Prerequisites

Open to graduate students. SOA students must have completed Surveys 1, 2, and 3.  Upper-division undergraduate and graduate students from other departments are welcome to enroll with the consent of the instructor.

Description and Format

This course is a research seminar focusing on the rise of modern design in the United States from 1900 to 1940. Students will be expected to read a wide array of primary and background texts, make in-class presentations, and write a short paper. They will also prepare a substantial (25-30 pages) research paper at the end of the semester. In addition to covering the problems and themes associated with modern American design, this seminar is intended to provide students a strong, hands-on knowledge of the techniques of historical research and visual analysis.

Course Requirements

Students will be required to participate in class discussions (20%), give two short oral presentations and write a short paper (30%), and produce a substantial final paper based on original research and present the results in class (50%).   

Required Readings

Friedman, Marilyn F. Selling Good Design: Promoting the Early Modern Interior. New York: Rizzoli, 2003.

Gorman, Carma. The Industrial Design Reader. New York:  Allworth Press, 2003.

Long, Christopher. Paul T. Frankl and Modern American Design. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2007.

Massey, Anne. Interior Design of the Twentieth Century. London: Thames & Hudson, 1990.

Wilson, Kristina. Livable Modernism: Interior Decoration and Design During the Great Depression. Exhibition catalog. New Haven and London: Yale University Art Gallery/Yale University Press, 2004.