Current Exhibitions
A Selection of Upcoming and Current Exhibitions Featuring the Decorative Arts
View of surtout de table in Tablescapes: Designs for Dining. Photo: Matt Flynn © Smithsonian Institution
Tablescapes: Designs for Dining
Cooper Hewitt/Smithsonian Design Museum
New York, NY
Through April 14, 2019
Tablescapes: Designs for Dining offers a timeline of dining experiences through three installations. At the center is surtout de table, a newly conserved object from the museum’s collection that decorated the tables of French nobility at the turn of the 19th century and is on view for the first time in 30 years.
The exhibition also spotlights the work of textile designer Marguerita Mergentime, who was active in the 1920s and ’30s.
To address 21st-century concerns, the exhibition debuts experimental and collaborative products commissioned from National Design Award-winning designers Joe Doucet and Mary Ping.
Tablescapes: Designs for Dining is made possible by Anonymous. Conservation of the surtout de table is made possible by the Smithsonian Women’s Committee, with in-kind support from Shapeways and the Abadi Group.
Gorham Manufacturing Company, Epergne and Plateau, 1872 and 1876. The Gorham Collection. Gift of Textron Inc. Image from risdmuseum.org.
Gorham Silver: Designing Brilliance 1850–1970
Rhode Island School of Design Museum
Providence, RI
May 3–December 1, 2019
Gorham Silver: Designing Brilliance 1850–1970 casts new light on the legacy of the Gorham Manufacturing company, established in 1831 (Providence, RI). Home to the largest collection of Gorham, the RISD Museum presents silver and mixed-metal wares, reflecting the industry, artistry, innovation and technology of the manufactory for 120 years.
Gorham rose from a small firm to the largest silver company in the world, putting American design on the international stage. The company responded to the era’s desire to celebrate, feast, socialize, honor and simply enjoy the everyday in style.
The exhibition is accompanied by a publication from Rizzoli with new imagery and recent research.