Juliet Kinchin

In 1900, Swedish design reformer and social theorist Ellen Key published The Century of the Child, presaging the coming century as a period of intensified focus and progressive thinking around the rights, development and well-being of children. Taking inspiration from Key-and looking back through the twentieth century-this volume, published to accompany an exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, examines individual and collective visions for the material world of children, from utopian dreams for the "citizens of the future" to the dark realities of political conflict and exploitation. Surveying more than 100 years of toys, clothing, playgrounds, schools, children's hospitals, nurseries, furniture, posters, animation and books, this richly illustrated catalogue illuminates how progressive design has enhanced the physical, intellectual, and emotional development of children and, conversely, how models of children's play have informed experimental aesthetics and imaginative design thinking-engendering, in the process, reappraisals of some of the iconic names in twentieth-century design and enriching the unfolding narrative of modern design with other, less familiar figures. Divided into seven sections-"New Century, New Child, New Art"; "Avant-Garde Playtime"; "Light, Air, Health"; "Children and the Body Politic"; "Regeneration"; "Power Play"; and "Designing Better Worlds"-The Century of the Child focuses on individuals and projects that represent innovative and comprehensive contributions to design for children.

Over the course of the past century, the kitchen, more than any other room in the modern dwelling, has been the focus of intensive aesthetic and technological innovation. Historically, European and American kitchens were often drab, poorly ventilated, and hidden from view in a basement or annexe. Towards the end of the 19th century, however, the kitchen became a central concern of modernism and a testing ground for new materials and technologies. Since then, the room has come to articulate and at times actively challenge society’s relationships to food, consumerism, the domestic role of women, and even international politics. Counter Space examines the 20th-century transformation of the kitchen through the collection of The Museum of Modern Art, featuring a wide variety of design objects, architectural plans, posters, archival photographs and artworks – ranging from the iconic Frankfurt Kitchen, massproduced for German public housing estates in the aftermath ofWorldWar I, to an electric kettle, heat-resistant glassware and colourful plastics. With an introductory essay by Juliet Kinchin, this volume is a lively introduction to the kitchen as a barometer of changing technology, aesthetics and ideology.