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‘Mid-Century May’ Offers 5 for 1 Museum Pass

This spring, mid-century culture can be found in museums across New York City in exhibitions focused on art, design, advertising, television, and popular culture from the 1950s and '60s. Shows like Mad Men have fueled a recent resurgence of design from the era. In celebration, five museums are partnering on Mid-Century May NYC, offering a special culture pass for the month of May.

Priced at only $30, the ticket grants month-long access to all five participating museums - Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, The Jewish Museum, Museum of Arts and Design, Museum of the City of New York, and Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. Information and tickets are available at MidCenturyMay.nyc.

Mid-Century May NYC museum participants and exhibition information:

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum - How Posters Work (May 8 - Nov. 15) This exhibit shows how dozens of different designers-from prominent pioneers like Herbert Matter, Paul Rand, Philippe Apeloig and M/M (Paris), to lesser-known makers-have mobilized principles of composition, perception and storytelling to convey ideas and construct experiences. Featuring nearly 125 posters from Cooper Hewitt's permanent collection, the exhibition demonstrates how some of the world's most creative designers have employed design principles to produce powerful acts of visual communication. cooperhewitt.org

The Jewish Museum -Revolution of the Eye: Modern Art and the Birth of American Television (Now - Sept. 20) It's the first exhibition to explore how avant-garde art influenced the look and content of network television in its formative years.  Highlighting the visual revolution ushered in by American television and modernist art and design of the 1950s and 1960s, the exhibition features over 260 art objects, artifacts, and clips. Fine art and graphic design, including works by Saul Bass, Marcel Duchamp, Roy Lichtenstein, Man Ray, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Andy Warhol, as well as ephemera, television memorabilia, and clips from historic television programs and film, including Batman, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Ernie Kovacs Show, Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, and The Twilight Zone will be on view. thejewishmuseum.org

 

Museum of Arts and Design Pathmakers: Women in Art, Craft and Design, Midcentury and Today (Now- Sept. 27) This exhibit (pictured, above) considers the important contributions of women to modernism in postwar visual culture. Featuring more than 100 works, Pathmakers focuses on a core cadre of women-including Ruth Asawa, Edith Heath, Sheila Hicks, Karen Karnes, Dorothy Liebes, Alice Kagawa Parrott, Toshiko Takaezu, Lenore Tawney, and Eva Zeisel-who were influential as designers, artists, and teachers, using materials such as clay, fiber, and metals in innovative ways. madmuseum.org

Museum of the City of New York Everything Is Design: The Work of Paul Rand (Now- July 19) This exhibit showcases the nearly six-decade career of visionary American graphic design master Paul Rand (1914-1996). Born in Brooklyn with a father who owned a small grocery store, Rand rose to the heights of 20th century design, seen as one of the most influential designers in the history of print and often called the 'Picasso of graphic design.' After launching his career with magazine cover designs introducing Europe's modernist graphic ideas to America, Rand worked as an art director on Madison Avenue and revolutionized the advertising profession. Illustrated through 150 pieces of Rand's work, the exhibition also includes his pioneering corporate communications and rebranding campaigns for IBM, and ground-breaking logos for ABC, UPS, Westinghouse, Morningstar, and Steve Job's NeXT project. mcny.org

 

Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust Designing Home: Jews and Midcentury Modernism (Now through Jan. 2016) This is the first exhibition (pictured, above) to explore the Jewish contribution to modernism. It is also the first time this acclaimed exhibition, created by the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco, is on view in New York. The exhibition explores the role of Jewish architects, designers, and patrons in the formation of a new American domestic landscape during the post WWII decades of the twentieth century. Featuring a dazzling array of vintage furnishings, textiles, ceramics, posters, dinnerware, photographs, and more, Designing Home highlights the work of more than 30 creative professionals who helped spark America's embrace of midcentury modernism, a bold new direction in design and thought. Designing Home showcases the essential contributions of both well-known designers and architects, among them Anni Albers, George Nelson, Richard Neutra, Alvin Lustig, Saul Bass, and Ernest Sohn; as well as others whose fascinating life stories and important contributions have received much less critical attention. mjhnyc.org

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