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Check into the American Hotel

The Wolfsonian Debuts the 25th Issue of the Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts

Have you ever wondered … How did luxury residential hotels like the Waldorf-Astoria significantly impact urban living conditions? Why was the Atlantic City Traymore Hotel’s use of design principles the first “branding” of its generation? What affected the culture and politics of commercial hospitality in America? Who understood consumers’ attraction to the glamorous theatricality of buildings?

Find out these interesting tidbits and more in the 25th issue of The Wolfsonian-Florida International University’s Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts. This latest issue, distributed by MIT Press, explores the material, social, and cultural world of the large American hotel and tells the story of how its buildings evolved into some of the world’s most significant and interesting.  

Ten richly illustrated essays look at the architects, designers, and social forces that created this distinct and complex urban institution, from Gilded Age New York to 1950s Miami Beach. Broadly imagined yet cohesively focused, the essays examine such major historical processes as consumption and modernism, as well as class, gender, and race.

 “The serious study of hotels is an emerging discipline. This is the first in-depth analysis of its kind; our contributors are among the new generation of hotel scholars and have produced a volume that not only functions as an introduction to the fascinating complexities of hotel design, but also sheds new light on the surrounding culture and social conditions,” said Cathy Leff, museum director.  “We hope to encourage further investigation of this unexploited area and entice more people to learn about the rich, intriguing cultural background of the American hotel.”

The Journal complements The Wolfsonian’s upcoming exhibition In Pursuit of Pleasure: Schultze & Weaver and the American Hotel, which will open in November 11, 2005 as part of the 10th anniversary celebrations.  The exhibition will provide a detailed look at the landmark luxury hotels designed by the architectural firm of Leonard Schultze and S. Fullerton Weaver, and help viewers to understand these buildings as the culmination of decades-long trends in the development of American hotels.

Since its inception in 1986, The Journal has been dedicated to fostering new scholarship for the period 1875-1945, and parallel themes contained in the collection of The Wolfsonian-FIU, a museum that explores how art and design reflect and shape the modern world. Past theme issues have addressed a variety of subjects, such as the decorative arts of Cuba, Florida, Russia/former Soviet Union, Brazil, Yugoslavia, and Argentina.

Useful Information:

The Wolfsonian is located at 1001 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach, Fla. Admission is $5 adults; $3.50 seniors, students, and children six-12; free for Wolfsonian members, State University System of Florida staff and students with ID, children under six, and Miami Beach residents with ID.  

The 315-page book, which features more than 400 illustrations, available at The Wolfsonian’s museum shop (305-535-2680). MIT Press will market The Journal to a variety of retailers, university and public libraries, museum shops, and major wholesalers in the U.S. and abroad.

www.wolfsonian.fiu.edu

Edited by Erika Wright

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