Joseph Urban (American, b. Austria, 1872–1933), Bedroom for Elaine Wormser (detail), Chicago, 1930, as installed at the Cincinnati Art Museum, 2022. Photography by Rob Deslongchamps
Joseph Urban (American, b. Austria, 1872–1933), A Young Lady’s Room, 1929, photograph of proposal sketch. Private Collection.
Alvina Lenke Studios (American, active 1930s), Elaine Wormser, 1930, photograph, Private collection
Bed and Bedcover, 1929–30, Joseph Urban (American, b. Austria, 1872–1933), designer, Mallin Furniture Co. (American, 1929–1953), bed manufacturer, polychromed and gilt wood with reproduction upholstery and hand-painted silk taffeta with velvet, Cincinnati Art Museum; Gift of Mrs. Thomas J. Reis, 1973.767, 1973.768
Perfume Bottles, circa 1925, Saks Fifth Avenue (American, est. 1867), retailer, unidentified French designer and manufacturer, glass, Cincinnati Art Museum; Gift of Mrs. Thomas J. Reis, 1973.774, 1973.775
Lamps, 1929, Joseph Urban (American, b. Austria, 1872–1933), designer, Egli & Son (American, active 1920s), attributed manufacturer, glass and brass, Cincinnati Art Museum; Gift of Mrs. Thomas J. Reis, 1973.772, 1973.773
Tea Service, 1914–1923, State Porcelain Factory (Russian, 1917–1925), Mikhail M. Adamovich (Russian, 1884–1947), decorator, porcelain, Courtesy of John T. Reis
Hostess Pajamas: Blouse, Pants, and Jacket, 1930–32, United States, silk, Cincinnati Art Museum; Gift of Mrs. Eugene W. Kettering, 1973.171a–c
Unlocking an Art Deco Bedroom by Joseph Urban
July 8 – October 2, 2022
Western & Southern Galleries (Galleries 232 and 233)
Ticketed. Free for Members. Download Press Release (PDF).
Friends of Decorative Arts & Design
In 1929, Viennese-born architect and designer Joseph Urban was commissioned to create a bedroom for seventeen-year-old Elaine Wormser who lived with her parents in the Drake Tower, Chicago. Urban (1872–1933) was a prolific and broadly recognized artist whose work ranged from film, theatre and operatic sets to buildings, textiles, even cars. The modern, fanciful bedroom that Urban designed for Elaine Wormser featured a daring combination of colors and pattern, black glass walls and a reflective silvered ceiling. Elements from this bespoke interior now reside in the Cincinnati Art Museum and constitute the largest collection of Urban-designed furnishings in a public institution.
Over 90 years after its completion, the Wormser bedroom will go on public view for the first time, fully conserved and installed to reflect its original state as photographed in 1930. One of Urban’s last commissions, this interior embodies the distinct modern design vocabulary that Urban developed and employed throughout his career, highlighting his talent as a colorist, his flair for the dramatic, and his skillful blend of Viennese artistic influences with the prevailing modern style now known as Art Deco.
This exhibition unlocks new scholarship on this rare interior and the significant contributions of Joseph Urban to the development of American modern design. It also investigates the messaging conveyed by consumers when choosing modernism and the changing roles for women in the late 1920s and early 1930s. In addition to the bedroom, paintings, works on paper, costumes and related furnishings flesh out this exploration of Joseph Urban, the Wormser bedroom and the era. Behind-the-scenes investigations and processes necessary to reintroduce the room to the public are also featured.
The exhibition is accompanied by a full color illustrated catalogue, available in the gift shop. It includes essays by leading authorities on the Wormser bedroom, Joseph Urban, and the introduction of modernism to the American public.
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Visit our blog:
- Behind the Scenes in Conservation: We Built A Room!
- Pups That Wandered Astray From The Wormser Bedroom
- Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Once upon a time…
- Factory of Illusions: Researching and Reconstructing Joseph Urban’s Art Deco Bedroom
- Behind the Scenes in Conservation: 1920's Bedspread
- Behind the Scenes in Conservation: The Padded Headboard Doppelganger
- Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Painted Silk Bedspread
- Behind the Scenes in Conservation: 1920's desk lamps designed by Joseph Urban
Exhibition Catalogue
Joseph Urban: Unlocking an Art Deco Bedroom explores the impact of Austrian-born architect and designer Joseph Urban (1872–1933) on the development and acceptance of American Modernism through the story of one of his last commissions: The Wormser Bedroom. The interior, whose elements are held by the Cincinnati Art Museum, has never been fully researched, published or displayed before now. Five essays, accompanied by full-color illustrations, unlock the narratives and significance of this important historic interior.
Amy Miller Dehan, Curator of Decorative Arts and Design joined the Cincinnati Art Museum in 2001. She earned degrees in art history from the College of William and Mary and the University of South Carolina. She is also an alum of The Winterthur Fall Institute and the Attingham Summer School. In Cincinnati, she was part of the curatorial team that developed The Cincinnati Wing: The Story of Art in the Queen City and has worked on various installations of the museum’s American and European art collections. Her past exhibition projects have covered a range of subjects stretching from historical silver to musical instruments to contemporary art in ceramic, glass, and wood. Dehan’s publications include Joseph Urban: Unlocking an Art Deco Bedroom (2022), Cincinnati Silver, 1788–1940 (2014), Outside the Ordinary: Contemporary Art in Glass, Wood and Ceramics from the Wolf Collection (2009), and several exhibition catalog essays and journal articles. Early in her career, Dehan held internships and fellowships at the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
A Teenager’s Dreamy Art Deco Bedroom From 1929
Hyperallergic, February 6, 2022
Unlocking An Art Deco Bedroom By Joseph Urban
Antiques and The Arts Weekly, June 28, 2022
The 25th Annual Kreines Lecture on Decorative Art and Design:
Setting the Stage: An Art Deco Bedroom by Joseph Urban
March 13, 2022 at 2 p.m.
Cincinnati Art Museum, Fath Auditorium
Free to attend. Reservations required. Capacity may be limited for public safety.
In 1929, architect and designer Joseph Urban (1872–1933) was commissioned to create a bedroom for seventeen-year-old Elaine Wormser (1912–2007) who lived with her parents in the Drake Tower, Chicago. In July 2022, over 90 years after its completion, the Cincinnati Art Museum will present this one-of-a-kind room, fully conserved and installed to reflect its original state as photographed in 1930. Join us as Amy Dehan, the museum’s curator of decorative art and design, reveals how the Wormser bedroom became a part of the museum’s permanent collection and shares insights about Joseph Urban, the Wormser’s commission, and the ongoing work to resurrect this Art Deco gem.
Presented by Mrs. Kenneth Kreines and the Decorative Arts Society of Cincinnati in Memory of Dr. Kenneth Kreines.
If you need accessibility accommodations for this program or event, please email [email protected]. Please contact us at least two weeks in advance to ensure accommodations can be made.
From Affluent to Average: The Wormser Bedroom and Teen Bedroom Culture in the 1920s and 1930s
Thursday, July 7, 2022 at 7 p.m.
Cincinnati Art Museum, Fath Auditorium
Reservations are required.
Elaine Wormser's bedroom stands apart from the rooms most American teens presided over during the interwar years. Her family possessed wealth and access to Joseph Urban, one of the era’s most prominent designers and architects. Nonetheless, the process of resurrecting Elaine's room and studying her recollections of it for the exhibition Unlocking An Art Deco Bedroom by Joseph Urban has revealed that it shared many features with rooms enjoyed by less privileged teens. Join Dr. Jason Reid, author of Get Out of My Room!: A History of Teen Bedroom Culture in America, as he considers how both affluent and average teen bedrooms were shaped by the era’s prevailing views on psychology, consumerism, teen autonomy, and intellectual growth.
Jason Reid is a history instructor at Ryerson University in Toronto. He has degrees in Russian, Canadian, and American History from Carleton University in Ottawa and York University in Toronto. His research has touched on several areas of historical interest, including teen bedroom culture, education, and legal history. He is currently performing research for a book that examines the murder of a 93-year-old woman in his hometown of Hensall, Ontario, in October 1973.
Generously Sponsored by:
Richard and Pamela Reis
The H.B., E.W. and F.R. Luther Charitable Foundation
August A. Rendigs, Jr. Foundation
Sunshine Fund in Memory of Donald J. Glaser ASID
Meghan Sullivan Nelson
Richard D Reis Family Foundation - Dr. Ashley E. Reis
Richard D Reis Family Foundation - Jennifer R. Arnold
Cincinnati, OH 45202
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