Gotta penchant for following modern history? If your travels take you out Massachusetts way, the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem may be your ticket of interest. Step into the museum's atrium and feast your eyes on one of the RV lifestyle's icons: A pristine Airstream Clipper trailer, straight out of the 1930s.
The museum's current exhibit, "California Design, 1930 – 1965: Living in a Modern Way," brings not only Wally Bayam's dream trailer to life again, but over a couple hundred more objects that take you on a living history program through the Golden State's golden age.
For those who'd like to take a trip back in time, clean across the country, here's the opportunity. The artifacts in the exhibit include a diverse array of furniture, textiles, fashion, industrial and graphic design, ceramics, jewelry, metalwork, film and architecture, this exhibition celebrates the innovation and pervasiveness of midcentury modern design. The work of legendary designers such as Charles and Ray Eames, Richard Neutra, and Greta Magnusson Grossman are explored, as is the sociological and geographical context which gave rise to this unprecedented design movement. Organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), this exhibition is the first major study of California midcentury modern design – or so says the news release.
Open Tuesday-Sunday, 10 am-5 pm
Open the third Thursday of every month 10 am-9:00 pm
Closed Mondays (except holidays)
East India Square
161 Essex Street
Salem, MA 01970-3783 USA
Phone: 978-745-9500, 866-745-1876
For the Hearing Impaired: 978-740-3649
photo credits: Distant Shot: © 2014 Peabody Essex Museum. Photograph by Allison White; Detail Shot: © 2014 Peabody Essex Museum. Photograph by Walter Silver
