Century of the Child: Growing by Design, 1900–2000

Jul 29–Nov 5, 2012

MoMA

Ladislav Sutnar. Prototype for Build the Town Building Blocks. 1940–43. Painted wood, large block: 1 3/4 × 2 3/4 × 2 3/4″ (4.4 × 7 × 7 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Ctislav Sutnar and Radoslav Sutnar
  • MoMA, Floor 6, Exhibition Galleries The Joan and Preston Robert Tisch Exhibition Gallery

MoMA’s ambitious survey of 20th century design for children is the first large-scale overview of the modernist preoccupation with children and childhood as a paradigm for progressive design thinking. The exhibition will bring together areas underrepresented in design history and often considered separately, including school architecture, clothing, playgrounds, toys and games, children’s hospitals and safety equipment, nurseries, furniture, and books.

In 1900, Swedish design reformer and social theorist Ellen Key’s book Century of the Child presaged the 20th century as a period of intensified focus and progressive thinking regarding the rights, development, and well-being of children as interests of utmost importance to all society. Taking inspiration from Key—and looking back through the 20th century 100 years after her forecast—this exhibition will examine individual and collective visions for the material world of children, from utopian dreams for the “citizens of the future” to the dark realities of political conflict and exploitation. In this period children have been central to the concerns, ambitions, and activities of modern architects and designers both famous and unsung, and working specifically for children has often provided unique freedom and creativity to the avant-garde.

Related programming is offered at MoMA Studio: Common Senses.

Organized by Juliet Kinchin, Curator, and Aidan O’Connor, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Architecture and Design.

Major support for the exhibition is provided by Lawrence B. Benenson and The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation.

Additional funding is provided by the Nordic Culture Fund, Lily Auchincloss Foundation, Inc., The Modern Women’s Fund, the Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation, and Marimekko.

Support for the publication is provided by The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art and the Jo Carole Lauder Publications Fund of The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art.

Special thanks to Stokke AS–Ålesund, Norway.

Publications

  • Century of the Child: Growing by Design, 1900-2000 Exhibition catalogue, Hardcover, 264 pages
  • Baggage Hardcover, 12 pages

Artists

Installation images

How we identified these works

In 2018–19, MoMA collaborated with Google Arts & Culture Lab on a project using machine learning to identify artworks in installation photos. That project has concluded, and works are now being identified by MoMA staff.

If you notice an error, please contact us at [email protected].

Licensing

If you would like to reproduce an image of a work of art in MoMA’s collection, or an image of a MoMA publication or archival material (including installation views, checklists, and press releases), please contact Art Resource (publication in North America) or Scala Archives (publication in all other geographic locations).

MoMA licenses archival audio and select out of copyright film clips from our film collection. At this time, MoMA produced video cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. All requests to license archival audio or out of copyright film clips should be addressed to Scala Archives at [email protected]. Motion picture film stills cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. For access to motion picture film stills for research purposes, please contact the Film Study Center at [email protected]. For more information about film loans and our Circulating Film and Video Library, please visit https://www.moma.org/research/circulating-film.

If you would like to reproduce text from a MoMA publication, please email [email protected]. If you would like to publish text from MoMA’s archival materials, please fill out this permission form and send to [email protected].

Feedback

This record is a work in progress. If you have additional information or spotted an error, please send feedback to [email protected].