The Power of Display: A History of Exhibition Installations at the Museum of Modern Art

418 Pages·1999·44.607 MB·English

by  Ma Staniszewski

at
Installations
Exhibition
AH istory of
Art
Modern
the Museum of
A . History of Exhibition Installations at
the
Museum
of Modern Art
Staniszewski
Mary Anne
The MIT Press
Cambridge M
, assachusett
Londo E !i
n, ngland
F~rst MIT Press paperback ed1t1on, 2001
0 1998 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
All nghts reserved. No part of th1s book may be reproduced 1n any form by any
electronic or mechan1cal means (mcluding photocopymg, record1ng. or mformauon
storage and retneval) w1thout permiSSIOn m wnt1ng from the publisher
Th1s book was set 1n Franklin GothiC by Graph1c CompOSition. Inc and was prmted
and bound 1n the Umted States of Amenca.
Library of Congress Catalog1ng-1n-Publicat10n Data
Stamszewsk1, Mary Anne
The power of d1splay · a h1story of exh1b1t1on mstallauons at the Museum of
Modern Art 1 Mary Anne Stamszewski.
p em.
Includes b1bhograph1cal references and 1ndex.
ISBN 0-262·19402·3 (he alk. paper). 0-262·69272-4 (pb)
1 Museum exh1b1ts-New York (State)-New York- History. 2 Museum of
Modern Art (New York. N.Y.) I. Museum of Modern Art (New York. N.Y.) II. T1t1e.
N620.M9S83 1998
709' .04 '007 4 7471-dc21 98 7880
CIP

List of Illustrations -+ VIii
Acknowledgments -+ xiv
Introduction Installation Des1gn: The ·unconscious" of Art Exh1b1t1ons -+ XIX
1 Fram1ng Installation Design: The International Avant-Gardes -+ 1
2 Aesthet1c1zed Installations for Modernism. Ethnographic Art. and ObJects of Everyday L1fe -+ 59
3 Installations for Good Des1gn and Good Taste -+ 141
4 Installations for Polit1cal Persuasion -+ 207
5 Installation Des1gn and Installation Art -+ 261
6 Conclusion· The Museum and the Power of Memory -+ 289
Notes -+ 310
Bibliography -+ 344
Reproduction Credits -+ 360
Index-+ 362
List of Illustrations 1.12 Rodchenko. Worker's Club. on ExposrtiOn lnternatronale des Arts Decoratrfs
et /ndustrtels Modernes (19251 15
1.13 Lossotzky. Abstract Cabmet (1927. 1928) 17
1.14 ·Gallery 44" of Hanover Landesmuseum. after Dorner's reorganozatoon
(ca late 1920s) 18
1.15 'Gallery 43" of Landesmuseum. before Dorner"s reorganozatoon (ca early
1920s) 18
1.16 "Dome Gallery· of Landesmuseum. first exhobotoon after Dorner's reorganoza
toon (1930) 19
1.1 Varnedoe woth Neuner. paontong and sculpture gallenes. MoMA (1997) xx
1.17 "Dome Gallery." Reformatron Exhrbrtron. Landesmuseum (1917) 19
1.2 lnstallatoon photograph of MoMA's first exhobotoon. Cezanne. Gaugum, Seurat.
van Gogh (1929) XXIV 1.18 Renaossance Gallery of Landesmuseum. after Dorner's reorganozatoon (after
1925) 20
1.3 Photographong exhobotoons wothout voewers xxv
1.19 Moholy·Nagy. drawong. The Room of Our Trme (ca. 1930) 21
1.4 A pubhcoty photograph of an exhobotoon xxvo
1.20 Koesler. detaol of wall honges. Surrealrst Gallery (1942) 22
1.5 The museum as commercoal space xxvo
1.21 Ftrst lnternattonal Dada Fatr(1920) 23
1.6 Choldren's exhobotoon xxv11
1.22 Duchamp, Ftrst Papers of Surrealrsm (1942) 24
1.1 Homage to Marcon• (1932) 2
1.23 Gropous. cafe bar and gymnasoum. Exposrtron de Ia Socrete des Artrstes
1.2 Koesler. lnternatronal E~htbttrons of New Theater Techmque (1924) 5 Decorateurs ( 1930) 26
1.3 Koesler, "L Type· dosplay 6 1.24 Bayer. Dragram of Freid of Vrsron (1930) 28
1.4 Koesler. "T Type· dosplay 6 1.25 Bayer. furnoture and archotecture gallery. Exposrtron de Ia Socrete des
Artrstes Decorateurs (1930) 29
1.5 The Armor} Show(1913) 7
1.26 Bayer and Gropous. utensols do splay. Exposrtron de Ia Socrete des Artrstes
1.6 Koesler, Erghteen Functrons of the One Chatr(1942) 9 Decorateurs (1930) 30
1. 7 Vosotors lookong at artworks on Koesler's Pamtmg "Lrbrary" and Study Area 1.27 Gropous. gymnasoum and pool. Exposrtton de Ia Socrete des Artrstes Deco
(1942) 10
rateurs (1930) 31
1.8 Koesler, Surrealrst Ga//ery(1942) 11
1.28 Rapon and Rapon, swommong pool. Exposrtton de Ia Socrete des Artrstes
Decorateurs (19301 31
1.9 Koesler, Abstract Galleq (1942) 12
1.29 Bayer. Gropous. and Moholy·Nagy. Burldmg Workers· Unrons Exhrbrtron
1.10 Kotsler. Kmetrc Gallerf (1942) 13
(1935) 32
1.11 l<.ocsler. Crty m SpBCC (1925) 13
1.30 Bayer, Dragram of 360 Degrees of Field of Vrsron (1935) 33