COLLECTING DESIGN
SVA MFA Design Criticism
DCG-6210, Part I
Wednesdays, 5:30–8:00 p.m.
Spring semester 2012
Second-year course
Daniella Ohad Smith
Email: Daniella.Ohad.NYC@gmail.com
December 14, 2011
January 18, 2012
January 25, 2012
COURSE OVERVIEW
This course traces and examines the collections, homes, and minds of design collectors
from the birth of modern design to this day, focusing on appreciation, patronage,
philosophies, and activities in collecting. It defines the term “collecting design,” which
although a recent coinage, reflects traditional and well-established practices. Through
tracing hallmark collections, the course seeks to identify changing patterns and motives
in private design collecting. While considered today as one of the most dynamic and
fascinating areas of art collecting, an academic interest in design collecting is still in its
infancy. Patrons of modern design, active since the turn of the twentieth century, have
pursued their passion with awareness of responsibility, seeking to shape the taste of
their age. Connoisseurs, collectors emerged particularly since the 1970s, came to define
new areas in collecting, focusing on deepening expertise and study of newly-discovered
themes. The course concludes with examining the current directions in collecting design
through viewing eclectic and personalized collections of collectors all over the world,
who are mixing the vintage and the contemporary, and perceiving their collecting
activities as a way to project their views on taste.
ASSIGNMENT AND PRESENTATION
Students will select one object in the sale of “Design Masters,” which will be held at
Philips de Pury & Company in New York on December 13. They will visit the preview
exhibition of this sale, scheduled between December 7 and December 12 at the
showroom on 450 Park Avenue @ 57th Street (please visit www.phillipsdepury.com for
visiting hours).
Find the object you think is interesting and inspiring, an object that you like, that makes
you “feel,” that you would have purchased if you were a design collector. This object,
you believe is an example of “good design,” and would be a great addition to a collection
of modern and/or contemporary design.
Write a few paragraphs on why you believe that this object represents a good example
of its period style and what would be the value that it would bring to a collection. Some
of the aspects you should consider: Is the object a masterpiece? Is it joyful, witty, artistic,
striking? How does it manifest its materials and processes? How would this object make
a collection better, more comprehensive? What are the qualities and values it would
contribute to a collection? And what would be the character of a collection that would
benefit from the addition of this object? You should consult at least two academic
sources (articles, books) when writing the paper. Prepare an illustrated presentation for
delivery on January 25. The presentation should be no longer than 10 minutes.
Please keep your presentation and short essay focused on the object and its relationship
to collecting design.
COURSE SCHEDULE
December 14: The Patron
Patrons of modern design are those commissioning, sponsoring, supporting, and
encouraging the production of creative, innovative design. They are conscious and
ambitious about taste and style, and their efforts typically coincide with a strong desire to
create dazzling homes for themselves. Through exploring the activities of some of the
legendary patrons of modern design, such as Fritz Waerndorfer, Jacque Doucet, Arthur
and Evenly Krosnick, and Yves Saint Laurent, just to name a few, this lecture
investigates the role of patronage in relation to the changes in taste and design
throughout the 20th Century.
January 18: The Connoisseur
As in art, connoisseurs of modern design are those collectors who are passionate and
highly educated about what they collect. They have a particular sensibility and a serious
interest in design. Many of them have become experts in their fields. John Waddell has
lent his expertise on American interwar design to museum curators and art historians,
Joseph Cunningham has curated several museum shows and has co-written catalogues,
and Stephen Gray became the first publisher of Gustav Stickley’s magazine The
Craftsman.
Suggested reading for January 18:
Donald Posner, “Mme. De Pompadour as a Patron of the Visual Arts,” The Art
Bulletin 72 (1) (March 1990): 74–105. You can obtain this article on jstor.org.
January 25: Collecting Design in the 21st Century
This lecture examines directions, modes, and taste in collecting design today, from
masterworks produced by the practitioners of the American Arts and Crafts Movement
through French postwar design, to conceptually interesting and innovative contemporary
design. It traces the role galleries and museums have taken in shaping and developing
the field of design collection.
Presentations by students.
SUGGESTED READING
Brisby, Claire, “Jacques Doucet and the Patronage of Art Deco,”
Filler, Martin, “His own private Wolfsonian,” Magazine Antiques 175 (2) (February,
2009): 60-64.
Hanks, David A., and Anne Hoy, American Streamlined Design: The World of Tomorrow
(The Liliane and David M. Stewart Program for Modern Design, 2005): 41-49.
Hanks, David A., and Jennifer Toher, Donald Deskey, Decorative Design and Interiors
(New York: E. P. Dutton, 1987): 100-119.
“The House of Richard Mendel,” The Architectural Forum 63 (August, 1935): 70-81.
Houseley, Laura, “Rolf Fehlbaum, Vitra Chief Executive talks Architecture and Design
The Architects’ Journal 228 (10) : 30-31.
Lynch, Claudia, and Patrick Lynch, “Donald Judd is inaugurated as a 21st-century
philosopher-king,” Architectural review 226 12354 (December, 2009): 31-32.
Maciuika, John V., Before the Bauhaus: Architecture, Politics, and the German State,
1890-1920 (Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005).
Muensterberger, Werner, Collecting: An Unruly Passion: Psychological Perspectives
(San Diego, New York, London: A Harvest Book, 1994).
Pullin, Graham, "Statement of Practice: Curating and creating design collections,
from Social Mobiles to the Museum of Lost Interactions and Six Speaking Chairs,"
Design and Culture 2 (3) (November 2010): 309-328.
Shapira, Elana, “Modernism and Jewish Identity in Ealry Twentieth-Century Vienna: Fritz
Waerndorfer and His House for an Art Lover,” Decorative Arts 8 (2) (Spring-Summer
2006): 52-92.
Sitting on the Edge: Modernist Design from the Collection of Michael and Gabrielle
Boyd, Exhibition catalogue with essays by Paola Antonelli, Aaron Betsky, Michael Boyd,
Philippe Garner (San Francisco: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1999).
Smith, John W., ed., Possession Obsession: Andy Warhol and Collecting (Pittsburgh:
The Andy Warhol Museum, 2002).
Webb, Michael, Modernist Paradise: Niemeyer House/Boyd Collection (New York:
Rizzoli, 2007).