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An Architecture ExtravaganzaFirst Time Ever On Exhibit
• Waldorf Astoria – New York “We are very proud of our accomplishments
during our first decade and we are optimistic that we are building a strong
institution that will serve academic and general audiences in decades to come,”
said Cathy Leff, museum director.
While exhibitions focus on the time frame of the collection—1885 to 1945—the museum’s educators draw links to the present-day through lectures, films and symposia for adult audiences and innovative and creative programs for schools.
More information about the journal can be
found on the Wolfsonian website listed below or on travellady at
www.travellady.com/Issues/July05/1615AmericanHotel.htm.
1001 Washington Avenue Edited by Erika Wright |
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TM
The
museum was founded in 1986 to exhibit, document, and preserve the Mitchell
Wolfson Jr. Collection, an assemblage of 100,000 objects that includes furniture
and other decorative arts, paintings, books, prints, and ephemera. The focus of
interpretation is the critically important role of design at the height of the
industrial age (1885-1945) in the context of social, political, and
technological issues. 
The
exhibition will focus on Schultze and Weaver hotels, while framing their work
within a broader historical context. Changing patterns of design and use will be
explored from the rambling urban hotels with thousands of guestrooms at the
beginning of the century to the small, streamlined hotels of the 1930s,
concluding with Morris Lapidus’ 1953-54 Fontainebleau, which marked the rebirth
of the grand, full-service hotel on Miami Beach. This exhibition is being
mounted as part of museum’s anniversary celebration.
The
Wolfsonian will celebrate its 10th anniversary on November 11, 2005, a date
famous for marking one of the 20th century’s most pivotal moments—the 11th hour
of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918. The occasion is more than a nod to
the armistice that ended the First World War by a museum known for its
collections of wartime and political propaganda. The museum opened its doors on
Washington Avenue at exactly the same time a decade earlier.
“With
the help of Florida International University and our other public and private
supporters, we have been able to make the collections available to the public
through exhibitions, publications, scholarly research and school curricula.
Because of this variety of access, we are better able to understand the
significance of the unparalleled collection originally assembled by Mitchell
Wolfson Jr.” 
To
think is to activate human resources in order to better understand our human
condition, which is and has always been The Wolfsonian’s goal.”
The
25th issue of The Wolfsonian-FIU’s Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts,
which was just published, focuses on the upcoming exhibition and the history of
the American Hotel. Copies of the journal are available upon request.
