Inventing the Modern World: Decorative Arts at the World's Fairs, 1851-1939

Catherine Futter of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City discusses recent research that breaks new ground in its exploration of innovation in decorative arts. She will discuss the ingenuity and craftsmanship of decorative arts made for world's fairs between 1851 and 1939, when the fair was the most important showcase for introducing advances in modern living and democratizing design.

Catherine Futter is Helen Jane and R. Hugh "Pat" Uhlmann Curator of Decorative Arts at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and is the organizing curator of the exhibition Inventing the Modern World: Decorative Arts at the World's Fairs, 1851–1939, which debuted at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and is now on view at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh. 

Brown Auditorium | $20 general admission, $15 members, free for Decorative Arts and Design Council members and students with ID | Tickets: 323 857-6528 or decartscouncil@lacma.org 

Image: Elkington & Co., England (Birmingham), 1829–1963. Vase, ca. 1875. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, Purchase: the Lillian M. Dively Fund, 2006.36.1.

Made possible by the Elsie de Wolfe Foundation.