At Home in Manhattan: Modern Decorative Arts, 1925 to the Depression

At Home in Manhattan' exhibition highlights the works of major American designers active in New York City during the 1920s. Including 81 objects by 47 designers, this exhibition sheds new light on a largely forgotten era of American design. In the past, several exhibitions in Europe and America have brought the so-called Art Deco style to public attention, and numerous histories of design movements of the 1920s have appeared. These endeavors, however, have focused primarily on European developments, whereas American designs of the period remain largely unexamined.The designs in this exhibition represent a creative alternative to the conservatism that dominated American decorative arts during the 1920s. It documents the period of renewed vitality in New York design circles following the Paris 'Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes' of 1925. At that time, modern designers were working in Cleveland, Chicago, Los Angeles, and elsewhere, but accordin