Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 9

Partners in Design

About the Item

The 1920s and 1930s saw the birth of modernism in the United States, a new aesthetic, based on the principles of the Bauhaus in Germany: its merging of architecture with fine and applied arts; and rational, functional design devoid of ornament and without reference to historical styles. Alfred H. Barr Jr., the then 27-year-old founding director of the Museum of Modern Art, and 23-year-old Philip Johnson, director of its architecture department, were the visionary young proponents of the modern approach. Shortly after meeting at Wellesley College, where Barr taught art history, and as Johnson finished his studies in philosophy at Harvard, they set out on a path that would transform the museum world and change the course of design in America. The Museum of Modern Art opened just over a week after the stock market crash of 1929. In the depths of the Depression, using as their laboratories both MoMA and their own apartments in New York City, Barr and Johnson experimented with new ideas in museum ideology, extending the scope beyond painting and sculpture to include architecture, photography, graphic design, furniture, industrial design, and film; with exhibitions of ordinary, machine-made objects (including ball bearings and kitchenware) elevated to art by their elegant design; and with installations in dramatically lit galleries with smooth, white walls. Partners in Design, which accompanies an exhibition opening at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in April 2016, chronicles their collaboration, placing it in the larger context of the avant-garde in New York—1930s salons where they mingled with Julien Levy, the gallerist who brought Surrealism to the United States, and Lincoln Kirstein, co-founder of the New York City Ballet; their work to help Bauhaus artists like Josef and Anni Albers escape Nazi Germany—and the dissemination of their ideas across the United States through MoMA’s traveling exhibition program. Plentifully illustrated with icons of modernist design, MoMA installation views, and previously unpublished images of the Barr and Johnson apartments—domestic laboratories for modernism, and in Johnson’s case, designed and furnished by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe—this fascinating study sheds new light on the introduction and success in North America of a new kind of modernism, thanks to the combined efforts of two uniquely discerning and influential individuals.
  • Creator:
    Phaidon (Manufacturer)
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 11 in (27.94 cm)Width: 8 in (20.32 cm)Depth: 1 in (2.54 cm)
  • Materials and Techniques:
  • Place of Origin:
  • Period:
  • Date of Manufacture:
    2021
  • Production Type:
    New & Custom(Current Production)
  • Estimated Production Time:
    Available Now
  • Condition:
  • Seller Location:
    New York, NY
  • Reference Number:
    Seller: 97815809343361stDibs: LU1878338597942

More From This Seller

View All
1000 Design Classics
By Phaidon
Located in New York, NY
The most innovative, iconic, and influential products ever designed - from 1663 to the present day Originating from the highly acclaimed and groundbreaking three-volume Phaidon Design Classics, this new book presents 1,000 of the world's greatest objects in one large-format volume - from everyday items by anonymous creators to lauded pieces by the likes of Charles and Ray Eames, Charlotte Perriand, Dieter Rams, Richard Sapper, Hans J. Wegner, and Florence Knoll. Carefully revised to bring every detail up to date, and with the addition of 100 new items that highlight designers from a diverse variety of backgrounds (including a greater number of female designers) and products from the last 15 years, this collection of the world's greatest product design is more comprehensive, compelling - and relevant - than ever before. The book showcases celebrated names alongside the new stars of modern design, including Le Corbusier, Alvar and Aino Aalto, Isamu Noguchi, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, Lani Adeoye...
Category

2010s Chinese Books

Materials

Paper

Design Emergency: Building a Better Future
By Phaidon
Located in New York, NY
Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli, two of the world’s most influential design figures, meet the visionary designers whose innovations and ingenuity g...
Category

2010s Chinese Books

Materials

Paper

Living in the Forest
By Phaidon
Located in New York, NY
A spectacular collection of 50 magnificent contemporary houses across the globe, each built to exist harmoniously amid the trees. Take a walk through luscious jungles, get lost among snowy evergreens, and look out from mossy banks across vast Nordic fjords in Living in the Forest...
Category

2010s Chinese Books

Materials

Paper

Our Seasons: the World in Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn
By Phaidon
Located in New York, NY
A stunning companion to the bestselling Our World – this extraordinary book is a beautiful and accessible introduction to the world’s seasons that, after reading, transforms into a 3...
Category

2010s Chinese Books

Materials

Paper

Portugal: The Cookbook
By Phaidon
Located in New York, NY
Celebrate Portugal’s vibrant, globally-influenced - and influential - food culture via more than 550 classic and contemporary recipes With its diverse cuisine and intriguing culinary history, Portugal is a top travel destination for food lovers worldwide. Portugal: The Cookbook...
Category

2010s Chinese Books

Materials

Paper

This Land
By Phaidon
Located in New York, NY
David Opdyke's massive collage This Land (as elucidated in this book by award-winning author Lawrence Weschler) presents a slow-burning satire of the American dream as it blunders in...
Category

2010s Chinese Books

Materials

Paper

This Land
$35 / item

You May Also Like

In Stock in Los Angeles, Marc Jacobs Illustrated by Grace Coddington
By Phaidon
Located in Beverly Hills, CA
Marc Jacobs Illustrated (Hardcover) by Grace Coddington In stock in Los Angeles A unique monograph of over 50 collections created by the fashion desi...
Category

2010s American Modern Books

Materials

Paper

Phaidon Atlas of Contemporary Architecture, Collectible Book in Ghost Carry Case
By Phaidon
Located in Philadelphia, PA
The Phaidon Atlas of Contemporary World Architecture is a global survey of the most outstanding works of contemporary architecture from around the world. Organized geographically and...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary English International Style Books

Materials

Paper

New Design in Wood
Located in Richmond, VA
Vintage hardback coffee table book showcasing contemporary woodcraft and design. By Donald J. Willcox, published by Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1970. First edition, 120 pages, wit...
Category

Vintage 1970s Books

Materials

Paper

Timeless Modern Interiors: RRP / Rees Roberts + Partners
Located in New York, NY
Author Pilar Viladas, Preface by Lucien Rees-Roberts The first book to feature the interior design of the stylish, award-winning firm RRP / Rees Roberts + Partners, led by Interior ...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Books

Materials

Paper

Christopher Dresser "Studies in Design"
By Christopher Dresser
Located in Sharon, CT
This is the original and complete edition of the Classic. Contains all 60 plates.
Category

Antique 1870s English Aesthetic Movement Books

Materials

Paper

Illusion in Design: New Trends in Architecture and Interiors
By Rizzoli International Publications
Located in New York, NY
Author Paul Gunther and Gay Giordano Cutting-edge examples of the use of optical illusion in design—from trompe l’oeil to anamorphosis—to solve various challenges, be they space or budget related, or that act as aesthetic features in architecture and the fields that rub elbows with it: art, design, and furniture. This magical volume presents the startling world of illusion in design as employed by today’s architects, interior designers, furniture designers, and others at work bending the appearance of reality for purposes of aesthetics or practicality or fun. From a faux bookcase that masks a room or Prohibition-style bar, to the mind-boggling Escher-like effects achieved by Casa Ceramica, whose optical illusion of a floor dips into valleys and rises into mounds (but is in reality flat), the book is a revelation and an inspiration. It offers to us the possibility that nearly anything can be done, if it can be imagined—even in our own homes. The authors look at residences across the globe, as well as spaces beyond the home, that utilize a myriad of surprising techniques. Included are projects by conceptual designers such as Studio Malka and Vector Architects, as well as established practitioners such as Ferguson and Shamamian, G. P. Schafer, Peter Pennoyer...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Books

Materials

Paper

Recently Viewed

View All