Century of Progress International Exposition (1933-1934 : Chicago, Ill.) Search this
New York World's Fair (1939-1940 : New York, N.Y.) Search this
Physical description:
3.25 cu. ft
Type:
Mixed archival materials
Scrapbooks
Photographs
Clippings
Commercial catalogs
Place:
United States
Date:
1930
1930-1944
Notes:
Herman Miller Inc. Corporate Archives, Zeeland, MI. Photographs, blueprints, renderings, correspondence, oral histories, and related records. Additional biographical information on Rohde can be found on the Herman Miller web site: http://www.hermanmiller.com/CDA/design/bio/0,1273,c80-b12,00.html.
Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, Dearborn, MI. Herman Miller trade catalogs and price lists documenting Rohde's work for the company from 1930-1944. Also owns a number of pieces of furniture designed by Rohde.
Levi Haywood Memorial Library, Gardner, MA. Trade catalogs and miscellaneous papers relating to Rohde's work for the Heywood-Wakefield Furniture Company.
Naperville Historical Society, Naperville, IL. Trade catalogs and related records relating to Rohde's work for Kroehler Furniture Company.
Furniture designed by Rohde can be found in the collections of the following museums: The Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA; Grand Rapids Art Museum, MI; Dallas Historical Society, TX; Newark Museum, Newark, NJ; New Jersey Historical Society, Newark, NJ.
Furniture and industrial designer. Born New York, 1894. Rhode studied art at the Art Students League and the Grand Central School of Art, New York. By 1923, he was a freelance illustrator for department stores such as Abraham & Straus, W & J. Sloane, and Macy's. He opened his own design sudio in New York in 1929. He designed domestic, office, and children's furniture, as well as interiors.
Rhode designed for furniture manufacturers such as Herman Miller Furniture Company, Haywood-Wakefield, Kroehler, Thonet, and Troy Sunshade. Some of his other clients included Rohm and Haas Company and Hudson Motor Car Company. He is best known for his modern furniture designs that were free of ornamentation and modular in construction.
Rohde was a pioneer in the use of glass, chrome, bakelite and other plastics. The family of clocks he designed was a striking departure from traditional clock designs. He was an active promoter of modern design concepts and headed the Industrial Design Department at New York University, 1939-43.
Rohde served on the committee of architects and designers for the 1939 New York World's Fair and designed four exhibition installations.
Rohde's furniture designs were featured in important design exhibitions such as: "Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts", Brooklyn Museum of Art, 1931; "Design for the Machine", 1932, Pennsylvania [Philadelphia] Museum of Art; Century of Progress Exposition, Chicago, 1933; "Machine Art", Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1934; "Industrial Arts Exhibition",
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1934; "Contemporary American Industrial Art: 1940", Metropolitan Museum of Art; and "Machine Age in America: 1918-1941", Brooklyn Museum, New York, 1986. His work was also the subject of a one-man show at the Washburn Gallery in New York City in 1981.
Guide to the collection exists.
The six scrapbooks and research materials were donated to Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, in 1989 by Lee Rohde, son of Gilbert Rohde. Lee Rhode has processed this material for Cooper-Hewitt.
Summary:
This collection covers Rohde's career from 1930 to 1944. Material in Box A covers the period 1930-1944 and includes magazine and newspaper artricles by and about Gilbert Rohde, his design projects, exhibitions, and educational programs. Box B contains general articles dating from 1929-1934.
Box C contains general articles dating from 1935-45. Box D holds articles from foreign publications. Box E contains original photographs of furniture designed by Rohde. Box F holds original photographs of showrooms, displays, etc. Several catalogs from the Herman Miller Furniture Company illustrating Rohde's work are boxed separately.
