Marilyn F. Friedman, Design Historian

In late 1928 and early 1929, two major exhibitions were held at the American Designers’ Gallery, which had been established by fifteen New York City designers to display and sell contemporary works of fine and decorative art. In the first exhibition, the designers presented room settings that mirrored the various iterations of European modern design, ranging from sumptuous art deco to simple functionalism. In the second one they melded and modified the various strains of European modern design to produce a distinctively American version of modern design. In this article Ms. Friedman discusses the Gallery exhibitions and their importance in the development of American modern design.

Selling Good Design chronicles exhibitions at prestigious New York department stores that popularized modern design, including art deco, during the late 1920s. Macy's, Lord & Taylor, and other New York stores teamed with designers such as Pierre Chareau, Josef Hoffmann, Gio Ponti, Kem Weber, and Paul Frankl in these efforts.

Studies in the Decorative Arts (The Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design, and Culture, Fall-Winter 2005-2006), 94.
The United States did not participate in the 1925 International Exposition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris. Instead, a Commission appointed by Herbert Hoover, Secretary of Commerce, visited the Exposition and issued a report.  Also, four hundred objects of modern design from the Exposition toured eight U.S. museums.