Counter Space: Frankfurter Küche in New York

Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky (Austrian, 1897-2000). Frankfurter Küche (Frankfurt Kitchen). 1926-7. As illustrated in Das Neue Frankfurt 5 (1927); photo courtesy MoMA.

From September 15, 2010, through March 14, 2011, The Museum of Modern Art in New York City (http://moma.org) presents “Counter Space: Design and the Modern Kitchen.” Drawing extensively from MoMA’s collections of design objects, photography, film, prints, drawings and paintings, Counter Space “examines the kitchen and its continual redesign as a barometer of changing ideologies and technologies,” the museum announced. Curated by Juliet Kinchin and Aidan O’Connor of the museum’s Department of Architecture and Design, the exhibition “explores the twentieth-century transformation of the kitchen as a space of huge symbolic and practical significance.”

Ever “pragmatisch,” just as the German mind, the centerpiece of the exhibit comprises “an unusually complete example” of the iconic Frankfurt Kitchen. Designed in 1926-27 by Austrian-born Grete Schütte-Lihotzky, thousands of these Frankfurter Küchen were manufactured for public-housing estates being built as part of a comprehensive program to modernize both the city on the river Main and German society. Schütte-Lihotzky’s “compact and ergonomic design, with its integrated approach to storage, appliances, and work surfaces,” MoMA feels “reflected a commitment to transforming the lives of ordinary working people on an ambitious scale.”

Stay tuned for our ongoing expanded coverage of this seminal show that will feature such varied items ranging from a 1930-exhibition poster for “Die praktische Küche” by Helene Haasbauer-Wallrath to 1957 Braun multipurpose Küchenmaschine.

Helene Haasbauer-Wallrath, Swiss, 1885-1968. Die Praktische Küche (The Practical Kitchen). Poster for an exhibition at the Gewerbemuseum Basel, 1930. Lithograph, 35 1/2 x 50\

Braun AG (German, est. 1921). Multipurpose Kitchen Machine, blender configuration. 1957. Enameled metal casing and plastic, 19 ¼ x 13 x 6 ½ (48.9 x 33 x 16.5 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of the manufacturer; photo courtesy MoMA.

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