''Century of the Child: Growing by Design, 1900-2000'' Exhibition
The Museum of Modern Art
This event has ended.
The Museum of Modern Art's ambitious survey of 20th–century design for children, is the first large-scale overview of the modernist preoccupation with children and childhood as a paradigm for progressive design thinking. The exhibition, on view at MoMA from July 29 to November 5, 2012, brings together areas underrepresented in design history and often considered separately, including school architecture, playgrounds, toys and animation, clothing, children's hospitals and safety equipment, nurseries, furniture, and books. This exhibition is organized by Juliet Kinchin, Curator, and Aidan O'Connor, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Architecture and Design, The Museum of Modern Art.
In 1900, Swedish design reformer and social theorist Ellen Key's book Century of the Child presaged the 20th century as a period of intensified focus and progressive thinking regarding the rights, development, and well-being of children as interests of utmost importance to all society. Taking inspiration from Key—and looking back through the 20th century 100 years after her forecast—this exhibition examines individual and collective visions for the material world of children, from utopian dreams for the "citizens of the future" to the dark realities of political conflict and exploitation. In this period children have been central to the concerns, ambitions, and activities of modern architects and designers both famous and unsung, and working specifically for children has often provided unique freedom and creativity to the avant-garde.
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Schedule
from July 29, 2012 to November 05, 2012