(Both chairs) Le Corbusier, P. Jeanneret, Ch. Perriand – LC1 – Chair “Dos basculant” (Chair “with tipping back”), animal skin and leather on chrome steel tubular, 1958-1959. Le Corbusier: © 2016 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris / FLC. P. Jeanneret, Ch. Perriand: © 2016 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

The House That Modernism Built

The House That Modernism Built will present the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art's rich mid-20th-century art collection alongside furniture, textile, and ceramic holdings on loan from various institutions including Eames Office, Herman Miller Archives, the Gregg Museum of Art & Design along with works from private collectors.

The exhibition will illustrate how the modern aesthetic shaped people’s lives during the 20th century throughout the United States and the affinity of aesthetic and philosophical principles that influenced art and design during this period.  In particular, the show will emphasize process, examining how designers and artists considered and tackled projects and problems, and how the innovations in other disciplines from the sciences to the humanities influenced their direction and thinking. To trace the creative process and critical approach to problem solving, the exhibition will include prototypes, design plans, and manufactured pieces alongside drawings, prints, paintings, and sculptures.

While the scope of the show will be international, it will draw attention to design innovations particularly embraced in the United States with a regional focus on production in North Carolina. The works date from 1920 through 1980, but the groundbreaking choices of material and manufacturing processes by makers such as Victor Vasarely, Zoltan Kemeny, Kenneth Noland, Roy Lichtenstein, Charles and Ray Eames, Alexander Girard, and Buckminster Fuller remain vital, revealing how these larger principles of modernism continue to resonate in our lives today.

EXHIBITION-RELATED PROGRAMS

• #BechtlerByNight • April 15, 5 - 9 p.m. • Exhibition tours, art activities, gallery games and specialty cocktails
• Distinguished Guest Lecture: Eames Demetrios • April 21, 7 p.m. • Eames Demetrios, Director of the Eames Office, speaks on the Eames' legacy
• Family Day • May 7, noon - 4:30 p.m. • Learn about modern furniture and textiles by decorating fabric, sculpting a miniature chair and weaving a yarn tapestry using a cardboard loom
• Modernism + Film • May 12, 6 p.m. • Screening of the documentary This Building Will Sing for All of Us, featuring Phil Freelon for opening remarks