Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum
Encyclopedia
Cooper–Hewitt, National Design Museum, a subsidiary of the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...

, is the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

' national museum
National museum
A national museum is a museum maintained by a nation.The following is a list of national museums:-Australia:*Australian National Aviation Museum*Australian National Maritime Museum*, Sydney*Australian War Memorial*Museum Victoria...

 of design history and contemporary design and the only museum in the U.S. whose collection is solely focused on contemporary and historic design. The museum is located in the former Andrew Carnegie Mansion
Andrew Carnegie Mansion
The Andrew Carnegie Mansion is located at 2 East 91st Street at Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York City, New York. Andrew Carnegie built his mansion in 1903 and lived there until his death in 1919; his wife, Louise, lived there until her death in 1946. The building is now the Cooper-Hewitt,...

 at Fifth Avenue
Fifth Avenue (Manhattan)
Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the center of the borough of Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States. The section of Fifth Avenue that crosses Midtown Manhattan, especially that between 49th Street and 60th Street, is lined with prestigious shops and is consistently ranked among...

 and East 91st Street, part of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

's Museum Mile
Museum Mile, New York City
Museum Mile is the name for a section of Fifth Avenue in Manhattan in the city of New York, in the United States, running from 82nd to 104th streets on the Upper East Side in a neighborhood known as Carnegie Hill. The "mile", which contains one of the densest displays of culture in the world, is...

. In addition to its permanent collection and regular exhibits, the museum presents the annual National Design Awards
National Design Awards
The National Design Awards, founded in 2000, is funded and awarded by Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. There are seven official design categories, and three additional awards...

 in more than ten categories, "celebrating the best in American design." The Museum also offers a Master of Arts program in the History of Decorative Arts and Design in cooperation with Parsons The New School for Design
Parsons The New School for Design
Parsons The New School For Design, known colloquially as Parsons, is the art and design college of The New School university. It is located in New York City's Greenwich Village, and has produced artists and designers such as Marc Jacobs, Dean and Dan Caten, Norman Rockwell, Donna Karan, Jane...

.

History

The Cooper Union Museum for the Arts of Decoration was founded in 1897 by Amy, Eleanor, and Sarah Hewitt, the granddaughters of industrialist Peter Cooper
Peter Cooper
Peter Cooper was an American industrialist, inventor, philanthropist, and candidate for President of the United States...

, and daughters of Abram S. Hewitt, Mayor of New York in 1887–88. It was formed on the model of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris and was to be free to all. The Museum was initially part of The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
Cooper Union
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, commonly referred to simply as Cooper Union, is a privately funded college in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States, located at Cooper Square and Astor Place...

.

Building

The main museum building is the Andrew Carnegie Mansion
Andrew Carnegie Mansion
The Andrew Carnegie Mansion is located at 2 East 91st Street at Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York City, New York. Andrew Carnegie built his mansion in 1903 and lived there until his death in 1919; his wife, Louise, lived there until her death in 1946. The building is now the Cooper-Hewitt,...

, completed in 1903, and since designated a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...

. Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...

, the American steel magnate and philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...

, lived there until his death in 1919. The neighborhood became known as Carnegie Hill
Carnegie Hill, Manhattan
Carnegie Hill is a neighborhood within the Upper East Side, in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. Its boundaries extend from 86th Street on the south to 96th Street to the north, between Fifth Avenue on the west and Third Avenue on the east, and up to 98th Street from Fifth to Park...

. The Carnegie Corporation gave the house and property to the Smithsonian in 1972,, and the modern incarnation of the Museum opened there as a Smithsonian Institution subsidiary in 1976.

In 1995, the building was renovated to improve the study center and provide handicapped access following a re-branding and re-naming the previous year. The interior was redesigned by the architectural firm, Polshek and Partners, headed by James Polshek
James Polshek
James Stewart Polshek is an American architect based in New York City. He is the founder of Polshek Partnership, the firm at which he was Principal Design Partner for more than four decades...

 in 2001.

Collection

The Museum contains more than 250,000 objects ranging from Han Dynasty
Han Dynasty
The Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms . It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang...

 objects to the present; it is organized into four curatorial departments: Product Design
Product design
-Introduction:Product design is the process of creating a new product to be sold by a business or enterprise to its customers. It is concerned with the efficient and effective generation and development of ideas through a process that leads to new products.Product designers conceptualize and...

 and Decorative Arts, Drawing
Drawing
Drawing is a form of visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, markers, styluses, and various metals .An artist who...

s, Prints
Printmaking
Printmaking is the process of making artworks by printing, normally on paper. Printmaking normally covers only the process of creating prints with an element of originality, rather than just being a photographic reproduction of a painting. Except in the case of monotyping, the process is capable...

, and Graphic Design
Graphic design
Graphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form – undertaken in order to convey a specific message to a targeted audience...

, Textiles, and Wallcoverings. The museum also houses the National Design Library, containing 70,000 volumes. Among its holdings, Cooper-Hewitt possesses a Michelangelo
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art...

 drawing for a seven-branched candelabrum. It was identified in the Museum's drawings collection by Sir Timothy Clifford, director of the National Galleries of Scotland
National Galleries of Scotland
The National Galleries of Scotland are the five national galleries of Scotland and two partner galleries. It is one of the country's National Collections.-List of national galleries:* The National Gallery of Scotland* The Royal Scottish Academy Building...

, while on a sabbatical at the museum in April 2002.

National Design Week

National Design Week was founded in 2006 "in recognition of design's continuing resonance in our daily lives." The program's goal is to draw attention to the ways that design enriches everyday life, through outreach to school teachers and their students, and partnerships with design organizations across the country. Museum admission is free during the week to increase visitation and understanding of design. National Design Week and the National Design Education Center is supported by Target. The winners of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

's bike rack competition are scheduled to be announced at the third annual National Design Week in October 2008 in addition to the balance of the National Design Awards
National Design Awards
The National Design Awards, founded in 2000, is funded and awarded by Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. There are seven official design categories, and three additional awards...

.

External links

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