Ladies to Love: Highlights from Designing Modern Women at MoMA
The museum’s current exhibition shows the far-reaching influence of modern female designers
By Stela Razzaque, Superscript October 16, 2013
In a refreshing and progressive exhibition, Designing Modern Women 1890-1990, MoMA is spotlighting the significant contributions and influence of female designers to the field of modern design. On display until October 1, 2014, the exhibition features pieces gathered from MoMA’s permanent collection. As its title indicates, the exhibition's works span decades—here’s a glimpse at some highlights:
Bonnie MacLean
_ The Yardbirds, The Doors_ 1967.jpg)
With her groundbreaking, psychedelic concert posters, Bonnie MacLean not only broke into the male-dominated world of rock-poster art, but she became a driving force behind the rise of the rock music scene in the late 1960s. Her posters followed in the spirit of rock-art pioneer Wes Wilson, but had their own unique additions; for example, the use of culturally diverse images like Native American totems. The most captivating aspect of her art is undoubtedly the depiction of faces cast with trance-like, meditative expressions. Even today, they evoke a certain detached spirituality synonymous with the 1960s outlook. "What's significant," explains Ms. MacLean, "is that these posters were created with an intensity that was lived."
Charlotte Perriand
, with Le Corbusier (Charles-Édouard Jeanneret_ French, born Switzerland_ 1887–1965), and ATBAT_ Kitchen from the Unité d’Habitation, Marseille, France_ c_ 1952_.jpg)
No stranger to the societal constraints posed by her gender, a young, 24-year-old Charlotte Perriand strode into architect Le Corbusier’s Paris studio one day in 1927, asking for a job as a furniture designer. She was met with ridicule and the reply, “We do not embroider cushions here.” Perriand went on to design a cutting-edge rooftop bar made from glass, steel and aluminium for a prestigious exhibition in Paris. The project soon captured the attention of Le Corbusier, who consequently apologized to the young designer, and invited her to join his studio. She is now regarded as one of the most influential designers of the early modernist movement. Her postwar kitchen from Le Corbusier’s famous apartment building Unité d’Habitation is on display at the MoMA. Perriand is a testament to the monumental success of women designers, and the evolving nature of the design industry.
Mariana Brandt
_ Teapot_ 1924_.jpg)
During a time when women were marginalized and forced to study ceramics or weaving, Marianna Brandt became the first female to join the legendary Bauhaus German design school and go on to become the School’s director in 1928. The silver-plated teapot she created in 1924 sold for a whopping $361,000 at a New York auction. That is not only record-breaking for a twentieth-century teapot, but for anything made in the Bauhaus workshops. The piece is functional and elegant, without unnecessary ornamentation, thus reflecting the core principles of Bauhaus design. While Mariane Brandt’s success as a female designer of her time was the exception rather than the rule, her achievements continue to inspire designers all over the world.
More from the show:
_ Folding Chair_ 1948-1949_ Chrome-plated tubular steel and cotton.jpg)
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