Unity by design: midcentury modernism at Winterthur
| Author(s) | Greif, Carrie Leigh | |
| Date Accessioned | 2020-01-14T12:35:39Z | |
| Date Available | 2020-01-14T12:35:39Z | |
| Publication Date | 2019 | |
| SWORD Update | 2019-08-07T16:03:24Z | |
| Abstract | Traditional Americana and midcentury modern furniture have been framed as disparate entities through advertisements, museum collections, scholarship and in the collective understanding of American furniture. This thesis uses a collection of over 170 pieces of midcentury modern furniture purchased by the Winterthur Museum, Library and Gardens in the mid-twentieth century to explore this perceived juxtaposition. Winterthur as an institution was founded to elevate early American decorative arts. The choice by the museum founder Henry Francis du Pont to use midcentury modern furniture for office spaces and public facing spaces as the museum expanded are used as a case study to explore the legacy of Henry Francis du Pont, his creation of Winterthur Museum, and midcentury modernism as an aesthetic movement. To understand why midcentury modernism was chosen to furnish the professional settings at Winterthur the paper analyzes how this design mode became a pervasive aesthetic. Its innovative design and promotional efforts by companies who produced it inspired major American museums to employ midcentury in their projects in an attempt to promote “good taste.” Close analysis of midcentury modern furniture’s design, construction and materiality suggests that this aesthetic movement should not be seen as inherently separate from pre-industrial early American furniture. Midcentury modernism belongs at Winterthur and it was, and remains, an important tool to encourage cross-generational unity in American design. | en_US |
| Degree | Roeber, Catharine Dann | |
| Department | M.A. | |
| Program | University of Delaware, Winterthur Program in American Material Culture | |
| Unique Identifier | 1135848027 | |
| URL | http://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/24935 | |
| Language | en | |
| Publisher | University of Delaware | en_US |
| URI | https://search.proquest.com/docview/2285156656?accountid=10457 | |
| dc.subject.lcsh | Du Pont, Henry Francis, 1880-1969 | |
| dc.subject.lcsh | Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum | |
| dc.subject.lcsh | Furniture design -- United States -- History -- 20th century | |
| dc.subject.lcsh | Modernism (Aesthetics) -- United States -- History | |
| Title | Unity by design: midcentury modernism at Winterthur | en_US |
| Type | Thesis | en_US |