How it Began: Fifty Years of Collecting with Collab
How the Philadelphia Museum of Art created one of the premier design collections in the country.
In December 1969, members of the American Institute of Interior Designers (A.I.D.) – including Charles Agnew, Cynthia Drayton, Lola Gansworth, and John Strite - met with Museum director Evan Turner to discuss the creation of a collection of contemporary design for the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The following month, Lola Gansworth wrote the President of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the N.S.I.D. (The National Society of Interior Designers), hoping to interest the N.S.I.D., as well as the A.I.A. (The American Institute of Architects), and N.H.F.L. (The National Home Fashions League, Inc.) in joining with the A.I.D. in supporting the venture. The collection would have to be thought out, she said, and funds secured for their purchase. [Lola Ball Gansworth to David J. Landau, January 13, 1970, Collab Records, Department of European Decorative Arts and Sculpture, Philadelphia Museum of Art]. On March 17, 1970, a “launching party” was held at the Museum for the new “Inter-Society Committee for Twentieth-Century Decorative Arts” (“and Design” was added to the title the following year) that included the four founding organizations, as well as the Friends of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The party invitation explained that the group had been formed “to awaken and direct inter-professional interest in 20th Century Design and Decorative Art, with the purpose of developing a Collection for this period, to be shown at the Philadelphia Museum of Art…for public enjoyment”. [Collab Records].
Elisabeth Fraser (left), Cynthia Drayton (center), and Hava Gelblum (right) at an Inter-Society meeting at the Museum, c. 1974
By September 1970, the Inter-Society Newsletter could list the Museum’s first acquisitions, given by its member organizations which allocated funds for the purpose, by individual members of those organizations, by manufacturers, and craftsmen. These included an Eames chair from the Philadelphia Chapter, American Institute of Architects, a “Nimbus” lamp by Farid Iskander for Nessen Lamps from Charles Agnew, A.I.D., a stoneware bird bath by the ceramic artist Paula Winokur given by the Philadelphia Chapter, N.H.F.L. (1970-86-1), porcelain bowls and vases by ceramist Rudolf Staffel also given by the N.H.F.L. (1970-86-3, and 1970-86-6) and by Helen Williams Drutt (1970-87-1), a gilded silver necklace given by the artist Olaf Skoogfors (1970-141-1), and an offhand blown glass sculpture by Roland Jahn (1970-86-2), given again by the Philadelphia chapter of the N.H.F.L. While the N.H.F.L. was represented on the committee by Lola Gansworth and Harriet Roberts, the strong representation of craft in the Museum’s newest collection was due to Helen Drutt, who, inspired by the exciting studio work going on in Philadelphia, had founded (and directed) the Philadelphia Council of Professional Craftsmen (P.C.P.C.) in 1967 and would go on to establish her internationally famous gallery for contemporary craft in 1973 [Interview with Helen Drutt by the author and Michelle Millar Fisher, August 5, 2019] .
Egg Chair and Ottoman Designed by Arne Jacobsen. Made by Fritz Hansen, Eft A/S, Copenhagen. Designed 1957. Molded plastic, leather, chromed steel
In November 1970, these new acquisitions were shown at the Museum for the first time, in an exhibition organized by Calvin Hathaway, the Museum’s R. Wistar Harvey Curator of Decorative Arts and advisor to the Inter-Society. Several months later in April 1971 - a year after the launching of the Inter-Society - the group held its first fund-raising event, with two more organizations joining the founding four to help build the Museum’s collection, P.C.P.C. and the Interior Design Council (I.D.C.).
The Museum’s Great Stair Hall “wrapped” by the artist Christo and celebrated, 1970
Titled “Collab ‘71” (Collab would soon replace Inter-Society as the committee’s name to underscore the collaborative nature of the group), the event included a panel discussion moderated by Director Evan Turner, and an exhibition of recent acquisitions. The exhibition was designed by N.S.I.D.’s Marilyn Druckman (see attached image) and included the first gifts from the various member organizations, among them the N.S.I.D.’s “Egg” Chair and Ottoman (1971-30-1,2) by Danish designer Arne Jacobsen, as well as gifts from manufacturers of the “Champagne Chair” designed by the Lavernes for Laverne International (1971-1-1) and Paul Mayen’s sand urn and waste receptacle for Habitat, Inc. (1970-206-3).
From Arne Jacobsen to the Philadelphian craft artists, almost all of the designers and makers of these acquisitions had no representative works in the Museum’s collection before the advent of Collab. As surprising as it may seem today, the A.I.A.’s Eames chair was only the second work by the designer to enter the Museum’s collections. Over the next half century, the work of hundreds of designers would be added for the first time to the Museum’s collection through Collab, growing the collection from around two hundred objects in 1970 to what is now over three thousand.
PH Artichoke Light Designed by Poul Henningsen. Made by Louis Poulsen Company, Copenhagen. Designed 1958. Copper
Funding design acquisitions for the Museum was a challenge from the beginning. While the professional organizations and their professional members could offer some support, the Museum’s own endowments for acquisitions were very limited. Collab ’74 expanded the possibilities, with the first of a series of design exhibitions that continues to the present. As selected and organized by Collab’s curatorial advisors (Kathryn Hiesinger succeeding Calvin Hathaway in 1972, in whose honor Collab gave works by the Czech glass sculptor, Karel Mikolas, 1973-4-2), the exhibition objects were often not simply lent, but donated to the Museum by their designers, makers, and manufacturers. British Contemporary Design, an exhibition of about 70 crafts and manufactured products, was sponsored by the Inter-Society for Collab ’74, with a subscription opening and lecture.
The success of the exhibition, both critically and financially, and the launch in 1975 of a series of profitable design auctions which would continue for almost two decades, allowed Collab in 1976 to support the purchase of its first great modern object
The idea to focus on Britain was Helen Drutt’s, and crafts were among the most notable works the Museum acquired from the show, among them, ceramics by Lucie Rie and Hans Coper (1975-46-6; 1975-46-20, given by the A.I.D., along with Robin Day’s Polyprop Stacking Chair for Hille, given by its U.S. distributor John Stuart International, Inc. (1974-150-1), and fabrics given by textile manufacturer Hull Traders - Shirley Craven’s Five fabric (1975-8-1a-c and Peter McCulloch’s Cruachan (1975-8-2a,b). The success of the exhibition, both critically and financially, and the launch in 1975 of a series of profitable design auctions which would continue for almost two decades, allowed Collab in 1976 to support the purchase of its first great modern object – an elegant French Art Deco writing desk made by Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann (1976-227-1) –in honor of the Museum’s centennial that year. Two years later, in memory of founding Inter-Society member, chair, and A.I.A. representative Roland Gallimore, Collab was able to purchase another key early modern object for the collection from a Stuttgart gallery known to committee member and chair, Elisabeth Fraser, the MR20 armchair and footstool designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1978-116-1,2). With Collab’s help, the Museum was able to expand its design collection, filling in historical gaps, adding obvious classics such as Josef Hoffmann’s chair from the Kabarett Fledermaus (1981-27-1) and silver footed cup (1981-89-1), and continuing to acquire fine contemporary examples both manufactured and studio produced, such as Wayne Higby’s Many Rocks Pass bowl (1976-106-1).
Left: Nobody’s Perfect Chair Designed by Gaetano Pesce | Made by Zerodisegno, a division of Quattrocchio, S.r.l., Alessandria, Italy. Designed 2003. Polyurethane-based resin, nylon pins. Right: Orgone Chair Designed by Marc Newson | Made by Löffler GmbH, Reichenswand, Germany. Designed 1993. Polyethylene.
The Museum’s most important design exhibition in half a century, Design Since 1945 grew out of Collab’s longstanding interest in supporting a major exhibition of modern and contemporary design as defined by committee member Hava Gelblum. Selected and organized by curator Kathryn Hiesinger, the exhibition focused on international designs postdating World War ll that were innovative in their forms, manufacturing techniques, and materials. Opened in October 1983, the exhibition included over 400 objects of which more than a third were acquired by the Museum, largely as gifts from designers and manufacturers, but also purchases, with funds contributed by Collab for a number of important works that ranged in date over four decades, including Kaj Franck’s Kremlin Bells decanter (1982-33-1a-c), Paul McCobb’s Planner Group furniture (1983-5-2,3), Herbert Krenchel’s Krenit bowl (1983-50-2), Paul Henningsen’s PH-Artichoke hanging lamp (1983-114-2), George Nelson’s Ball wall clock (1983-50-4), and from the recently founded Memphis design collaborative in Italy, Marco Zanini’s Alpha Centauri vase (1983-112-5) and Ettore Sottsass’s iconic Casablanca sideboard (1983-113-1).
The hugely successful exhibition and subscription panel discussion around it sponsored by Collab allowed the committee to celebrate its fifteenth anniversary in 1985 with a major gift in honor of founding member Cynthia Drayton. As early as 1968, Drayton had first interested Museum Director Evan Turner in the idea that the Museum could build a collection of modern and contemporary design without making a significant impact on the institution’s limited endowment for acquisitions. Collab’s 1985 gift of three pieces of furniture by Alvar Aalto, two chairs and a tea cart, filled an important gap in the Museum’s historic design collections (1985-67-1; 1985-67-3). That anniversary also marked the establishment of Collab’s award for excellence in design inaugurated as Collab ’86, which within a few years would be accompanied by exhibitions of the awardee’s work and with them, occasions for collection-building. During the 1980s and 1990s, Collab continued to contribute funds for contemporary objects, among them Robert Venturi’s and Frank Gehry’s chairs for Knoll (1986-152-1; 1995-26-1) while continuing to fill historical gaps with objects like Wilhelm Wagenfeld’s Kubus containers (1991-171-1) and Gerrit Rietveld’s Zigzag chair in honor of chair Eric Rymshaw (1995-65-1).
Another major exhibition, Japanese Design: A Survey since 1950, organized by Hiesinger with her Museum colleague Felice Fischer, provided further opportunities for acquisition support from Collab. The committee’s gifts included Shiro Kuramata’s How High the Moon armchair in honor of chair Gerard Jarosinski (1993-1-1) and Masanori Umeda’s Ginza Robot cabinet (1994-131-1) in memory of Hava Gelblum. Since the exhibition travelled to Milan, Dusseldorf, Paris, and Osaka in 1995-1996, international visitors could see tangible evidence of Collab’s generosity.
In honor of the Museum’s 125th anniversary in 2001, Collab celebrated the occasion by contributing funds to purchase a collection of 26 works by Joe Colombo, the Museum’s first by this great Italian designer. The collection included works in all mediums, from furniture (2001-42-2) and lighting (2001-42-4) to an in-flight tableware service for Alitalia (2001-42-24a-r). Another occasion to add depth to the collection came in 2004 when the Museum was offered a collection of 44 rock and roll posters, including works by Victor Moscoso such as the Youngbloods (2004-39-28) and again in 2011 when four woven textiles by the innovative Japanese firm Nuno were added to the collection (2011-50-1).
In 2011, Collab celebrated its fortieth anniversary and the exhibition Collab: Four Decades of Giving Modern and Contemporary Design by giving the public the opportunity to vote online for one of four contemporary chairs to be purchased for and included in the exhibition. The winning chair was Marc Newson’s Wood chair (2011-142-1), but Collab provided funds to purchase the other three as an anniversary gift to the Museum. These included chairs by Yael Mer (2011-142-2), Jaime Hayon (2011-139-1), and Ayse Birsel and Bibi Seck (2011-134-1) as well as another by Maarten Baas (2011-131-1) already purchased for the show.
During the first two decades of the twenty-first century, Collab continued to acquire works for the Museum related to the exhibitions of their Design Excellence Award recipients. These included Jonathan Ive’s iMac computer (1999-103-1a-d), Gaetano Pesce’s Nobody’s Perfect chair (2003-136-1), Ingo Maurer’s Wo Bist du, Edison lamp in honor of chair James Fulton (2004-1-1), Florence Knoll’s Credenza in honor of committee member Robert Aibel (2005-20-1), Paula Scher’s Bring in ‘Da Noise, Bring in ‘Da Funk poster (2013-32-1), Marc Newson’s Orgone chair (2014-26-1), Faye Toogood’s Roly-Poly chair (2017-40-1) and Patricia Urquiola’s Openest desk. (2018-29-1).
Marking occasions and anniversaries with acquisition gifts to the Museum has become a Collab tradition.
Still, looking at the Museum’s collection that bears Collab in its credit line does not do justice to the many gifts made individually by Collab committee members in their own names and the clients and manufacturers they have persuaded to donate furniture and objects to the Museum.
Collab is an absolutely unique organization among Museums. A committee composed of professionals in various design fields, they have served as advisors to as well as patrons of the Museum, and in the process, helped build one of the best design collections in any encyclopedic museum anywhere.
