasses. The design is also functional, in
that the hairpin legs, which also serve as
handles, make this luxury piece both
portable and sturdy
Stool. 1922-29. Rosewood, h. 12 in.
Table. 1924. Ebony sharkskin, and ivory,
h. 291/2in. Fletcher Fund, 1972. 283.1,2

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his ArtD6co muralof 1934 was one

of fourcovering the corners of the
largest publicroomever constructed on a
ship, the GrandSalon of the liner
Normandie.Jean Dupas(1882-1964), an
illustratorand fashionablemuralist,chose
the historyof navigationas his nominal
subject, but the profusionof quasi-historical vessels and miscellaneous mythical
creatureswas clearly not meant to tell a
story but to create an overwhelming
effect. Passengers on the Normandie
paid not so much for transportationas for
atmosphere,and the first-class lounge
was a temple of glamour
The mirrorlike
brillianceof the mural
was achieved by an unusualtechnique of
glass decoration.Segments of the scene
were paintedon the reverse of panels of
plate glass. Goldand silver leaf were then
laidon and a canvas backingaffixed.
Onlylightingfixturesinterruptedthe vast
expanse of the juxtaposedglass panels
(the top rankof which could not be
accommodatedin the Museumgallery
wherethe muralhas been installedsince
1978). Each panel measures approximatelyfourby two and one-halffeet and
weighs between fifty-fiveand fifty-seven
pounds.
Giftof Dr and Mrs.IrwinR. Berman,
1976.414.3

The Normandiewas the last great expression of FrenchArtDeco. Government

subsidies made it possible for the
to
CompagnieGeneraleTransatlantique
begin in 1932 the buildingof a ship that
was to be the largest,fastest, and most
beautifulafloat.Such extravagancein the
middleof the Depressionwas justifiedby
the purposethe Normandiewas intended
to serve. Just as the 1925 ParisExposition had wooed the worldwith French

34

luxuryproducts,so the Normandiewas to

lureAmericansto the shores of France,
by bringingto theirdoorstep the food,
wine, furnishings,and decor for which
Francewas famed.
New York,which welcomed the
Normandiewithwildenthusiasmafter her
maidencrossing in 1935, was also to be
the scene of her demise. Seized by the
UnitedStates in WorldWarII,the liner
was being strippedfor use as a troop

carrierwhen sparks froman acetelyne

torchstarteda blaze in the GrandSalon.
Firefightingefforts caused her to capsize
on February10, 1942, at Manhattan's
Pier88, where she remainedmorethan a
year before she was rightedand towed
the murals
away for scrap. Fortunately,
had been removedbefore the fire.
(Above)Renderingof the GrandSalon of
the Normandie.(Below) The Normandie
in New YorkHarbor,about 1935-39

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" continue to believe that the circle

which explains the world in its entirety
is the ideal figure, and the curve, which
relates to it, is more noble than the
straight line," wrote Jean Puiforcat
(1897-1945) in a letter of 1933. Considered the last of the great French silversmiths, Puiforcat used his medium to
search for a Platonic ideal of form
through mathematical harmony He
learned the craft from his father and
began showing his own works in 1922.
They were fine examples of Art Deco
objects, often incorporating semiprecious
stones, but he came to look back on them
as merely chic. In the 1930s he turned to
austere exercises in pure volume and
shape in which the only contrasts are, for
instance, the spheres of clear glass that
punctuate the base of the beaker (above)
or the gilded areas on the covered bowl
(opposite page). Although his work was
sometimes criticized as mechanical, he
rejected the machine as soulless, and
realized seamless geometric forms
through his consummate exploitation of
the silversmith's skills. His purism and
craftsmanship made him acceptable both
to Le Corbusier, the firebrand spokesman
of the InternationalStyle in France, and to
the conservative upholders of French
tradition.
Beakers: 1934. Silver and glass, h. 41/2 in.
Silver h. 4 in. Purchase, Edward C.
Moore, Jr Gift, 34.105.2,3. Covered bowl:
1930-40. Silver and silver-gilt, h. 97/8 in.
Purchase, Edgar Kaufmann, Jr Gift,
1972.5

37

he impact of the 1925 Paris Exposition was strongly felt in America.

French imports were followed by imitations and adaptations, but the Depression
stanched any development along the lines
of luxury craftsmanship. Designers of the
1930s, following the Bauhaus example,
turned in the direction of industry and
were welcomed for the marketing advantage their treatment of a product might
gain.
An entirely new style resulted that is
more properly entitled Moderne, sleekly
formulated to evoke French chic, but as
American as Art Deco was French.
Moderne was the look shared by
Hollywood sets and electric toasters, by
Raymond Loewy's locomotives and
Donald Deskey's furniture for the Radio
City Music Hall. Streamlined forms with
glossy surfaces were assembled out of
polished metal, glass, and Bakelite on
factory assembly lines. The result
depended on the skill of a new artistic
profession, that of the industrial designer
Participating in the enthusiasm for what
was sometimes called "beautility,"the

Chase Brass & Copper Co. of Waterbury,

Connecticut, made ornamental objects,
like the candlesticks and bud vase (opposite page), from standard elements of
pipe and sheet metal that comprised the
mainstay of its business. This decorative
dalliance, begun in 1931, terminated with
war production. Gilbert Rohde, working
for the Herman Miller FurnitureCo. in
Zeeland, Michigan, also from 1931, introduced the Moderne line with designs
such as this electric clock. The consequences were lasting. Rohde's innovative
furniturewas so well received at the
1933-34 Chicago Century of Progress
fair that Millerphased out traditional
models and continues to this day as a
leading manufacturer of progressive
designs.
Bud vase. 1936. Chrome, h. 83/4 in. Gift
of Penelope Hunter-Stiebel, 1979.345.
Candlesticks: 1931-41. Designed by
Reimann. Copper, h. 6 in. Clock. About
1935. Brazilian rosewood and chrome, w.
163/4 in. Purchase, The Chace Foundation, Inc. and Edgar Kaufmann, Jr Gifts,
1976. 382.4,5,3

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he Moderne style found its most

complete expression in vehicles. The
1930s were the years of the classic automobile, the luxury train, the first commercial passenger airplane. An iconography
grew up around speed. Streamlining
reduces air resistance in a meaningful way
only at extremely high speeds, but it
became a device symbolic of the modern
age. With the additional emphasis of wraparound banding it was applied to everything from cameras to building fagades.
This aesthetic is reflected in aspects of
the interior decor of Rockefeller Center,
the most ambitious architectural accomplishment of the decade. Immediately after
the WallStreet crash, John D. Rockefeller,
Jr, undertook this New Yorkreal-estate
venture as a personal investment in the
future. Between 1930 and 1939 a city
within a city was erected on a plot
bounded by 48th and 51st streets and
Fifth and Sixth avenues. In this complex,
the building facing Saint Patrick's Cathedral was designated the "International

Building," symbolizing Rockefeller's

interest in a world community Officially
opened on May 1, 1935, it houses consulates, international firms, and the U.S.
Passport Agency
In 1978, when Rockefeller Center Inc.
began the installation of 28 high-speed
automatic elevators to serve the 38-story
tower of the International Building, one of
the original cabs was carefully dismantled
for the Metropolitan by the Westinghouse
Elevator Company
The elevators benefited from the same
attention Rockefeller's team of architects
lavished on all public areas of the
complex. The design of the cab visually
alluded to the mechanical advances that
allowed the elevator to travel at record
speed. By a process patented as Metylwood, thin sheets of Spanish elm were
applied directly to the steel sections that
bolted together to form the cab. The
veneer, laid on so that the grain ran horizontally, was divided into registers by
strips of metal (a copper, zinc, and nickel

alloy known as German silver), polished to

a satin finish. The back corners of the cab
were rounded off to make a continuous
wrap. An innovative ventilation system was
integrated into the design. In the same
spirit as the wall banding, concentric
circles of metal delineated a ceiling fan
that has come to be standard. Ventilation
grilles at floor and ceiling were designed
as borders for the wraparound walls. The
elevator, exhibited in the Museum, stands
as the visual symbol of technological
advance, epitomizing the Moderne ideal.
(Opposite page) Elevator in the International Building lobby 1978. (Above)
Interiorof elevator by Westinghouse
Electric and Manufacturing Company; cab
by W.S. TylerCo. H. 8 ft. 1 in. Gift of Westinghouse Electric Corporation and Rockefeller Center, Inc., 1979. 110 a-j. (Above
right) Entrance to the International
Building with the figure of Atlas by Lee
Lawrie, about 1937; photograph courtesy
of Rockefeller Center Inc.
41

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enmark entered the world market in

the 1950s with furniture developed
in conscious reaction to the clinical
quality of Bauhaus design. During the
German occupation, architects and
designers for want of larger projects
directed their energy toward work with
furniturecraftsmen. Giving attention to
comfort and practicality, they developed
clean forms that emphasized the
sensuous appeal of the natural materials
used. Later,as a result of the international
success of the style known as Danish
Modern, models that had originated in
small workshops were adapted to larger-

scale production.
Hans Wegner (b. 1914) was trained as
a cabinetmaker and went on to design a
series of chairs that have become
classics as much for their comfort as for
their appearance. His method of using
refinements of joinery as ornament can
be seen in the Museum's 1952 chair
(opposite page), where the contrasting
bars at the center of the back are actually
mahogany joints that secure two pieces
of walnut into a continuous crest rail.
Finn Juhl (b. 1912) and Arne Jacobsen
(1902-71) are both architects who have
applied themselves to all aspects of

design. The moulded shells of Jacobsen's

1958 Egg chair and Juhl's 1948 settee
seem to float on supports constructed to
give the illusion of defying gravity These
hovering shapes suggest an imagery
appropriate to the inaugural years of the
space age.
Hans Wegner chair: Made by Johannes
Hansen. Walnut,mahogany and cane, h.
293/4 in. Arne Jacobsen chair: Made by
Fritz Hansen. Ox hide and aluminum, h.
38 12 in. Finn Juhl settee: Made by Niels
Vodder Teakand leather, I. 55%/ in.
Purchase, Edward C. Moore, Jr Gift,
61.7.45,46,47

43

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1951 the industrial art of Finland

gained sudden internationalacclaim

when it swept the prizes of the Milan
t
Triennale.the prestigious exposition of
modern design. The outstanding
designers were TapioWirkkala(b. 1915)
/and Timo Sarpaneva (b. 1926) who
became

best known for ornamental

glassware. an industrythat in Finland

dates back to the seventeenth century.
Unlikethe unique objects of Marinot
and today's Studio Craftartists.
conceived and executed by the artists
themselves. Wirkkala'sand Sarpaneva's
works are designs turned over to skilled
workmenfor multipleproduction. The
distance between the graphic expression of the artist's concept and the
meticulous repetition of the final
imbues these works with a cool
perfection.
Wirkkalavase (right): 1950. Designed
for Karhula-littala.H. 8'3/16 in.
Sarpaneva vase: 1953. Designed for
Karhula-littala. H. 10 /2 in. Gift of Aarne

imonen. Ministerof Commerce and

Industryof Finland. 56.31.1.3

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Certain trendsin Americanculture

since the 1940s have led to the rise
of today's StudioCraftMovement.Its
exponents have effectivelyeliminatedthe
divisionof laborbetween designer and
craftsmanand challenged the prejudicial
distinctionbetween the fine and decorative arts. Theiractivitieshave been
centered at institutionsof higherlearning,
which have legitimizedthe choice to
pursuecraftdisciplinesratherthan
paintingor sculptureand provideda
place for the new breed of artistcraftsmento study,work,and teach.
Insteadof the workshopor factory,the
new milieuis the studio, where expressions of a personalvision, in terms of
both functionaland nonfunctional
objects, can be realizedin the traditional
materialsof ceramics, wood, glass, metal,
and fiber.
The upheavalsof WorldWarIIhelped
create a matrixof Americancollege
campuses fromwhich the movement
grew to nationwideproportionsfromthe
isolatedaccomplishmentsof artists using
crafttechniques. Partof the impetus
came frommembersof the Bauhauswho
had been forced to flee Europein the
darkdays of the 1930s. They broughtto
Americanacademia rigorouslymoraland

intellectualtheories of design. The

Bauhausconcept of the primacyof architecture, unifyingall design, had the effect
of raisingthe status of media relegatedto
the so-called minorarts. The shoddiness
of the industrialenvironmentsoon
became an importantissue to a discontented postwargeneration.Theirsearch
for aesthetic enrichmentled to an explorationof every branchof the arts,
traditions,and
includingpreindustrial
eventuallyto the StudioCraftMovement's
rejectionof the more rigid,intellectualized
aspects of the Bauhaus approach.
James Prestini(b. 1908) was one of the
earlyAmericanpractitionersand teachers
of Bauhausprinciples,to which he gave
individualdirectionthroughhis own fascinationwiththe qualitiesof wood. In 1939
he became woodworkinginstructorat the
Chicago Instituteof Design, foundedtwo
years earlierby Laszlo Moholy-Nagyas
the "NewBauhaus."Prestinicontinued
teaching the fundamentsof pureform
throughfourdecades at Chicago and the
Universityof Californiaat BerkeleyThese
objects (left) are froma series of variants,
rangingfromflat trays to hollowed-out
bowls, that evolved fromBauhausexercises in the manipulationof materials.
Employinglathe-turning,a basic carpentry

technique, Prestinihas created intellectual

essays in which minimalformis used to
focus the eye on the beauty of grainand
color inherentin the wood.
An even moredirect linkbetween the
Bauhausand the Studio CraftMovement
is providedby AnniAlbers(b. 1899), who,
throughher work,writing,and teaching,
has been largelyresponsiblefor the
acceptance of weaving as a contemporary
art form.Weavingwas the specialization
she chose duringher student years at the
Bauhaus.Whenthe institutewas closed
by the Nazis in 1933, she and her
husband,the painterJosef Albers, settled
in NorthCarolinato teach at Black Mountain College. This wall hanging,a detail of
which is shown below,was designed in
Germanyin the 1920s and rewovenfor
exhibitionin the UnitedStates thirtyyears
later Ittransfersto the tactile mediumof
fiberthe puristaesthetic of modern
abstractpainting.
(Left,fromtop) 1940-50. Birch,curly

birch, Mexican mahogany, diam. 159/16,

8%, 1314 in. Gift of James Prestini, 69.164.

9, 14, 7. (Below) Purchase, EdwardC.

Moore,Jr, and EverfastFabrics,Inc. Gifts,
69.134

47

1.

hough he refused to teach,

Wharton Esherick (1887-1970) is
recognized as a pioneer of the Studio
Craft Movement, and his studio, now a
museum, is a point of pilgrimage. Originally a painter, he became completely
immersed in woodworking early in his
career. In 1913 he established his
retreat on a hillside near Paoli, a
suburb of Philadelphia, and soon
began to carve every aspect of his
surroundings, from staircase to serving
spoons, while producing furniture for
friends who became his clients. His
1962 cherrywood music stand demonstrates the freedom of Esherick's work,
taking as its point of departure the
conformation of the wood itself.
H 43 in. Gift of Dr. Irwin R. Berman. in
memory of his father. Allan Lake
Berman. 1979.320

lass has become a major medium of

the Studio Craft Movement since
1962, when a seminar held at the Toledo
Museum of Art opened up the possibilities of glassblowing to the studio artist,
ending its dependence on industry. The
seminar was led by the ceramic artist and
educator Harvey Littleton (b. 1922), who
has been the driving force in the development of what is virtuallya new profession,
in which artists choose glass as their
exclusive medium and master the
gruelling skills of the gaffer Now retired
from his post at the University of
Wisconsin. Littleton continues to produce
powerful abstract works, such as his
1976 Amber Crested Form, a giant folded
tube of blown glass crowned with a
second heavy gather A second generation of glass artists is represented by Tom
Patti (b. 1943) whose novel method, used
in Banded Flairof 1977, involves stacked
plate glass, heated to the point that it can
be blown into vessels in which vestiges of
the initialstructure become decoration.
Amber Crested Form. H. 16/2 in. Gift of

WilliamD. and Rose D. Barker, 1978.438.

Banded Flair. H. 4 3/ in. Gift of Douglas
Heller and Josh Rosenblatt. 1978.25

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o movement has had more than a

handful of outstanding artists who

give character to a style and direction to
the production of others. Wendell Castle
(b. 1932) has assumed this role since his
graduation with a Master of Fine Arts
degree in sculpture from the University of

Kansasin 1961. He has experimented

with furnitureas a form of sculpture, freed

fromstructuralconvention.The laminated
cherrywood blocks of his 19 73 two-seater
are built up to a solid structure and then
carved awav anrl polished to an effect of

tactile flow. Finlike pedestals

visual ;inrd-l
.uu;prt angled bucket seats that accom
;, i .int

twCo neople

in conversational

proximity,an arrangement that.led John

Russell to write in The New YorkTimes.
'Togetherness takes on a new dimension
as we contemplate it Not since the 'indiscretion sofa' was perfected in the France
of Napoleon IIIhas there been a piece of
furniturethat eggs us on so subtly to a
joint and vertiginous well-being."
W 6012 in. Gift of Dr and Mrs. IrwinR.
Berman. 1977.225

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51

Dominick Labino (b.

Ascientist.
1910). supplied formulas that would
allow glass to melt at lower temperatures
in small furnaces to the 1962 Toledo
seminar that inaugurated studio glass.
Labino was so drawn to the aesthetic
potential of the material that in 1965 he
gave up his position as a research executive in the glass industry to become a fulltime artist. Applying his knowledge of
chemistry. he creates magical effects.
such as the color changes of the dichroic
veils suspended in the 1977 Emergence
in Polychrome (right)
One of the most influential glass artists
working today is Dale Chihuly (b. 1941).
chairman of the glass department at the
Rhode Island School of Design. On these
three blown cylinders (below) Chihuly has
fused patterns. inspired by Navajo
blankets. by rolling the cylinders while

52

they were still hot over colored glass rods.

The intimate connection of these artists
with their work. from conception through
execution. is typical of and fundamental
to the Studio Craft Movement. Broadly
based across the United States. the
movement has come of age. and the
outlines of a style can be drawn to
encompass the assertive individuality of
its practitioners. Studio Craft artists
submit themselves to age-old disciplines
in which mechanized tools can afford
only marginal assistance. The struggle to
give physical realization to an idea
through the actual working of the materials imparts a residual dynamism to the
object. In this process the established
vocabulary of shapes is eschewed in
favor of developing forms along lines indicated by the materials and techniques
themselves. Occasionally. the resulting

work takes on an organic form reminiscent of Art Nouveau. but a closer point of
reference is the more recent phenomenon
of Abstract Expressionism.
Metallic Serape.

1977. H. 93/8 in.

Purchase. Joseph H. Hazen Foundation.

Inc Gift. by exchange. 1977.132. Child's
Bayetta on Peach.

1977. H. 5'/4 in. Gift of

Dale Chihuly 1977. 138. Wedge Weave.

1976. H. 10'2 in. Purchase. Mr and Mrs.
John H. Hauberg Gift. 1977.131 (Right)
Emergence in Polychrorne. H. 8 1' in. Gift
of Mr and Mrs. Dominick Labino.1977.473
ntering the final decades of the
twentieth century with the decorative arts as vital as they were in 1900. we
can look back on a succession of
vigorous styles and inspired individual
works that can match the record of any
earlier age.

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