Looking Back,
Looking Forward

On the occasion of our 10th anniversary, Modernism asked experts active in the modern design field to respond to
the following questions:

1. What was the most important moment for 20th-century modernism in the past 10 years?

2. What is the greatest discovery of 20th-century modernism yet to be made?

Their answers, varied and thought provoking, show that modernism is alive and well and still evolving. —Andrea Truppin

Dan Tolson
Associate Director, 20th-Century Decorative Art & Design
Christie’s, London, UK
The groundbreaking 2001 traveling exhibition on supremely gifted and prolific Finnish designer Tapio Wirkkala (1915—85) was key to developing new awareness of mid-century Scandinavian design. “Tapio Wirkkala, Hand, Eye,Thought,” which originated at the Museum of Art and Design (now the Design Museum) in Helsinki, had spectacular visual punch, with such displays as a stunning series of large laminated birch Pyrörre (Whirl) wall panels. The exhibition communicated the great breadth and diversity of Wirkkala’s genius, from his collaborative efforts with Venini glassworks in Venice, Rosenthal ceramics in Germany and Mexican silversmiths, through to sculpture, painting, architecture and mass-produced objects, such as tableware, furniture, lighting, posters, postage stamps and packaging. A selection of Wirkkala’s sketches, notes and models helped to reveal his poetic approach to design, which he expressed, in part, as “all materials have their own unwritten laws.... the designer should aim at being in harmony with his material.” The accompanying catalogue remains an unsurpassed guide, ensuring Wirkkala’s standing among the greatest designers of the 20th century.

Ettore Sottsass, who sadly passed away last December, is well known in name, but his work is arguably undervalued and overdue for rediscovery. His passing provides a valuable opportunity for reappraisal. Significantly, the Los Angeles County Museum held the first major survey exhibition of his work in the United States in 2006, followed by an exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Last year, the Design Museum in London mounted “Ettore Sottsass: Work in Progress.” Sottsass, and the work of his collaborators at Memphis and Studio Alchymia, is surely one of the few remaining neglected, yet key, areas of 20th-century design.

Garth Clark
Historian, critic, private dealer, recipient of the Mather Award for distinguished art criticism, New York, New York
The last decade has been the most decisive for 20th-century ceramics. It is now appreciated and understood as never before. Its art stature has grown; its prices have soared. But there has been a major casualty: the American craft movement, which died in the late 1990s. It lost its flagship, the American Craft Museum, now the Museum of Arts and Design, and its main organization, the American Craft Council, has been in a moribund state for nearly two decades.

What killed craft? It could just be old age; the movement was over 100 years old and its role in society had steadily been diminishing. The final coup de grâce may have come from the success of contemporary design, which is now so creative, diverse and Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117