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Designed for Delight: Alternative Aspects of Twentieth-Century Decorative Arts
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 Moonlit Garden, 1990, is an armchair by Japanese artist Masanori Umeda (b. 1941). Photo by Giles Rivest. |
Visitors to the Designed for Delight exhibition at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts will see that - in the minds of the artists, at least - one can sit on a flower, hang a hat on a cactus, wear a suit made of leaves, read a book under an electric palm tree and even flirt with a curvaceous chest of drawers.
Designed for Delight: Alternative Aspects of Twentieth-Century Decorative Arts, opening in Richmond on Friday, Nov. 13, 1998 includes nearly 200 objects from the collection of the Montreal Museum of Decorative Arts, the organizer of the exhibition. The exhibition's international scope covers major stylistic movements from Art Nouveau and Art Deco to Pop and Postmodernism. |
"Seeing the quality and the fun that designers can bring to our lives is what enlivens this exhibition," says Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Director Katharine C. Lee. "While expanding our horizons, it also reminds us of the riches in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts' permanent design collection of Art Nouveau and Art Deco," she says.
Designed for Delight reveals the very real impact that fantasy and imagination have had on design innovation in our century, and Philip Morris is proud to sponsor an exhibition that elevates our understanding of human ingenuity and creativity," says Stephanie French, vice president, corporate contributions and cultural programs, for Philip Morris Companies Inc. "We have strong ties in our hometown community of Richmond, and we are pleased to continue our support for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts."
Designed for Delight includes materials from the entire 20th century. The exhibition challenges the accepted definition of modern design, the idea that form always followed function and that modern objects were always chaste, unadorned and rational.
"By the time the Pop-art movement swept New York 30 years ago, many creative people were questioning 'sacred cows' in the arts and asking for a wider look at legitimate directions for the artist," according to Dr. David Park Curry, curator of American arts at the Virginia Museum.
Although the notion that "ornament is crime" was widely held up until the 1960s, an alternative stream has never ceased to flow throughout the century, Curry says.
The witty and delightful objects in Designed for Delight are organized around four themes: the appeal of ornament, the role of fantasy, the transformation of standard elements such as handles or bases into design statements, and the human body as a design element.
In the section titled "Is Ornament a Crime?" visitors will see that the ways of enriching form - with floral patterns and geometric shapes - have remained important design elements throughout the century. Illustrating ornamentation are a floral textile by painter Raoul Dufy and an Alessandro Mendini cabinet decorated in the style of Kandinsky.
In the section titled "Flights of Fantasy," individual imaginations come alive in designs that reflect personal experiences and dreams, nostalgic glances at the past, and satirical designs in which objects imitate other objects. Highlights include an armchair in the form of a flower, an ivy-covered jacket, a necklace made of eye-glasses and a copper collar crafted of knitted wire by Arline M. Fisch.
The section titled "Inversion and Transformation" presents objects that rebel against expected notions of form and that challenge traditional assumptions about the behavior of materials. Included are Josef Hoffmann's centerpiece with oversized handles and an Andrea Branzi tea service that is tilted, threatening to spill the tea.
Throughout art history, the human body has been a strong influence in art and on artists, Curry says. Highlights of this section, titled "Body Language," include a René Lalique pendant with a female head merging into flowers and fruit, a brightly colored Niki de Saint-Phalle armchair shaped like a seated person, a brooch by Sam Kramer and Charles Wendell in the form of an eye, and a Wendell Castle chair shaped like a tooth.
Admission to the exhibition will be $4 for adults and $2.50 for youth and students. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts members are admitted free.
The exhibition is accompanied by a 336-page catalog published by Flammarion with 300 color plates. It includes essays by Witold Rybczynski of the University of Pennsylvania, architectural historian Martin Filler, and Steven C. Dubin of the State University of New York at Purchase. The softcover price is $45. The catalog may be purchased in the museum's shop or by telephoning 1.800.943.VMFA.
Designed for Delight will remain on view at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts through Jan. 31.
This exhibition was organized by the Musée des Arts Décoratifs de Montréal.
Other funding has been provided by the Canada Council, the Ministry of Canadian Heritage, the W. Garfield Weston Foundation, and an anonymous Canadian foundation.
Sponsors of the Virginia presentation include Philip Morris Companies Inc. and La Différence. Additional funding was provided by The Council of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.