Wolfsonian-FIU
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The Wolfsonian-FIU is a museum located at 1001 Washington Avenue, in the historic art deco district of Miami Beach, Florida. It is managed by Florida International University. As of 2006, it also has a branch in Nervi, Italy.
The museum was established in 1992 by Mitchell Wolfson, Jr., to house his personal collection, which had been accumulating in that location for some years. He donated the building and collection to Florida International University in 1997. The museum exhibits currently occupy 4 floors in the renovated 7-story warehouse (56,000 square feet), with its workshops, offices, and a library occupying the remaining space.
The collections feature interior furnishings, paintings and sculpture, books, prints, and posters that reflect the social, political and technological changes from 1885 to 1945. Artifacts are primarily of North American and European origin. Principle collections are as follows:
- American industrial design - posters, graphic designs, patent models, trade catalogs, and samples, as well as objects such as cameras, clocks, radios, and phonographs. Designers include Donald Deskey, Walter Dorwin Teague, Kem Weber, and John Vassos.
- British Arts and Crafts movement - works by C.R. Ashbee, Christopher Dresser, Ernest Gimson, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, William Morris, M.H. Baillie Scott, etc. Said to be the largest such collection outside the United Kingdom.
- Dutch and Italian Art Nouveau (Nieuwe Kunst and Stile Floreale) - objects, period rooms, and a large collection of Nieuwe Kunst bookbindings.
- German Design Reform - objects by the Darmstadt Art Colony, Vereinigte Werkstätten in Munich, and Deutscher Werkbund.
- New Deal America - designs produced by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Federal Art Project.
- Political Propaganda - prints, posters, drawings, books, and magazines. Propaganda from Russia/USSR, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Spain are well-represented, and the British, Dutch, German, Italian, and United States holdings are said to be the most comprehensive in the United States
- Transportation and Travel - objects relating to ocean liners, airplanes, zeppelins, and trains.
- World Fairs and Expositions - furnishings, sculpture, paintings, and ephemera from World's Fairs since 1851.
In early 2006, the Wolfsonian opened a branch institution in Nervi, on the Italian Riviera near Genoa. This sister museum is housed within a renovated school overlooking the sea, and is administered by the City of Genoa and the Region of Liguria. It features mainly Italian fine and decorative arts, design, and architecture.
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