Children - Lesson 4: can something be useful and beautiful?

Child

Hi. You problem look at a painting on the wall and think of it as art, but what else is art or artful? Can anything that anyone makes be art? Viable answers might surprise you?

Adult/Teacher

Hello. The point of this lesson is to encourage the child to see objects made and designed by people as objects worth appraising seriously. The discussion is to expand respect for art to include design.

Objects

One of the questions that the philosophical field of Aesthetics asks is this: Does the functionality of an object negate its artfulness? That’s a mouthful. The Museum of Modern Art asked the question in a simpler way in 1953, “Is there art in a broomstick?” It answered its own question, “Yes, if it is designed both for usefulness and good looks.” In this lesson, let’s talk about good design and how useful and beautiful objects enhance life.

Children might be surprised to know that some things—very common things—are highly valued in the museum world. We tend to think in terms of rarity as a way to determine value, but mass-produced things can be every bit as wonderful as (or more than) one-of-a-kind objects. For example, in the Museum of Modern Art’s permanent collection, you will find Tupperware, fishing poles, Slinky toys, chess sets, typewriters, chairs, lamps, leg splints, sewing machines, record players, radios, movies, computers, phones, dishes, movie posters, emoji libraries, type faces, even a small helicopter and a full sized race car. All of these are exactly the same items that were offered for sale in stores when they were made. MoMA established its Industrial Design Department in 1934, and since then it has collected things that it considers well designed and important for historical value.

“The importance of the industrial arts as a factor in the life of a nation lies in their constant and direct contact with every individual. The quality of objects that are in daily use by everyone cannot fail to affect the taste and visual imagination of society of a whole.” This quotation by Serge Chermayeff, curator of MoMA’s Design for Use exhibition in 1944, is full of interesting concepts. The term “industrial art” is not as common today as it used to be, but here’s a question for you about the artfulness of industrial-made things: What objects in your house do you consider both useful and beautiful? Walk around your home and help children make a list of objects that you all think are especially wonderful. These can be anything that feel beautiful to you.

Steve Jobs, founder of Apple Computer wrote, “Design is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But of course, if you dig deeper, it’s really how it works.” Also, “When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood in the back. For you to sleep at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through.” And one more Jobs quotation, “The way we’re running the company, the product design, the advertising, it all comes down to this: Let’s make it simple. Really simple.”

Design is everywhere around us, much more plentiful than fine art, if you think about it. Every single thing that is made is designed by someone. Wow! That’s quite a statement. Someone designed the book you read, the packaging for the food you eat, the chair you sit in, the spoon you hold to eat your breakfast cereal (which was also designed and packaged and marketed through advertising, which is also design), the clothes you are wearing, color of paint on your wall, the light above you, the pencil you write with, the car you ride in, the website you read, the game you play: every single thing that is produced is designed. Design seeks to make things better—sometimes more beautiful—and solve problems.

What makes good design?

“To me good design is simply art applied to living.” This was a statement by Dorothy Shaver, president of Lord & Taylor department store in 1950. It’s a pretty great quotation, isn’t it? The concept of form and function working together is a primary concern to designers.

A bit of history: Beginning with the Arts and Crafts movement in England between 1880 and 1920 and spreading throughout Europe, Asia, and America, the decorative arts have gone through a steady progression in importance relative to fine art. Some art schools 100 years ago taught industrial design right alongside fine art courses. The most famous of these schools was the Bauhaus in Germany (1919-1933) that combined craft and fine art education under one roof. Bauhaus students studied architecture, weaving, pottery, graphic design, typography, and other crafts. These were not seen as second-rate skills. Quite the opposite. The Bauhaus taught that there was “no essential difference between the artist and the artisan.” In its manifesto, is this statement: “The ultimate aim of all creative activity is a building.” After the school was closed as the country fell into the chaos that led to World War II, these pioneering teachers of the Bauhaus scattered to other nations, including the United States. Their impact on design was (and remains) monumental.

Children might be fascinated to learn more about the Bauhaus. Visit these website pages:

“The Bauhaus, 1919-1933”, Metropolitan Museum of Art essay

“Teaching and Learning at the Bauhaus”, Getty Museum podcast

“Bauhaus”, Tate Museum website

“Bauhaus: Design in a Nutshell”, OpenUniversity YouTube video

Explore and learn

The Museum of Modern Art has created an excellent overview of design for children. It includes multimedia exercises, videos, activities, questions, examples of design throughout modern history, and links to related subjects that will keep children engaged and busy. Helping children learn about good design provides the opportunity for a profound shift in the way they look at creativity in the world. Suddenly, art is at their fingertips. Few of us—well, practically none of us—has great fine art in our homes, but we have access to great design. MoMA’s educational module is highly recommended. Explore it here.