Modern World

The Yale University Art Gallery is home to an amazing collection of American decorative arts. "A Modern World" provides a comprehensive look at the Gallery's holdings of modernist design made in America or for the American market. The catalogue features a mix of high-style decorative arts, industrial design, and everyday objects, including furniture by Paul T. Frankl, handwrought sterling silver, Ruth Reeves textiles, mass-produced Revere housewares, and costume jewellery. The authors consider modernism broadly, establishing a context for the objects within larger international developments in painting, sculpture, decorative arts, and architecture. Entries are arranged in a series of chronological, thematic groups, offering new and compelling juxtapositions. Each group is introduced by an essay that presents the social, ideological, and aesthetic themes that unify the objects.