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Nonie Gadsden - Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Table lamp - Designed by: Donald Deskey (American, 1894–1989) Manufactured by: Deskey Vollmer, Inc. (active 1927–1931) designed 1927–28; produced 1927–31
Silverplated brass, glass, electrical fittings. 2008.1416
* Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The John Axelrod Collection * Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Museum of Fine Arts Boston

"America Goes Modern: The Rise of the Industrial Designer”

Presented by Nonie Gadsden, Weems Senior Curator, Art of the Americas, Museum of Fine Arts Boston

MAY 2 @4:00 PM

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FREE ON ZOOM

 

RSVP:  https://tinyurl.com/AmericaGoesModernMFA 

 

Based on the recent publication America Goes Modern: The Rise of the Industrial Designer, MFA curator and author Nonie Gadsden will explore the foundations of industrial design in the United States and present a close examination of selected masterworks from the era. Ms. Gadsden will be introduced by Tony Fusco, author on Art Deco and Co-Producer of Boston Design Week. Each of these pieces offers a window into the social, cultural, technological, and economic world in which they were made and used. Included will be sleek furniture, vibrant ceramics, streamlined metalware, and innovative plastics from leading designers of the era.

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During the 1920s and 1930s, the speed of modern life in the United States — accelerated by advances in transportation, communication, technology and advertising — changed not only how people lived their lives, but also the objects they chose to live with. A new profession emerged to help American manufacturers and consumers navigate the overwhelming transitions of the era: the industrial designer. Through the power of form, color, ornament, and materials, the earliest practitioners created a modern aesthetic that came to represent American hopes, dreams, and fantasies.

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Ms. Gadsden will explore the foundations of industrial design in the United States and present a close examination of selected masterworks from the era. Each of these pieces offers a window into the social, cultural, technological, and economic world in which they were made and used. Included will be sleek furniture, vibrant ceramics, streamlined metalware, and innovative plastics from leading designers of the era.

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Nonie Gadsden is the Katharine Lane Weems Senior Curator of American Decorative Arts and Sculpture at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Her latest book, America Goes Modern: The Rise of the Industrial Designer is available for purchase at https://www.mfa.org/publication/america-goes-modern 

"Smug" clock - Designed by: Belle Kogan (American, born in Russia, 1902 – 2000) Manufactured by: Warren Telechron Company (active 1912–1992) Manufactured by: Northern Industrial Chemical (active 1904–1963) designed 1934, made 1934–1939

Plastic (Plaskon), brass, glass, clockworks. 2021.565
* Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Gift of Clifford S. Ackley * Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

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