Designing Modern Women 1890–1990

October 05 '13–October 01 '14

Modern design of the 20th century was profoundly shaped and enhanced by the creativity of women—as muses of modernity and shapers of new ways of living, and as designers, patrons, performers and educators.

This installation, drawn entirely from MoMA’s collection, celebrates the diversity and vitality of individual artists’ engagement in the modern world, from Loïe Fuller’s pulsating turn-of-the-century performances to April Greiman’s 1980s computer-generated graphics, at the vanguard of early digital design.

Highlights include the first display of a newly conserved kitchen by Charlotte Perriand with Le Corbusier (1952) from the Unité d’Habitation housing project, furniture and designs by Lilly Reich, Eileen Gray, Eva Zeisel, Ray Eames, Lella Vignelli, and Denise Scott Brown; textiles by Anni Albers and Eszter Haraszty; ceramics by Lucy Rie; a display of 1960s psychedelic concert posters by graphic designer Bonnie Maclean, and a never-before-seen selection of posters and graphic material from the punk era.

The gallery’s ‘graphics corner’ first explores the changing role and visual imagery of The New Woman through a selection of posters created between 1890 and 1938; in April 2014 the focus will shift to Women at War, an examination of the iconography and varied roles of women in times of conflict, commemorating the centennial of the outbreak of World War I.

Eileen Gray (British, born Ireland. 1879–1976). Adjustable table. 1927.

Grete Jalk (Danish, 1920–2006). Lounge Chair, 1963

Robert Venturi (American, born 1925) with Denise Scott Brown (American, born Zambia, 1931). Queen Anne Side Chair, 1983

Eva Zeisel (American, born Hungary. 1906–2011). Folding Chair. 1948-1949.

Gae Aulenti (Italian, 1930–2012). Table with Wheels (model 2652). 1980.