In The Pink: Dorothy Draper, America’s Most Fabulous Decorator

Exceptional exhibitions presented by the Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale on the occasion of its golden anniversary.

In The Pink: Dorothy Draper, America’s Most Fabulous Decorator

February 3 – June 23, 2008

This illuminating retrospective examines the career of the legendary Dorothy Draper, the Martha Stewart of her era.  America’s best-known mid-20^th-century designer, Draper is widely credited with turning interior design into a legitimate business.  Her outsized personality, extraordinary business sense and extravagant designs combined to make her one of the most influential tastemakers and powerful design magnates of the mid-20^th century.

The retrospective features rarely seen drawings, sample books, vintage photographs, furnishings, and products from some of her most important design commissions, among them The Carlyle Hotel in New York City, The Camellia House restaurant at the Drake Hotel in Chicago and The Greenbrier in West Virginia.

The Great Age of American Automobiles

February 3 – June 23, 2008

The beauty and ingenuity of American automotive design as it flourished in the decades following World War II will be on display in The Great Age of American Automobiles. 

Appealing to audiences ranging from hard-core gearheads to disciplines of design, this exhibition explores a revolutionary period in car styling, when the groundbreaking work of the automobile designers transformed cars from functional modes of transportation into vehicles that sparked the imagination and encapsulated the American Dream. 

The story of the American auto as an icon of fantasy is told through a collection of 100 works among them extravagant exotic concept cars from the vaults of GM, auto advertising artwork, and sculpted car models.  There also are ample references to the shapes of airplanes and rockets, along with other emerging technologies that influenced postwar car design.