THE COOPER-HEWITT
NATIONAL DESIGN MUSEUM
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
2001 HONOREE
Design Patrons
Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution is the only museum in the United States devoted exclusively to historical and contemporary design. Believing that design makes our products, environments, and communications more desirable, functional, and accessible, the Museum celebrates design's impact on daily life.
Since Russel Wright's designs for the home were conceived to make everyday life easier and more enjoyable for millions of Americans, it is particularly fitting that Cooper-Hewitt has organized the first major retrospective of Wright's work. Opening November 20, 2001, Russel Wright: Creating American Lifestyle is curated by Donald Albrecht and Robert Schonfeld. It examines Wright's career as it progressed outward from the table to the complete environment of home and landscape, which culminated in Dragon Rock and Manitoga. Throughout, Wright and his wife, Mary, espoused a philosophy of "easier living," a uniquely American lifestyle that was gracious yet contemporary and informal. Wright's designs and teachings revolutionized the way people live.
Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum was founded in 1897 by Amy, Eleanor, and Sarah Hewitt—granddaughters of industrialist Peter Cooper—as part of The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. A branch of the Smithsonian since 1967, the Museum, with more than 250,000 objects, is one of the largest repositories of design in the world. Through its exhibitions, publications, and educational programs, the Museum explores objects both rare and beautiful as well as familiar and commonplace.
Exhibitions such as the National Design Triennial, The Opulent Eye of Alexander Girard, Skin: Surface and Substance in Contemporary Design, and New Hotels for Global Nomads and programs including the annual National Design Awards champion modern and contemporary architecture, industrial design, landscape design, interior design, textiles, fashion, and graphic design. Other exhibitions—from Glass of the Avant-Garde: From Vienna Secession to Bauhaus to Rooms with a View: Landscape and Wallpaper—provide a historical context for understanding design's evolution over the centuries.
Paul Thompson
Director
Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution