Master craftsmanship, luxurious materials, and sensuous forms are highlighted in an exhibition of objects designed to amplify the pleasure of their use. Design disguises what we wish to remain private, tempts us with luxuries large and small, feeds sensuous appetites, and—should we envy someone else’s possessions—eases our discontent with clever imitations. Pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth—the seven deadly sins—find irresistible outlet in these objects chosen from Cooper Hewitt’s collection.
highlights
Textile, Lippen, 1968, Switzerland, designed by Verner Panton (Danish, 1926–1998), screen printed cotton, H x W: 448.9 × 121.9 cm (14 ft. 8 3/4 in. × 48 in.), Gift of Evan Snyderman and Zesty Meyers of R 20th Century and museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund, 2011-36-1
Tongue Chair, 1967; Designed by Pierre Paulin (French, 1927 – 2009); Manufactured by Artifort (Maastricht, The Netherlands); tubular steel frame, rubber belts, foam rubber, nylon-jersey covering; H x W x D: 61.5 × 86 × 91 cm (24 3/16 × 33 7/8 × 35 13/16 in.); Promised gift of George R. Kravis II
Healey Gold Chocolate Pot And Lid, ca. 1893; Decorated by Emily Healey (American, b. 1854) and Mary Healey (American, b. 1852); Manufactured by Chryso-Ceramics (Washington D.C., USA); molded and gilt porcelain; H x W x D (a,b): 24.7 × 12.5 × 10.5 cm (9 3/4 × 4 15/16 × 4 1/8 in.); Gift of Elizabeth Taylor; 1991-11-3-a,b
dewall (Belgium), 1910–20; machine printed on paper; 65.5 x 56.5 cm (25 13/16 x 22 1/4 in); Gift of Jones and Erwin, Inc.; 1945-13-1-a/c
Café from the Service des Objets de Dessert, dated 1819-20, was drawn by Jean-Charles Develly as part of a table service for the Royal Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory. The factory was founded in Vincennes in 1740 and later relocated to Sèvres in 1756. In 1800, Alexandre Brongniart (1770–1847) was chosen as the administrator of the factory...
Cheryl R. Riley is a contemporary artist and furniture designer, whose work examines the stylistic and societal parallels between distinct cultures.[1] Riley is inspired by African diasporic iconography and subject matter, and its connection to other international and historical modes of cultural expression.[2] Riley explains, “My work is typically a mash-up of world cultures with...
This extraordinary chalice takes its inspiration from dragon-stem goblets made by the legendary Venetian glassworkers in the seventeenth century. In this example, also made in Venice but in the late nineteenth century by Salviati & Company, the dragons have been elevated to the body of the cup. Several remarkable glassworking techniques are on display in this object....
With Halloween still fresh in everyone’s minds, this paper conjures up a scene reminiscent of “The Bride of Frankenstein.” A metallic silver background greets the eye as the color pallet continues to sparkle and stun the viewer with its combination of blacks, reds, and yellows. Over a single repeat is a depiction of a Femme...
According to the New Testament of the Bible, Jesus Christ ascended to Heaven from the Mount of Olives on the 40th day after Easter. Some Christians commemorate this as Ascension Day. In Italy, Ascension Day is celebrated by the exchange of crickets between friends. If, in the course of the day, the cricket chirps, its...
In 1814, the celebrated Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai—best known his Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, which included the imminently recognizable Great Wave off Kanagawa—published a 15-volume work titled Manga, containing thousands of illustrations of landscapes, plants and animals, people, decorative ornaments and more. In the mid-1870s, copies of the Manga circulated in France, and the...
This print by James Abbott McNeill Whistler is part of a series of images the artist produced depicting the East London neighborhoods of Rotherhithe and Wapping in 1859–60. While English painters had traditionally avoided portraying these industrial districts of the city throughout the nineteenth century, Whistler’s Thames series takes for subject the city’s poorest workers...
Damien Hirst’s “Beautiful Inside My Head Forever” wallpaper is an unexpected interpretation of a floral wallpaper containing a dense pattern of brightly colored flowers with a grid of smashed cigarette butts printed on top. The design plays on the contrasting themes of beauty and trash, or life and death, as Hirst equates littered ashtrays with...
