More from the Cooper Hewitt

One of my favorite pieces that I saw. More about it:

This is a Door with handle. It was designed by Seraphin Soudbinine and executor: Jean Dunand. It is dated 1925–26 and we acquired it in 1950. Its medium is carved, joined, and lacquered wood, eggshell, mother-of-pearl, gold leaf, cast bronze. It is a part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts department.

Having purchased a house on the North Shore of Long Island in 1924, Mr. and Mrs. Solomon Guggenheim sought decorating help from their young British friend Rowland Burdon-Miller. At his recommendation, they commissioned doors and screens from Jean Dunand, the great French master of lacquer, and Séraphin Soudbinine, a Russian émigré and French sculptor—possibly the patrons’ first modern art commission.

This is a Elephant Vase. It was designed by Emile Gallé and manufactured by Etablissement Gallé.

This object is not part of the Cooper Hewitt's permanent collection. It was able to spend time at the museum on loan from Museum of Fine Arts, Houston as part of The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s.
It is dated 1918–31. Its medium is molded, carved and overlaid glass.

Artisans in the workshops of Émile Gallé and Daum Frères often chose naturalistic motifs depicting wild animals such as the elephants and gazelles carved on these examples from the 1920s.

Actaeon, 1925

Actaeon, one of a pair with Diana (conceived a few years earlier), reflects Paul Manship’s admiration for classical antiquity as a source for modern interpretation. The fluidity and movement in Manship’s work belie the density of the bronze. This work captures a climactic moment of transformation, as Actaeon has just been hit by Diana’s arrow, which is turning him into a stag.