What's in the Box? March 2007
By Staff -- Gifts & Decorative Accessories, 4/5/2007 4:18:00 PM
NEED A HAND setting the table? Coming right up! This "functional art" product was included in a tabletop display by Mary Ellen Stratton of B. Altman & Co. The tabletop setting was part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's 1940 Exhibition of Contemporary American Industrial Art.
| ANSWER: Russel Wright dinnerware | |
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Need a hand setting the table? Coming right up! This product was included in a display designed by Mary Ellen Stratton of B. Altman & Co.’s store decorating staff. The display itself was part of The Metropolitan Museum Art’s 1940 Exhibition of Contemporary American Industrial Art. And at the time, tabletop was an extremely important category for high end department stores like the now defunct B. Altman, where brides would set up their registries. The museum's exhibition featured products displayed in home arrangements, and in material groups of metals and glass; ceramics, glass and plastics; wood; and metals and synthetic fabrics — all designed and made in the United States. America. The table setting pictured in the April 1940 issue of The Gift and Art Buyer featured "new" Russel Wright dinnerware. "The sleek white modern plates are arranged on a ruby and white satin cloth with button fringe," the magazine reported. And the helping hands — the "What's in the Box" featured product? The white hands — by an unidentified manufacturer – hold the flower candles shown as part of the table setting. — The Gift and Art Buyer, April 1940. |
