Exhibitions: The Art of Decoration: Drawings and Objects from the Collection of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum

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The Art of Decoration: Drawings and Objects from the Collection of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum

Dates: December 19, 1973 through February 3, 1974
Organizing Department: Prints, Drawings and Photographs

Press Releases

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December 6, 1973: An exceptional exhibition of decorative arts selected from the vast collections of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum in New York opens to the public at The Brooklyn Museum on December 19. Comprised of more than 200 works, the exhibition will include drawings, textiles and wallpapers from the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries. It will remain on view through February 3, 1974.

Drawings form the largest portion of the exhibition and these, with few exceptions, are Italian, French or English. The Cooper-Hewitt’s drawing collection is by far the most extensive in the United States and stands among the foremost collections of design drawings in the world. The selection here focuses on architectural renderings and designs for textiles, metalwork, porcelains and furniture. It includes several drawings executed for the Brighton Pavillion by Frederick Crace, for the Palais Royale by Oppenord and for the Fenice Theater in Venice.

The selection of textiles from the Cooper-Hewitt Collections covers the same historical period as the drawings and features non-woven openwork, waistcoats and printed fabrics principally from England, France and Italy.

The balance of the exhibition is devoted to European and American wallpapers. Several “bandboxes” covered with wallpaper of 19th century American origin provide interesting social commentary on the period with commemorative illustrations of American heroes and historic events.

The Art of Decoration comes to Brooklyn after a three month showing this past summer at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. The Cooper-Hewitt Museum was closed to the public in 1970. Recently, the Museum moved to its present location, the former home of Andrew Carnegie at 90th Street and Fifth Avenue. After being converted into a modern museum facility, the Museum will reopen to the public in late 1974 as the National Museum of Design of the Smithsonian Institution.

Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1971 - 1988. 1973, 029-30. View Original 1 . View Original 2

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Recent Comments

"Hi Aimee, I think you mean Oreet Ashery? More information can be found in her profile on the Feminist Art Base: http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/feminist_art_base/gallery/oreet_ashery.php?i=266"
By shelley

"Hi, I am trying to find the name of the artist who took and is in the photograph that follows- http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/exhibitions/664/Global_Feminisms_Remix/image/216/Global_Feminisms_Remix._%7C08032007_-_03032008%7C._Installation_view. I believe the artist takes pictures of herself dressed as a man but then exposes her femaleness, as in the photo of her dressed as an Ascetic Jew exposing her breast. Can you help me find her information? Thanks in advance- Aimee Record"
By Aimee Record

"For more information on Louis Schanker and the New York Art Scene of the mid 1900's go to http://www.LouisSchanker.info "
By Lou Siegel

November 4, 1973: Ette Pearlman
November 25, 1973: Masaaki Sato
December 5, 1973: Figures in Clay: Terracottas from Ancient India
December 13, 1973: Faculty Exhibition
December 19, 1973: The Art of Decoration: Drawings and Objects from the Collection of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum
date unknown, 1974: Japanese Gallery (long-term installation)
date unknown, 1974: Korean Gallery (long-term installation)
date unknown, 1974: Beatrice Taffer
date unknown, 1974: Faculty Summer Show

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Prints, Drawings and Photographs

Over the years, the collections of the Brooklyn Museum have been organized and reorganized in different ways. Collections of the former Department of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs include works on paper that may fall into other categories: American Art, European Art, Asian Art, Contemporary Art, and Photography.

The Brooklyn Museum Archives maintains a collection of historical press releases. Many of these have been scanned and made available on our Web site. The releases range from brief announcements to extensive articles; images of the original releases have been included for your reference. Please note that all the original typographical elements, including occasional errors, have been retained. Releases may also contain errors as a result of the scanning process. We welcome your feedback about corrections.

For select exhibitions, we have made available some or all of the informative text panels written by the curator or organizer. Called "didactics," these panels are presented to the public during the exhibition's run, and we reproduce them here for your reference and archival interest. Please note that any illustrations on the original didactics have not been retained, and that the text may contain errors as a result of the scanning process. We welcome your feedback about corrections.

For select exhibitions, we have made available some or all of the objects from the Brooklyn Museum collection that were in the installation. These objects are listed here for your reference and archival interest, but the list may be incomplete and does not contain objects owned by other institutions or lenders.

This section utilizes the New York Times API in order to display related materials in New York Times publications.

Exhibitions: The Art of Decoration: Drawings and Objects from the Collection of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum

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