Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Ted Muehling, 2007 November 17-18. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
An interview of Ted Muehling conducted 2007 November 17-18, by Jane Milosch, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, at Muehling's studio, in New York, New York.
Muehling speaks of visiting New York City as a child; attending Pratt for industrial design; working with molds; working in Germany; winning the Coty fashion award for his jewelry; learning to blow glass; working at Corning; visiting museums as a child and projects in his father's basement workshop; drawing inspiration out of his materials; the rich art history of Europe; working with plastic and wood; working with assistants; the impact of travel on his work; various gallery exhibitions; working with well-known designers; creating functional and inspiring pieces; the American craft market; drawing inspiration from dreams; the humor in his art; the strengths and limitations of various mediums. Muehling also recalls Gerry Gulotta, Eva Zeisel, Ingrid Harding, Kiki Smith, Deborah Czeresko, Gabriella Kiss, Gerda Buxbaum, Jade Hobson, Ingo Mauer, Vija Celmins, Louis Sullivan, Konstantin Grcic, Robert Lee Morris, Helen Drutt, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Ted Muehling (1953- ) is a designer of jewelry and decorative objects in New York, New York. Jane Milosch (1964- ) is a curator from Silver Spring, Maryland.
General:
Originally recorded as 5 digital sound files. Duration is 4 hr., 38 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Restrictions:
ACCESS RESTRICTED: Use requires written permission.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Wendell Castle, 1981 June 3-December 12. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
An interview of Niels Diffrient conducted 2010 July 28 and August 31, by Matilda McQuaid, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, at Diffrient's home and studio, in Ridgefield, Connecticut.
Diffrient speaks of growing up in Detroit while spending his summers with his mother's family in Mississippi; the value of growing up on a farm; attending Cass Technical High School in Detroit; realizing that he did not want to work in a factory; learning about crafts at Cranbrook Academy; travelling to Italy on a Fulbright Grant; working with Italian versus American designers; designing office chairs; the state of education in America. Diffrient's wife, Helena Hernmarck, contributes to the discussion of craft, weaving, and textiles. Diffrient also recalls Hans and Florence Knoll, Eero Saarinen, Eliel Saarinen, Chuck Bassett, David Rowland, Henry Dreyfuss, Bob King, Carl Magnusson, Raymond Loewy, Henry Wolf, Elizabeth Whelan, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Niels Diffrient (1928-2013) is an industrial designer in Ridgefield, Connecticut. Matilda McQuaid (1958-) is deputy curatorial director, Cooper Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York, New York.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 memory cards. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 58 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Occupation:
Industrial designers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Genre/Form:
Interviews
Sound recordings
Sponsor:
Funding for this interview was provided by the Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America.
An interview of Wendell Castle, conducted 1981 June 3-December 12, by Robert F. Brown, in Scotsville, New York, for the Archives of American Art.
Castle speaks of his early work, in Kansas, in industrial design and sculpture; the transition he made in the early 1960s from sculpture to furniture design; teaching furniture design at the School for American Craftsmen, Rochester, New York; Wharton Esherick; the importance of creative design and sound workmanship; exhibitions and commissions; current interest in French 18th Century and Art Deco furniture; the evolution of his work from laminated pieces to an elegant style; and efforts to gain fine art status for his furniture.
Biographical / Historical:
Wendell Castle (1932-2018) was a furniture designer, sculptor, and educator from Rochester, New York. He taught at the School for American Craftsmen and Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York.
General:
Originally recorded on 3 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 5 hr., 27 min.
Provenance:
These interviews are part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art's website.
Occupation:
Furniture designers -- New York (State) Search this
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Arthur J. Pulos, 1980 July 31-1982 Dec. 5. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
An interview of Arthur J. Pulos conducted by Robert F. Brown for the Archives of American Art.
Pulos speaks of his childhood as the son of Greek immigrants in Pennsylvania, his education in design at the Carnegie Institute, his World War II experience in aircraft design and metal fabrication, and his development as a silversmith at the University of Oregon. He discusses his chairmanship of the Design Department, Syracuse University, 1955-1982; his industrial design firm in Syracuse, New York; and his involvement in American and international design and crafts organizations.
Biographical / Historical:
Arthur J. Pulos (1917-1997) was a silversmith, industrial designer, and educator of Syracuse, N.Y.
General:
Originally recorded on 3 sound tape reels and 4 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 12 digital wav files. Duration is 10 hr., 16 min.
Provenance:
These interviews are part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
This series consists of personal and work-related correspondence (primarily incoming correspondence) between Cahill and various friends and colleagues. While a large portion of the series documents Cahill's position as Director of the FAP, it also extends beyond those years and illuminates other aspects of Cahill's career including his interest in folk and Asian art, and his work as an art critic.
There is significant correspondence with the artist Stanton MacDonald Wright between 1936 and 1950, and with the artist Irene Pereira between 1950 and 1953. The series also documents research which Cahill conducted in the late 1940s on the development of the Index of American Design for his introduction to a book on the Index by the National Gallery of Art, published by the Macmillan Company. Correspondence from 1949 provides another angle on the historical details of the FAP through lengthy correspondence documenting Cahill's criticism of William Francis McDonald's book Federal Relief Administration and the Arts (Ohio State University Press, 1969).
There is a large amount of correspondence from July 1960 comprising sympathy letters to Dorothy C. Miller following Cahill's death. Correspondence from 1977 encloses a catalog of an exhibition organized by New York WPA Artists, Inc., at the Parsons School of Design in November 1977. The exhibition, New York City WPA Art, was dedicated to the memory of Holger Cahill.
See Appendix for a list of correspondents (with the exception of those microfilmed on reel 1105) in Series 2
Appendix: Correspondents in Series 2:
Abbott, Berenice: 1944 (letter to the Editor)
Abbott, John: [1946]
Abell, Walter ( -- Canadian Art): -- 1943-1944 (2 letters)
Adams, Charles C.: 1940
Alcopley, Mr.: [1952] (including typescript "Pictures of Alcopley" by Saburo Hasegawa); 1953-1960 (4 letters)
Alsberg, Henry G. (Director, Federal Writers' Projects): 1936 (4 letters)
American Council of Learned Societies: 1949
American Federation of Arts: 1949-1952 (3 letters)
American Folk Art Gallery: 1941
American Heritage: 1954
American Swedish Historical Foundation: 1949
Andrews, Robert Armstrong and Eleanor: [1960], undated
Art in America: 1953
Artists For Victory: [1942]
Artists League of America: 1945
Artists Union of Massachusetts: 1936 (telegram to President Roosevelt)
Arts Council of Japanese Americans for Democracy: 1944
Ashton, Dore: [1960]
Bach, Richard F. (Metropolitan Museum): 1924 and 1950
Bailey, Herbert: 1972 (letter from Naomi Bliven)
Baker, Donald: [1936]
Baker, Jacob (WPA): 1935-1960, undated (10 letters)
Barach, Frederica (Writers' War Board): 1944
Barker, Virgil and Ida: 1945-1960 (4 letters)
Barnard College: 1951 (2 letters)
Barr, Alfred H., Jr. (Museum of Modern Art): 1935-1960 (16 letters)
Barr, Tony: 1960
Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn, Inc.: 1950
Baur, John (Brooklyn Museum): 1946-1960 (6 letters)
Winchester, Alice ( -- Antiques -- Magazine): 1950-1951 (6 letters)
Winser, Beatrice: 1924-1944 (6 letters)
Winter, Anna K. (antiques dealer): 1935
Wisconsin: State Historical Society of Wisconsin: 1939
Woodstock Artists Association: 1960
Woodward, Ellen S.: 1936-1938 (3 letters)
Worcester, Wakefield (architect): 1936
Wright, Russell (industrial designer): [1960]
Wyn: A. A. Wyn, Inc.: 1951
Youngerman, Jack: 1960
Zegri, Armando (Galeria Sudamericana): 1960
Zimmerman, Fred and Dorothy: [1960]
Zorach, William: 1936-1960 (3 letters)
Collection Restrictions:
The microfilm of this collection has been digitized and is available online via the Archives of American Art website.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Holger Cahill papers, 1910-1993, bulk 1910-1960. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the digitization of the microfilm of this collection was provided by Jane Blumenfeld.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Richard Lippold, 1971 Dec. 1. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
An interview of Richard Lippold conducted 1971 Dec. 1, by Paul Cummings, for the Archives of American Art. Lippold speaks of his family background and early life in Milwaukee; his early interests in art and music; early teachers; the impact of the Chicago World's Fair; studying industrial design at the Chicago Art Institute; designing machinery for an engineering firm; his travels in Mexico, Germany, and France; teaching at various institutions; his early sculptures; the development of his stylle; materials he uses; architectural commissions. He recalls Emiel Zettler, William R. Valentiner, John Cage, Jean Arp, Josef Albers, Ray Johnson, and Naum Gabo.
Biographical / Historical:
Richard Lippold (1915-2002) was a sculptor from Locust Valley, N.Y.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 4 hrs., 7 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives' Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
The collected papers of Everett Shinn measure 3.1 linear feet and date from 1877 to 1958. Found within the papers are biographical material; correspondence with friends and colleagues; personal business records; art work, including two sketchbooks of designs for Belasco's Stuyvesant Theatre; notes and writings; eight scrapbooks; printed material; and numerous photographs of Shinn, his colleagues, and his work.
Scope and Contents note:
The collected papers of Everett Shinn measure 3.1 linear feet and date from 1877 to 1958. Found within the papers are biographical material; correspondence with friends and colleagues; personal business records; art work, including two sketchbooks of designs for Belasco's Stuyvesant Theatre; notes and writings; eight scrapbooks; printed material; and numerous photographs of Shinn, his colleagues, and his work.
Biographical material includes miscellaneous biographical accounts and a membership certificate from the American Watercolor Society.
Correspondence consists of letters from Shinn's friends and colleagues, primarily from author Poultney Bigelow. There are also letters from decorator Elsie De Wolfe, dramatist Clyde Fitch, and artists Charles Dana Gibson, William Glackens, and George Luks, whose letters are illustrated. There are scattered letters from A. Stirling Calder, Theodore Dreiser, Robert Henri, Ernest Lawson, Julia Marlowe, Claude Rains, Ruth Warrick, Alexander Woollcott, and Mahonri Young.
Personal business records consist of two account books recording art work used in publications and loaned for exhibitions, and miscellaneous invoices.
Artwork consists of two sketchbooks of designs for the Stuyvesant Theatre murals and miscellaneous drawings by Shinn. Artwork by others, including H. B. Eddy, James Ben Ali Haggin, Colonel Hegan, Oliver Henfold, George Luks, and Philip Nolan, consist primarily of caricatures.
Notes and writings include a handwritten draft of Shinn's play Hazel Weston or More Sinned Against Than Usual, notes for a book on art, poems, and typescripts by Shinn including "Plush and Cut Glass," a book about George Luks.
Eight scrapbooks primarily contain clippings. Scrapbook 2 contains clippings, exhibition catalogs, a note from Stuart Benson, an illustrated postcard from Ed, and scattered photographs.
Additional printed material is primarily comprised of clippings, but there are also exhibition announcements and catalogs for Shinn, reproductions of art work, booklets, and miscellaneous printed material. Rare programs for plays written by Shinn list cast members, including Wilfred Buckland, Edith Glackens, William J. Glackens, James Ben Ali Haggin, Robert Henri, J. E. Laub, Thomas Newell Metcalf, James M. Preston, Florence Scovel Shinn, and John Sloan.
Numerous photographs are found within the collection and depict Shinn as a boy, in various Philadelphia newspaper offices, in costume for stage performances, at the easel, and with colleagues, including Robert Henri and John Sloan. Photographs of colleagues also include author Poultney Bigelow, decorator Elsie De Wolfe, portrait painter James Ben Ali Haggin, actress Julia Marlowe, and Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts classmates William Glackens and Florence Scovel. There are also photographs of Shinn's residences, exhibition installations, set designs and stagings of plays, murals, and other art work.
Arrangement note:
The collection is arranged as 8 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical material, 1953 (Box 1; 2 folders)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1899-1952 (Box 1, 4; 61 folders)
Series 3: Personal business records, 1898-1928 (Box 1; 3 folders)
Series 4: Artwork, 1893-1928 (Box 1, 4, OV 6; 10 folders)
Series 5: Notes and writings, 1922-1951 (Box 1; 9 folders)
Series 7: Printed material, 1894-1958 (Box 2, 4; 21 folders)
Series 8: Photographs, 1877-1950 (Box 2-4, OV 7; 1.3 linear feet)
Biographical/Historical note:
Everett Shinn (1876-1953) was a painter, muralist, illustrator, and theatrical scene designer who worked primarily in New York City. Shinn was a member of "The Eight," a group of painters known for their realistic portrayal of American urban life.
Everett Shinn was born on November 6, 1876 in Woodstown, New Jersey, the son of Isaiah and Josephine Ransley Shinn. He attended Quaker schools until 1890 when he went to the Spring Garden Institute in Philadelphia, studying engineering and industrial design until 1893.
Shinn enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts between 1893 and 1897. During this time he was hired as an artist-reporter for the Philadelphia Press, the Inquirer, and the Ledger. He also forged his friendships with painters George Luks, John Sloan, William J. Glackens, and Robert Henri, all future members of "The Eight."
Shinn moved to New York City in 1897 and quickly found employment as an illustrator for the newspaper The World. In 1898, he married Florence Scovel, the first of his four wives. In 1900, he traveled to England and France, and was later employed by Harper's Weekly. Shinn befriended decorator Elsie De Wolf and architect Stanford White, and designed and executed murals for the homes of their clients. Shinn created eighteen mural panels for David Belasco's Stuyvesant Theatre that opened in 1907, and murals for the Council Room of the Trenton, New Jersey City Hall in 1911. His most notable murals were created for the Oak Room of New York's Plaza Hotel in the 1940s.
In 1908, Shinn participated in the seminal group exhibition of "The Eight" at Macbeth Gallery. In 1911, he was included in the Exhibition of Independent Artists, and was invited to send works to the International Exhibition of Modern Art, better known as the Armory Show, in 1913, but for an unknown reason, declined. Shinn exhibited regularly and his works are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Delaware Art Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, among others.
Throughout his career Shinn was fascinated by the theater and the act of performance, which he made the subject of many of his works. He also wrote, directed, and performed in his own plays. Between 1917 and 1920, Shinn worked as an art director for Sam Goldwin at Goldwyn Pictures. He also worked for Inspiration Pictures from 1920 to 1923, and for William Randolph Hearst at Cosmopolitan Pictures in 1923. He divorced Florence Scovel in 1912, and married Corinne Baldwin in 1913, with whom he had two children, Janet and Davidson. He divorced again in 1921, married Gertrude Chase in 1924, and divorced again in 1932. In 1933, Shinn married his fourth wife, Paula Downing; they divorced in 1942.
From 1935 to 1939, he covered a murder trial for the Boston Traveler, exhibited his work at the Whitney Museum of American Art, and won a prize for watercolor at an exhibition at the Chicago Art Institute. In the 1940s Shinn participated in exhibitions at the Brooklyn Museum, Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and at the American-British Art Center. In 1949, Shinn was made an Academician of the National Academy of Design, and in 1951, he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Everett Shinn died on May 1, 1953 in New York City.
Related Archival Materials note:
Additional Everett Shinn papers are available at the Helen Farr Sloan Library, Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, Delaware.
Provenance:
The bulk of the Everett Shinn collection was acquired via purchase from art dealer Thurston Thatcher between 1958-1964. Art collector Howard Lipman donated additional material in 1962. Five negatives of Shinn's work were donated in 1969 by Dr. Milton Luria, an acquaintance of Shinn's son, Davidson. The photograph of Everett Shinn, John Sloan, and Robert Henri was donated on an unknown date by an unidentified donor. The handwritten draft of Shinn's play Hazel Weston or More Sinned Against Than Usual was acquired via auction purchase in 2011.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
The papers of architect and designer Florence Knoll Bassett, measure approximately 2 linear feet dating from 1932 to 2000. Through correspondence, sketches, drawings, designs, subject files, photographs, and printed material, the collection selectively documents Knoll Bassett's education, her work with Knoll Associates from the 1940s until her resignation in 1965, and projects undertaken since her retirement. It is an important source of information on the development of interior architecture and design from the 1940s to the 1970s.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of architect, and interior designer and planner Florence Knoll Bassett, measure approximately 2 linear feet dating from 1932 to 2000. The collection selectively documents Knoll Bassett's education and her career at Knoll Associates, Inc. from the 1940s until her resignation in 1965, in addition to personal design projects and other activities after leaving the company. It is an important source of information on the development of interior architecture and design from the 1940s to the 1970s, chronicling the Knoll mission to synthesize space, furniture, and design by creating interiors based on practical use, comfort, and aesthetics.
The collection documents the growth of Knoll's international reputation for its modern furnishings and interiors and the impact of a business philosophy that encompassed design excellence, technological innovation, and mass production. The material includes a chronology of Knoll Bassett's career; a portfolio of sketches, drawings and designs; photographs of Knoll Bassett and others; subject files containing sketches and photographic material; letters from friends, colleagues, clients and others; awards received by Knoll Bassett throughout her career; and printed material.
Much of the material is annotated with historical and biographical notes written by Knoll Bassett which provide invaluable contextual information for the materials found therein. The notes are dated 1999 in the Container Listing, under the assumption that they were written by Florence Knoll Bassett as she was arranging her archival papers.
Arrangement:
Before donating her papers to the Archives of American Art, Knoll Bassett organized the material in portfolios and color-coded files and designed four containers for them. Because the method of arrangement in itself provides insight into Knoll Bassett's style and creativity the collection has been minimally processed with the addition of acid-free materials for preservation reasons and the transcription of labels which may, over time, become detached. The original order of the collection has been retained throughout.
The collection was organized into what Bassett termed "storage units," the first container being divided into three units and the collection as a whole being divided into six units. Knoll Bassett supplied a detailed inventory of the contents of each container and the subjects represented in each porfolio or folder. Subject headings from this inventory have been used in the Series Description/Container Listing. Knoll Bassett also supplied a vita summarizing her career and copies of this, and her original container inventory are enclosed with the collection and can be consulted at AAA's research center in Washington D.C.
The collection is arranged as seven series. These series represent the categories into which Knoll Bassett organized the material, with the exception that Letters and Awards are presented as two series in the finding aid. Most of the items in Series 1 to 4 are presented as portfolios in spiral-bound notebooks and the remainder of the collection is organized in folders.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1932-1999 (Box 1; 1 portfolio)
Series 2: Selected Publications, 1946-1990, 1999 (Box 1; 1 portfolio)
Series 3: Drawings, Sketches, and Designs, 1932-1984, 1999 (Boxes 1-2; 2 portfolios)
Series 4: Photographs and Printed Material, 1956-1997, 1999 (Box 2; 1 portfolio)
Series 5: Subject Files, circa 1930s-1999 (Box 3; 1.0 linear ft.)
Series 6: Letters, circa 1930s-2000 (Box 4; 7 folders)
Series 7: Awards, 1954-1999 (Box 4; 6 folders)
Biographical Note:
Florence Knoll Bassett (1917-2019) was born Florence Schust and was affectionately known as Shu by her colleagues and friends. She was orphaned at age 12 and then cared for by Emile Tessin, a friend of the family whom her mother had appointed as Florence's legal guardian in the event of her death. When arrangements were being made for Florence to attend boarding school she was given the opportunity to make the selection. Kingswood School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, held a strong aesthetic appeal for her and she "made an immediate decision that it was the right place for me," beginning her architectural studies under the school's art director, Rachel de Wolfe Raseman.
At Kingswood Knoll Bassett met the Saarinen family, studying under Eliel Saarinen and developing her interest in texture and color through her friendship with Loja Saarinen who supervised the school's weaving studio. Following Florence's graduation from Kingswood in 1934, Eliel Saarinen encouraged her to spend some time at Cranbrook Academy of Art before attending an accredited architecture school. She spent the next two years at Cranbrook working closely with advanced students and artists such as the Saarinens and Carl Milles, and gaining experience in all aspects of design.
Knoll Bassett then studied for two years at the Architectural Association in London, spending summers with the Saarinens in Europe. She completed her formal training at the Illinois Institute of Technology where she studied under Mies van der Rohe, whom she credits with having "a profound effect on my design approach and the clarification of design."
After graduation Knoll Bassett worked for architecture firms in Boston and New York where she met Hans Knoll who was then in the process of establishing a furniture business. In 1943 she began working for him in her spare time as an interior space planner and designer. In 1946 the two were married and formed Knoll Associates, Inc.
As director of the Knoll Planning Unit, Knoll Bassett established herself as one of the most important and influential interior planners and designers of the second half of the twentieth century. Believing that intelligent design "strikes at the root of living requirements and changing habits," she established the practice of working closely with the corporate sector to determine the needs of the people who would actually use the spaces that her company designed. Her connections with leading contemporary architects and designers, and the company's commitment to crediting designers by name and paying them royalties, laid the foundations for the strong working relationships upon which the commercial success of Knoll Associates was built. Drawing on a pool of top architects and designers, many of whom were personal friends, Knoll Bassett directed the company's Bauhaus approach, incorporating design excellence, technological innovation, and mass production in a seamless package of "total design."
While Knoll Bassett oversaw the creative process of the Planning Unit's operations in its entirety, she was also directly responsible for many of the individual elements used in the Unit's projects. During the war years, she worked with her designers to overcome the scarcity of materials, establishing Knoll Textiles in response to the dearth of available fabrics and textile colors, and developing the company's hallmark style of spare clean lines and vibrant colors in a functional, comfortable, and aesthetically appealing space. Finding that much of the "fill-in" furniture, primarily cabinetry, that she envisaged in many of her plans was not available, Knoll Bassett designed the pieces herself. She used the Knoll showrooms as "experimental laboratories" to convince clients to use modern ideas and materials, showcasing and putting into production the classic designs of people such as Eero Saarinen, Mies van der Rohe, Jens Risom, Harry Bertoia, Isamu Noguchi, and Marcel Breuer.
After the war Knoll Associates expanded to Europe through a series of government contracts which resulted ultimately in the formation of Knoll International. When Hans Knoll died suddenly in an automobile accident in 1955 Florence became president of the company. She married Harry Hood Bassett in 1958 and began to divide her time between New York and Florida. In 1959 she sold her interest in Knoll Associates to Art Metal and retired as President of the company the following year, while continuing to work as a consultant and serving as Design Director. In 1961 she became the first woman to be awarded the Gold Medal for Industrial Design by the American Institute of Architects, one of many awards received over the course of her career. In 1965 she resigned from Knoll Associates entirely after completing the interior design for the CBS headquarters in New York.
Following her retirement Knoll Bassett devoted more time to private commissions and other interests such as her campaign against billboards in Miami in the mid 1980s. She spent summers in Vermont and winters in Florida with her husband, until his death in 1991. In July 2001, Metropolis magazine published a rare interview with Knoll Bassett in which she reflects upon the life she so skillfully documented in the extraordinary gift of her archival papers to the Archives of American Art.
Provenance:
The collection was donated to the Archives of American Art by Florence Knoll Bassett in 2000.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Use requires an appointment.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Architects -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Designers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Furniture designers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
