Books
E. McKnight Kauffer, a Commercial Artist With Ideals
For nearly 20 years between the two world wars, E. McKnight Kauffer, an American, was the most celebrated graphic designer in England.
Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum
Art
Nature Offers the Best Designs at the Cooper Hewitt Triennial
Objects on display designed to be green substitutes for those that are ecologically harmful or failing are among the most thought-provoking in this exhibition.
Art
Repairing a Broken Planet Through Optimism and Design
Could you empathize better with a blade of grass if it had an email address? What about the entire ecosystem?
Art
The Remarkable and Polyglot Design Legacy of Ilonka Karasz
Ilonka Karasz’s designs span from the 1910s to the 1970s, across multiple media: textiles, industrial design, and illustration, including several New Yorker covers, all with a keen sense of the prevailing zeitgeist, and yet, I had never heard of her.
Art
The Novelty and Excess of American Design During the Jazz Age
Through over 400 objects, the Cooper Hewitt's dynamic Jazz Age exhibition highlights 1920s American design.
Art
How the Cooper Hewitt Museum Reconciles the Old and New
Upon visiting the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, I wonder how it feels both antiquated and technologically advanced at the same time.
Art
From a Depression-Era Mural to Modern-Day Devices, Charting the Rise of Radio
The centerpiece of the Cooper Hewitt's The World of Radio exhibition is a rarely seen, 16-foot-long mural that broadcasts moments from the medium's early history.
Art
Maira Kalman's Daily Digressions
In the writer and illustrator Maira Kalman's latest project, she narrates a morning workout at the Metropolitan Museum of Art that exemplifies her digressive spirit and openness to new ideas.
News
A Gift to Cooper Hewitt Fills Gaps in the Collection
Thanks to the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum's 19th-century roots and the Hewitt sisters' collection, the institution has strong holdings in that era's decorative arts. This month, the New York museum announced that its 20th-century collections were strengthened with a considerable gift fr
Art
Beautiful Surprises and Surprising Depth at Cooper Hewitt’s Design Triennial
If beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder, the curators of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum faced a daunting task when they chose beauty for the latest design triennial's theme.
News
Cooper Hewitt Acquires Historic Textile Designed for UN Security Council
With the world still reeling from World War II, a Norwegian architect was tasked with designing one of the most important places of international peace and negotiation.
Art
The Visual Tricks That Make a Poster Give You Pause
Some posters make you pause mid-stride; others disappear into the background like so much white noise.