Grant Featherston Living room setting at Hotel Federal exhibition 1953 type C photograph Featherston Archive, Melbourne
Mid-Century Modern: Australian Furniture Design is the first major exhibition dedicated to Australian furniture of the 1940s to the 1970s. This was a period of dynamic social change as Australians embraced a new, cosmopolitan mode of living. The design of the period are characterised by innovative and flexible approach to furniture design.
Mid-century furniture design turned its back on the overstuffed and ornate examples of previous decades and, in doing so, revolutionised the contemporary Australian interior. New methods of furniture design took hold in Australia after World War Two prompted in part by both the availability of new materials and the shortages of others. New production techniques were developed and the influx of European immigrants who were skilled in the traditions of fine furniture making also changed the industry. Taking their cue from international trends in furniture, local designers adopted the pared-back language of modernism to create stylish and sculptural pieces, which found the ideal setting in the architecture of the period.
Key pieces on show include Grant Featherston’s plywood Contour range and Clement Meadmore’s welded steel corded chairs, so distinctive of the 1950s, to Gordon Andrews’ elegant 1960s designs for home and office. Other designers featured in the exhibition include Douglas Snelling, Fred Lowen and Schulim Krimper.
Mid-Century Modern charts the dramatic changes that took place within Australian furniture design and manufacture across four decades, from the very modest industry of the post-war years, which was focused on producing well-designed and affordable furniture, to the 1960s, when manufacturing grew and local designs were sold to the local market and exported in large quantities.
Mid-Century Modern also includes designs by visual artists such as Robert Klippel and Janet Dawson displayed alongside the modern furniture pieces. These artists occasionally adapted their creative skills to the production of furniture. The exhibition also includes working drawings, textiles of the period and photographs of contemporary architecture that help to build a rich picture of this relatively little known aspect of Australia’s design history.
Mid-Century Modern: Australian Furniture Design is on display at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia from 30 May to 19 October 2014.
Open 10am–5pm, closed Mondays. Admission fees apply: Adult $10 | Concession $7 | Children (16 and under) Free.
For further details and information about public programs associated with the exhibition see the website: http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/exhibitions/mid-century-modern-australian-furniture-design