Designed by the renowned Barcelona-based architects Barozzi Veiga and featuring cutting-edge casework and lighting, the impressive new galleries span 4,500 square feet and offer a stunning setting for the creativity and innovation that defined European design during an era of extraordinary transformation. Geopolitical shifts and economic gains from international trade, colonial exploitation, and industrialization gave rise to new and expanding cities and towns. These urban centers, in turn, made fertile ground for designers, craftspeople and consumers to embrace new technologies and respond to the allure of newly imported materials, such as Asian porcelain, lacquer, and tropical hardwoods.
A digital rendering of the Barozzi Veiga designs for the new Eloise W. Martin Galleries
This complex dynamism comes to life in the new space through a series of chronological displays that highlight the various elements shaping design, forces ranging from economic philosophy to Enlightenment intellectualism and from the wealth of empire to the Industrial Revolution.
Meissen Porcelain Manufactory; modeled by Johann Joachim Kändler. Meissen, Saxony, Germany
Hans Ludwig Kienle. Ulm, Germany
Attributed to Giles Grendey. London, England
Wedgwood Manufactory; probably modeled by William Hackwood. Etruria, Staffordshire, England
Royal Worcester Porcelain Company; designed by James Hadley. Worcester, England
The objects on view—40% more than previously installed—comprise rarely seen works, new acquisitions, and notable loans from private collections. Although designed for European patrons, these works were created by skilled craftspeople from across Europe, Asia, and the Americas.
Coromandel Coast, probably Madras (Chennai), India
Mounts attributed to Jean-Claude Duplessis. China and Paris, France
Designed by William Burges; painted by Nathaniel Hubert John Westlake; made by Harland & Fisher. London, England
Highlights include a finely carved chair crafted by Indian artisans for a European merchant in Madras (Chennai) in the late 1600s, a pair of rare red-glazed Chinese porcelain vases imported to Paris in the mid-1700s where they were mounted in exuberant gilded bronze, and a striking neo-Gothic sideboard from mid-1800s England, painted with witty wine-themed references. A dramatic new area is also dedicated to the Art Institute’s notable collection of European ceramics.
Through this inaugural installation, as well as subsequent evolving rotations, visitors will have the chance to experience and appreciate the daring novelty and innovation of this vibrant period of European design.
The new installation is curated by the department of Applied Arts of Europe: Ellenor Alcorn, chair and Eloise W. Martin Curator; Christopher Maxwell, Samuel and M. Patricia Grober Curator; and Jonathan Tavares, Amy and Paul Carbone Curator, with the assistance of Mairead Horton, research associate.
