In recent years, the Museum’s Decorative Arts and Design Department has concentrated on adding outstanding examples of 20th- and 21st-century design to its collection. Global in scope, the collection traces the history of Modern and Contemporary design through a wide range of media, aesthetic styles, materials, and manufacturing techniques.

 

Recent Accession in Design offers a selection of about 40 pieces of furniture, ceramics, graphic design, jewelry and metalwork, industrial design, and lighting that have come into the collection since 2010. Created over the past century, the objects highlight the innovations in design that characterize this dynamic period in decorative-arts history. Among the architects and designers represented are Peter Behrens, Andrea Branzi, Isamu Noguchi, Richard T. Notkin, Gerrit Rietveld, Carlo Scarpa, and Ettore Sottsass.