Designing Modernity: The Arts of Reform and Persuasion, 1885-1945 ed. by Wendy Kaplan

Abstract

BOOK REVIEW DesigningModernity: The Arts ofReform and Persuasion, 1885-1945. Ed­ ited by Wendy Kaplan. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1995. Pp. 352; illustrations, notes, checklist of exhibition objects, index. $60.00 (cloth). The ten essays collected by Wendy Kaplan in this companion pub­ lication to the Wolfsonian Museum’s inaugural exhibit range widely in exploration of the ways in which the design of objects conveyed political and social reform ideologies in the late 19th and early and mid-20th centuries. For the purposes of this volume “modernity” is defined as everything different from what came before the “dra­ matic break with an agrarian world” (p.7), and Kaplan arranges these essays according to three phases ofreaction to modernity thus broadly conceived: confrontation, celebration, and manipulation. In such a broad context each contributor is free to interpret the book’s theme in individual fashion. Focused geographically on Britain, Eu­ rope, Ireland, Russia, Scandinavia, and the United States, these es­ says also reference each other to illustrate international cultural and political influences on design. The Wolfsonian collection was assembled to foster understanding of the social and political ideas of Europe and America through at­ tention to what founder Mitchell WolfsonJr. describes as “the inter­ play—the relation between the created object and its maker or com­ missioner” (p. 9). In her introduction to this book, Peggy Loar, former director of the museum, outlines the parameters ofthe muse­ um’s seventy thousand-objectcollection in the decorative and propa­ ganda arts. The remaining essays explore the collections at length, and several will be ofinterest to historians of technology, particularly to those who study the process and influence of design. Wendy Kaplan’s “Traditions Transformed: Romantic Nationalism in Design, 1890-1920” discusses romantic nationalism as a core so­ ciocultural movement in Europe at the turn of the century. Kaplan, consulting curator at the Wolfsonian, does not attempt a compre­ hensive analysis of romantic nationalist ideology, but uses Marshall Berman’s observation that “to be modern is to live a life of paradox and contradiction ... it is to be both revolutionary and conservative” (p. 19) and selections from the Wolfsonian collection to construct a comparative analysis. An 1899 Norwegian chair with flowing interPermission to reprint or quote from this review may be obtained only from the author. 475 476 Christian W. 0verland lace patterns and carved dragon heads, originating from Viking adornment, exemplifies the type of folk revival that asserted the na­ tionalistic importance of past traditions. Kaplan argues that Norwe­ gian romantic nationalism was a reform movement that professed political independence from other Scandinavian countries and chal­ lenged attributes of modernity including mass production, urban­ ism, and new technology. In terms of design it was characterized by the recasting of traditions for new markets and users. She is careful to point out that the shifting political borders ofEuropean countries had much to do with the specific manifestations and intensity of romantic nationalism. As explored in other essays by Dennis Doordan , John Heskett, and Marianne Lamonaca, romantic nationalism reaffirmed middle-class values, stability, and group cohesion while leading to intolerance of non-native people. Jeffrey Meikle’s “Domesticating Modernity: Ambivalence and Ap­ propriation, 1920—40” explores the celebration of modernity as a propaganda tool that neutralized modernity’s strangeness. Meikle argues that the “sheer numbers of representations of modern life, more than any particular type ofrepresentation, made people more comfortable with modernity” (p. 165). He also discusses the practice of appropriating modern icons, miniaturized into everyday objects such as toy spaceships and a water pitcher resembling the form of a skyscraper, into a personal environment. His collection of these reassuring narratives illustrates European and American manufac­ turers’ and governments’ desire to retain social stability during the economic chaos of the 1920s and 1930s. Irene de Guttry and Maria Paola Maino’s “Forging Modern Italy: From Wrought Iron to Aluminum” chronologically follows the de­ velopment ofItalian decorative metalworking in the transition from artisan to industrial era. Focusing on individual ironworkers such as Coppede, Mazzucotelli, Bellotto, Rizzarda, and Thayaht, and on examples of their work in the Wolfsonian collection, the authors illustrate how metalwork design was transferred from romantic na­ tionalist artisans to architects who designed with...