All that jazz: Cooper Hewitt’s love song to 1920s American design is bursting with nostalgia
Change, whether it be political, economical, or social, is always in the air. But perhaps no era welcomed as much radical, yet creative, change as the 1920s.
‘It was an age of miracles,’ F Scott Fitzgerald once wrote of the Jazz Age. ‘It was an age of art, it was an age of excess, and it was an age of satire.’ Nearly a century later, Sarah Coffin, a curator at Cooper Hewitt, agrees with the late author. ‘Their lives were changing,’ she said. ‘People were expressing themselves differently after [the] post world war era and were lifting the gloom.’
Upon discovering many of the museum’s artefacts from the 1920s after its renovation in 2014, Coffin joined forces with the Cleveland Museum of Art to display ‘The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s’
‘Actaeon’, by Paul Manship, 1925.
As a mélange of jazz from modern composers like Wynton Marsalis and Carlos Henriquez simmers in the background, ‘The Jazz Age’ looks at the era’s achievements in fashion, décor, architecture, and more through an American lens — a rarity when discussing the period. ‘Nobody has taken a look at what the Americans were doing in the 1920s and it turned to be a huge topic and influenced the nature of design in the 1930s,’ Coffin explained.
With over 400 works spread across two floors of the New York museum, highlights range from Lobmeyr glassware that was originally displayed at the 1925 Exposition des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes (the historic Paris design fair attended by many Americans) which later traveled to eight American museums; to a Cartier strap bracelet adorned with timely tutti frutti gems, to Paul T Frankl’s geometric bookcase that mirrored America’s enviable skyscrapers.
Bursting with nostalgia, ‘The Jazz Age’ revives the roaring twenties and proves once again that change can be a good thing.
INFORMATION
‘The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s’ is on view until 20 August, and then at Cleveland Museum of Art from 30 September – 14 January 2018. For more information, visit the Cooper Hewitt website
ADDRESS
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
2 East 91st Street
New York, NY 10128
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
-
Maude’s Brâncuși-inspired sex toys go on display in a new Paris exhibition
Maude’s design-led vibrators are now on display at Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, as part of ‘Private Lives: From the Bedroom to Social Media’. Brand founder Éva Goicochea talks to Wallpaper* about partnering with the museum and opening up cultural conversations around sex
By India Birgitta Jarvis Published
-
‘I was captivated by the idea of merging two iconic brands’: Nigo on his 1990s-inspired collaboration with Moncler and Mercedes-Benz
Unveiled at Moncler’s ‘The City of Genius’ event in Shanghai this past weekend, Japanese fashion designer Nigo unpacks his three-way collaboration with Moncler and Mercedes-Benz, which includes a play on the G-Class alongside a fashion collection in his eclectic style
By Jack Moss Published
-
Cathay Pacific’s new business class Aria Suites take flight
Cathay Pacific raises the bar for business-class travel with the launch of the much-anticipated Aria Suites
By Lauren Ho Published
-
Nendo’s collaborations with Kyoto artisans go on view in New York
‘Nendo sees Kyoto’ is on view at Friedman Benda (until 15 October 2022), showcasing the design studio's collaboration with six artisans specialised in ancient Japanese crafts
By Pei-Ru Keh Last updated
-
Italian craftsmanship comes to Los Angeles in this eclectic Venice Canals apartment
Boffi Los Angeles celebrates a juxtaposition of texture throughout a waterside bolthole
By Hannah Silver Last updated
-
Design Miami/Basel 2022 explores the Golden Age
Design Miami/Basel 2022, led by curatorial director Maria Cristina Didero, offers a positive spin after the unprecedented times of the pandemic, and looks at the history and spirit of design
By Rosa Bertoli Last updated
-
Kvadrat’s flagship New York showrooms encompass colourful design codes
Industrial designer Jonathan Olivares and architect Vincent Van Duysen have worked with Danish textile brand Kvadrat on the vast new space, also featuring furniture by Moroso
By Hannah Silver Last updated
-
What to see at New York Design Week 2022
Discover Wallpaper’s highlights from New York Design Week 2022 (10 – 20 May 2022): the fairs, exhibitions and design openings to discover
By Pei-Ru Keh Last updated
-
Colour defines LA ceramics studio and showroom of Bari Ziperstein
Step inside the multifunctional ceramics studio, office and showroom of designer and artist Bari Ziperstein, designed by local firm Foss Hildreth
By Pei-Ru Keh Last updated
-
Design for Ukraine: Bocci and Design Miami join forces to raise funds
The online sale of iconic Bocci pieces will benefit GlobalGiving’s Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund, providing urgently needed humanitarian aid
By Rosa Bertoli Last updated
-
Designer Marcin Rusak rallies international creatives to raise funds for Ukraine
Raising funds for Poland’s Fundacja Ocalenie, Warsaw-based designer Marcin Rusak is making the most of Instagram’s immediacy, auctioning original pieces donated by international designers
By Rosa Bertoli Last updated