{"id":15491,"date":"2018-06-01T13:33:11","date_gmt":"2018-06-01T13:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/?p=15491"},"modified":"2018-06-01T13:34:23","modified_gmt":"2018-06-01T13:34:23","slug":"wolfsonian-fiu-opens-its-first-major-art-deco-exhibition-in-fall-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/2018\/06\/01\/wolfsonian-fiu-opens-its-first-major-art-deco-exhibition-in-fall-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Wolfsonian\u2013FIU opens its first major Art Deco exhibition in Fall 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Deco: Luxury to Mass Market<\/b><\/span>\u00a0(opening October 19, 2018) will trace Art Deco\u2019s<\/i><\/span>
\nEuropean origins, migration to the U.S., and spectacular culmination in 1930s Miami Beach<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\nWalking tour neighborhood guide to bring the Wolfsonian experience\u00a0<\/i><\/span>
\nout of the galleries and into the streets<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The Wolfsonian\u2013Florida International University announces the museum\u2019s first large-scale exhibition devoted to Art Deco, the style so central to South Beach\u2019s world-famous architecture. On view starting October 19, 2018 and continuing for an extended run,<\/span>\u00a0Deco: Luxury to Mass Market\u00a0<\/i><\/span>will map the trajectory of Art Deco\u2019s influence from its first appearance in Paris to its adoption by American tastemakers and trendsetters through more than 100 works from the Wolfsonian collection.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\n\u201cThis is a special opportunity for The Wolfsonian to share its vast collection of Art Deco objects in a way that it has never done before,\u201d said Whitney Richardson, who co-organized the exhibition with fellow Wolfsonian curators Silvia Barisione and Shoshana Resnikoff. \u201cThere\u2019s so much curiosity about how a style introduced in Paris came to be realized so impressively, and in such a varied way, halfway around the world on Miami Beach.<\/span>Deco\u00a0<\/i><\/span>tackles that very question by embracing a true Wolfsonian strength: digging into the social meaning behind a style, and considering its evolution.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\nAdded Barisione: \u201cThe exhibition exposes visitors to the unfamiliar dimensions of Art Deco. A style that became so closely associated with France was expressed in unique ways all over the word, from India to Russia. The show speaks to how an aesthetic embraced in far-flung places could be infused with the local influences and national traditions of the designers.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\nOrienting Wolfsonian visitors to the history of Art Deco, the exhibition will begin with an introduction to the style\u2019s hallmarks and beginnings in 1925. The Paris world\u2019s fair,\u00a0<\/span>Exposition internationale des arts d\u00e9coratifs et industriels modernes<\/i><\/span>, originally brought Art Deco to public visibility under the name \u201cart moderne\u201d in an effort to raise the status of the applied arts and industrial design to the level of fine art. Typified by the heavy use of ornament and stylized, natural motifs, the style at first emphasized luxury and borrowed greatly from a variety of historical sources such as Art Nouveau, the colonial exoticism of Mayan temples and Egyptian tombs, Cubist geometric forms, and ballet set design and costumes. It immediately proved incredibly popular, in part thanks to pioneer adopters like the influential Parisian department stores Bon March\u00e9 and Printemps creating display rooms fully decked out in the style to provide inspiration and showcase products.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\nThe exhibition moves on to how Art Deco changed with its migration across Europe and particularly its journey overseas. Though the U.S. did not formally participate in the 1925 Paris exposition, its government delegated a commission of museum directors, department store owners, designers, and manufacturers to attend the fair and bring back ideas. Thus, many American audiences first encountered the style through museum exhibitions (at the Metropolitan Museum of Art) and in department stores (Lord & Taylor, John Wanamaker). European \u00e9migr\u00e9 designers trained at the Wiener Werkst\u00e4tte or Deutscher Werkbund and steeped in modernist thinking likewise brought Art Deco to the U.S., where it began to take on uniquely American motifs like the skyscraper and form associations with progressive architecture and industry. The Great Depression put to bed Art Deco\u2019s emphasis on luxury in favor of New Deal-inspired function and sleeker aesthetics. Affordability and streamlining were in vogue\u2014trends that dovetailed with the notion of pushing a dampened economy into a promising future.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\nDeco\u00a0<\/i><\/span>concludes with the style\u2019s pinnacle on Miami Beach as represented in hotels such as the Essex House, Kent, and New Yorker. After debuting his Florida Tropical House in the 1933 Chicago World\u2019s Fair\u2019s \u201cHome of Tomorrow\u201d section, architect Robert Law Weed returned to South Florida to help realize a new version of Deco design on a citywide-level, one informed by middle-class tourism and relaxation. The hundreds of Art Deco buildings that remain today, many of which have since been converted into apartments, still capture the elegance and carefree spirit of early Miami Beach\u2014\u201cwhere summer spends the winter.\u201d Buildings selected in conjunction with the Miami Design Preservation League will be featured in a unique walking guide that will complete the story of\u00a0<\/span>Deco\u00a0<\/i><\/span>out on the streets of South Beach, extending the show\u2019s narrative and the style\u2019s legacy into the now.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\nKey works of\u00a0<\/span>Deco<\/i><\/span>\u00a0include:<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
    \n
  • Photographic portfolios from the 1925 exposition showcasing the works of \u00c9mile-Jacques Ruhlmann, Le Corbusier, and Jean Dunand, among others, as well as guidebooks from the pavilions;<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Glass objects by Ren\u00e9 Lalique\u2014a French jewelry designer who became popular for his Art Nouveau wares but found his voice at the 1925 exposition\u2014including vases, perfume bottles, and powder boxes illustrating his influences from nature;<\/span><\/li>\n
  • A writing desk and chair designed by Kem Weber for the San Francisco residence of Mr. and Mrs. John W. Bissinger (1929), featuring his signature sage-green painted wood and bridging European and American Art Deco designs;<\/span><\/li>\n
  • A bedroom suite by Donald Deskey for Estey Manufacturing Company (1930\u201335) that beautifully demonstrates how even simple wooden furniture of the time could be modernized;<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Tropical Deco train interiors (1936\u201337) by Paul Cret for the Florida East Coast Railroad featuring tropical animals and his Cincinnati Union Terminal (1929\u201333) Streamline furnishings; and<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Design drawings and objects by industrial designers such as Raymond Loewy, Walter von Nessen, John Vassos, Henry Dreyfuss, and Walter Dorwin Teague.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    \n\u201cAs an institution, we\u2019ve been waiting to present this story,\u201d said Wolfsonian director Tim Rodgers. \u201cArt Deco is such a natural topic for The Wolfsonian; it shapes the architecture of our neighborhood, which attracts sightseers and admirers from across the globe every year. Though we are known for many iconic Art Deco pieces\u2014like our lobby fountain, originally part of the fa\u00e7ade of the Norris Theatre\u2014our collection holds far more riches, and we\u2019re excited to finally bring many of these out for public view.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Deco: Luxury to Mass Market\u00a0(opening October 19, 2018) will trace Art Deco\u2019s European origins, migration to the U.S., and spectacular culmination in 1930s Miami Beach Walking tour neighborhood guide to bring the Wolfsonian experience\u00a0 out of the galleries and into the streets The Wolfsonian\u2013Florida International University announces the museum\u2019s first large-scale exhibition devoted to Art […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":15492,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[69,412],"class_list":["post-15491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-the-arts","tag-wolfsonian-fiu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15491"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15491"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15494,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15491\/revisions\/15494"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}