Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art: The Arthur Drexler Years, 1951-1986

A comprehensive look at the Museum of Modern Art's Architecture and Design Department under the leadership of the influential curator Arthur Drexler

Arthur Drexler (1925-1987) served as the curator and director of the Architecture and Design Department at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) from 1951 until 1986--the longest curatorship in the museum's history. Over four decades he conceived and oversaw trailblazing exhibitions that not only reflected but also anticipated major stylistic developments.

During Drexler's tenure, MoMA played a pivotal role in examining the work and confirming the reputations of twentieth-century architects, among them Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Richard Neutra, Marcel Breuer, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Exploring unexpected subjects--from the design of automobiles to a reconstruction of a Japanese house and garden--Drexler's boundary-pushing shows promoted new ideas about architecture and design as modern arts.

Drawing on rigorous archival research, Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art analyzes how MoMA became a touchstone for the practice and study of midcentury architecture.