Contract Magazine - April 2019 - 72

The Power of Design
A current MoMA exhibition invites visitors to contemplate
the meaning and value of good design.
1

"The Value of Good Design" at
the Museum of Modern Art in
New York (1) features objects
that have helped define the
concept of "good design" over
the past 90 years. A 1959
Sony Corporation portable
television (2) represents
one of the most important
moments in television history.
A prototype Chaise Longue
by Charles and Ray Eames (3)
is constructed of hard rubber
foam, plastic, wood, and
metal. A 1944 Presto Cheese
Slicer (4) by John R. Carroll is
made from cast aluminum and
steel wire and was manufactured by R.A. Frederick Co.

2

3

4

72

"Is there art in a broomstick? Yes, says Manhattan's
Museum of Modern Art, if it is designed both
for usefulness and good looks," says a 1953
Time magazine review of MoMA's "Good Design"
exhibition, which was on display from Sept. 22-
Nov. 29 of that year.
It's no secret that New York's Museum
of Modern Art has been purveyor of good design
since its early days. It's initiatives during the 1930s
through the 1950s championed well-designed
products through the Good Design exhibition,
as well as a show titled "Useful Objects" (1938-48),
and through competitions, educational programs,
and even three fully-furnished homes displayed
in the museum gardens.
Currently, the MoMA has another exhibition
on display through June 15, coined "The Value
of Good Design," in which the museum takes yet
another deep dive into the products that have
shaped and had lasting influence over our modern
world-from a Chemex Coffee Maker to a 1968
Fiat 500F and Eero Saarinen's 1946 Womb Chair.
"The Value of Good Design allowed us
to explore an extraordinarily rich vein of material
in the Museum's collection," says Juliet Kinchin,
curator in the department of architecture and
design. "It was conceived as a way to tell the story
of MoMA's involvement in championing industrial
design in the 1940s and 1950s, but also to suggest

the international constellation of similar programs
in countries around the world, like 'Formes Utiles'
in France, the São Paulo Biennial in Brazil, and
'Die Gute' Form in Switzerland."
The exhibition seeks to explore the
democratizing potential of good design, which
has been a phenomenon since the Cold War and
continues to be equally important today as we
look toward the products of the future and ask
ourselves what makes them valuable. Visitors to
the exhibition are welcomed to test out products
still in production and experience how MoMA
continues to incubate good design through
exhibitions as well as in its design stores.
"These days we are allergic to the idea of
universalizing models of design-no one size suits
all, and we need to be conscious of whose values
are driving any definition of what we consider good
or bad," Kinchin says. "Having said that, I think
it is still valid to aim for design that is humane,
affordable, useful, and beautiful. We hope the
exhibition will encourage visitors to pause and
think about whether 'useful objects' like cookie
cutters and plastic dog bowls, as well as more
glamorous mid-century furniture and textiles,
have stood the test of time, and perhaps also think
about the choices we all make as consumers
on a daily basis." -MEGHAN DWYER

contractdesign.com

APRIL 2019

PHOTOGRAPHY: JOHN WRONN

EXHIBITION
http://www.contractdesign.com
Contract Magazine - April 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Contract Magazine - April 2019
