Past Exhibitions
(as curator, unless otherwise noted)
New-York Historical Society
Under Cover: J. C. Leyendecker and American Masculinity, 2023
New York Landmarks Conservancy
50 at 50, co-curator, 2023
Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, New York
Up Against the Wall: Art, Activism, and the AIDS Poster, 2022
New York School of Interior Design
Designing Duo: Tom Lee and Sarah Tomerlin Lee, co-curator, 2022
National Trust for Historic Preservation and Trust for the National Mall
Tidal Basin Ideas Lab, co-curator, 2020
Manitoga: The Russel Wright Design Center, Garrison, New York
The Russel and Mary Wright Design Gallery, 2021-ongoing
Museum of the City of New York
Cycling in the City: A 200-Year History, co-curator, 2019
Elegance in the Sky: The Architecture of Rosario Candela, 2018
Through a Different Lens: Stanley Kubrick Photographs,
co-curator, 2018
Toward a Livable City: New York and the Municipal Art Society, 2018
Mod New York: Fashion Takes a Trip, co-curator, 2017
Posters and Patriotism: Selling World War I in New York,
co-curator, 2017
Gay Gotham: Art and Underground Culture in New York,
co-curator, 2016
Saving Place: Fifty Years of New York City Landmarks,
co-curator, 2015
Everything is Design: The Work of Paul Rand, 2015
A Beautiful Way to Go: New York’s Green-Wood Cemetery, 2013
Making Room: New Models for Housing New Yorkers, 2013
The World of D. D. and Leslie Tillett, co-curator, 2012
Cars, Culture, and the City, co-curator, 2010
Cecil Beaton: The New York Years, 2011
The Future at Home: American Furniture, 1940–1955,
co-curator, 2009
Only in New York: Photographs from Look Magazine,
co-curator, 2009
Urban Abstractions: Photographs of New York from the Collection,
2009
Paris/New York: Design Fashion Culture, 1925–1940, 2008
New York Fast Forward: Neil Denari Builds on the High Line,
co-curator, 2008
New York Fast Forward: Enrique Norten, co-curator, 2008
Willing to Be Lucky: Ambitious New Yorkers in the Pages of
Look Magazine, co-curator, 2007
The High Style of Dorothy Draper, 2006
The Mythic City: Photographs of New York by Samuel H. Gottscho,
1925–1940, 2005
Glass and Glamour: Steuben’s Modern Moment, 1930–1960, 2003
Université du Québec à Montréal
Habitat ’67 vers l’avenir / The Shape of Things to Come, 2017
Center for Architecture
Authenticity + Innovation, 2016
The Glass House, New Canaan, Connecticut
Gay Gatherings: Philip Johnson, David Whitney and the Modern Arts, co-curator, 2019
Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art
Doris Duke’s Shangri La: Architecture, Landscape, and Islamic Art,
co-curator, traveled throughout the United States, 2012-2015
Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin
Mexico Modern: Art, Commerce, and Cultural Exchange,
co-curator, 2017
Norman Bel Geddes: I Have Seen the Future, traveled throughout the
United States, 2012-2014
Norton Museum of Art
David Webb: Society’s Jeweler, 2014
Keep Calm and Carry On: World War II and the British Home Front,
1938–1951, 2012
Denver Art Museum
Now Boarding: Fentress + The Architecture of Flight, 2012
The Finnish Cultural Institute, New York,
The Museum of Finnish Architecture, Helsinki,
and the National Building Museum, Washington, DC,
with the support of the Yale University School of Architecture
Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future, traveled throughout Europe and the
United States, 2006–2010
Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum,
Smithsonian Institution
National Design Triennial, co-curator, 2003
New Hotels for Global Nomads, 2002
Russel Wright: Creating American Lifestyle, co-curator, 2001
The Opulent Eye of Alexander Girard, 2000
National Design Triennial, co-curator, 2000
Do-It-Yourself Architecture for the Great Outdoors, 1997
National Building Museum, Washington, D.C.
House & Home: Four Hundred Years of American Domesticity, co-curator, 2012-ongoing
The Green House: New Directions in Sustainable Architecture and Design, 2006
Picture This: Windows on the American Home, 2003
On the Job: Design and the American Office, co-curator, 2000
Stay Cool! Air-conditioning America, co-curator, 1999
A Master Plan for the National Building Museum,
project director of a new plan for the Museum’s physical spaces
and core exhibition program, 1997
World War II and the American Dream: How Wartime Building
Changed a Nation, 1994
Pratt Institute
Naomi Leff: Interior Design, 2008
Yale University School of Architecture
PSFS: Nothing More Modern, co-curator, 2004
R20th Century Gallery, New York
AutoPlastic: Wendell Castle, 1968–1973, 2004
Getty Center
Making Architecture: The Getty Center from Concept
exhibition through Construction, Getty Center, 1997
Library of Congress and Vitra Design Museum,
Weil-am-Rhein, Germany
The Work of Charles and Ray Eames: A Legacy of Invention,
traveled throughout Europe, the United States, and Asia, 1997–2004
National Institute for Architectural Education, New York
Paul Rudolph: Explorations in Modern Architecture, 1976–1993, 1993
American Museum of the Moving Image, New York
Changing Faces, 1991
Tony Walton: Designing for Stage and Screen, 1989
Exhibition-related Books
Up Against the Wall: Art, Activism, and the AIDS Poster
Co-curator and author
RIT Press, 2022
Through a Different Lens: Stanley Kubrick Photographs
Co-curator and author
Museum of the City of New York/TASCHEN, 2018
Mod New York: Fashion Takes a Trip
Co-editor
Museum of the City of New York/The Monacelli Press, 2017
Mexico Modern: Art, Commerce, and Cultural Exchange
Co-editor and author
Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin/Museum of the City of New York, 2017
Gay Gotham: Art and Underground Culture in New York
Co-author
Museum of the City of New York (MCNY)/Skira Rizzoli, 2016
Saving Place: Fifty Years of New York City Landmarks
Co-editor
Museum of the City of New York (MCNY)/Monacelli Press, 2015
Norman Bel Geddes Designs America
Editor and author
Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas/
Museum of the City of New York (MCNY)/Abrams, 2012
Now Boarding: Fentress + The Architecture of Flight
Lead author
Denver Art Museum, 2012
Doris Duke’s Shangri La: Architecture,
Landscape, and Islamic Art
Co-editor and author
Rizzoli, 2012
Russel Wright: The Nature of Design
Co-author
SUNY New Paltz, 2012
Keep Calm and Carry On: World War II
and the British Home Front, 1938-1951
Editor and lead author
Norton Museum of Art, 2012
Cecil Beaton: The New York Years
Author
Rizzoli/MCNY, 2011
Global Citizen: The Architecture of Moshe Safdie
Editor and author
Scala, 2010
Cars, Culture, and the City
Co-author
MCNY, 2010
Only in New York: Photographs from Look Magazine
Co-author
MCNY/Monacelli, 2009
Paris/New York: Design Fashion Culture, 1925–1940
Editor and author
MCNY/Monacelli, 2008
The High Style of Dorothy Draper
Author
MCNY/Pointed Leaf Press, 2006
Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future
Editor and author
Yale University Press, 2006
The Mythic City: Photographs of New York
by Samuel H. Gottscho, 1925–1940
Author
MCNY/Princeton Architectural Press, 2005
Glass and Glamour: Steuben’s Modern Moment, 1930–1960
Author
MCNY/Abrams, 2003
National Design Triennial
Co-author
Cooper-Hewitt/Princeton Architectural Press, 2003
New Hotels for Global Nomads
Co-author
Cooper-Hewitt/Merrill, 2002
Russel Wright: Creating American Lifestyle
Co-editor and author
Cooper-Hewitt/Abrams, 2001
National Design Triennial
Co-author
Cooper-Hewitt/Princeton Architectural Press, 2000
On the Job: Design and the American Office
Co-editor and co-author
Princeton Architectural Press, 2000
The Work of Charles and Ray Eames: A Legacy of Invention
Editor and author
Abrams, 1997
World War II and the American Dream:
How Wartime Building Changed a Nation
Editor and author
MIT Press, 1994
Non-exhibition Books and Book Essays
(as author, unless otherwise noted)
Bob Crewe: Sight and Sound, Compositions in Music and Art
Introduction author, Rizzoli/Electa, 2021
Cool Is Everywhere: New and Adaptive Design across America
Introduction author, Abrams, 2020
“’New Backgrounds for a New Age’: Modern Design for Theaters and Stores”
Co-author, in Charles Sheeler: Fashion, Photography, and Sculptural Form
James A. Michener Art Museum, 2017
“Jean-Michel Frank” and “Alberto Giacometti”
in Schiaparelli and the Artists
Rizzoli, 2017
Make It Fabulous: The Architecture and
Designs of William T. Georgis
Co-author
Monacelli Press, 2013
“The High Bohemia of 1930s Manhattan”
in Partners in Design
Monacelli Press/The Liliane and David M. Stewart Program for Modern Design, 2015
“The Hand That Helped the Machine”
in Crafting Modernism: Midcentury American Art and Design
Museum of Arts and Design/Abrams, 2011
Andrée Putman
Rizzoli, 2009
“Beyond Simplicity”
in Gabellini: Architecture of the Interior
Rizzoli, 2008
The Glass House: Pairings
National Trust for Historic Preservation, 2007
Introductory essay “An Architecture of Transparency”
in 1100 Architect, 1998–2006
Monacelli, 2006
Introductory essay in California Design: The Legacy of West Coast Craft and Style
Chronicle Books, 2005
“Dr. Caligari’s Cabinets: The Set Design of Ken Adam”
in Architecture and Film
Princeton Architectural Press, 2001
“The Elegance of the Everyday:
The Interiors of Giorgio Armani”
in Giorgio Armani
Guggenheim Museum, 2000
“Cabinets of Dr. Caligari”
in Production Design: Ken Adam
Deutsches Museum, Munich, 1994
“Images et merchandises”
in Hollywood: 1927–1941
Autrement, Paris, 1991
Designing Dreams: Modern Architecture in the Movies
Museum of Modern Art/Harper & Row, 1986
Articles
Numerous articles for publications such as the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, the New York Times, and House and Garden, Architecture, and Architectural Digest magazines
Selected Presentations and Lectures
Conception and implementation of gallery tours, lectures, film programs, and symposia in conjunction with all exhibitions. In addition, lectures and symposia participation at an international roster of museums and universities on subjects ranging from architecture to interior design and film, including:
“Paris/New York: Design, Fashion, Culture”
Art Deco Society of New York, lecturer, 2022
“Art Deco New York: The Mythic City”
Denver Eclectics, Denver, Colorado, lecturer, 2021
Norfolk Society of Arts, Norfolk, Virginia, lecturer, 2020
“Living With Nature : Russel Wright’s Manitoga”
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia, lecturer, 2018
“Partners in Design”
Program in conjunction with a book about the formation of the Museum of Modern Art, AIA Center for Architecture, New York, panelist, 2016
“Movie Deco”
Chicago Art Deco Society, lecturer, 2015
“The Mad Men of Midcentury Modernism”
Program in conjunction with an exhibition about architect A. Quincy Jones, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, lecturer, 2013
“Marketing the Future”
Fleur Cowles Flair symposium, Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin, in conjunction with the Norman Bel Geddes exhibition, panel organizer and moderator, 2012
“Gay New York”
Symposium in conjunction with the exhibition Cecil Beaton: The New York Years, Museum of the City of New York, organizer with George Chauncey of Yale University, 2012
“Modernism and Post-war Hollywood”
George Nelson symposium, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, lecturer, 2012
“Warren McArthur in Los Angeles”
California Design symposium, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, lecturer, 2012
“Auto-Display”
Nano symposium, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, lecturer, 2011
“Salesmanship is the Answer” [re: Dorothy Draper]
and “Cecil Beaton’s New York”
Chic It Up conferences, Winterthur, Wilmington, Delaware, lecturer, 2009 and 2010
“Home Design in New York”
Annual series of day-long symposia featuring Mario Buatta, Vincente Wolf, and other designers, Museum of the City of New York, co-organizer, 2007-2009
“Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future”
Program in conjunction with the opening of the Saarinen exhibition, International Centre for Urbanism, Architecture, and Landscape (CIVA), Brussels, lecturer, 2007
“Hotel Primer: From Cesar Ritz to Alfred Hitchcock”
Hotel Future, Lucerne, Switzerland, lecturer and symposium moderator, 2005
“Streamlining Leisure”
Bard Graduate Center, New York, lecturer, 2005
“The Corporate Interior”
American corporate architecture symposium, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, lecturer, 2001
“Designing Dreams”
Lincoln Center, New York, lecturer, 1999
“The Work of Charles and Ray Eames”
Symposium in conjunction with the opening of the Eames exhibition, London Design Museum, lecturer, 1998
“Skyscrapers, Sex, and Psychopaths:
A History of Three Cities in the Movies”
National Building Museum, three-part film series, organizer and lecturer, 1994
“Celluloid Skyline, Designing for Television”
“Movie Modern: Cinema and the Image of Technology”
“This Production Designed by William Cameron Menzies”
American Museum of the Moving Image, film series and symposium organizer and lecturer, 1988–92
“Production Design”
Berlin, symposium participant, 1991
“Gone With the Wind: Hollywood and the Colonial Revival”
Society of Architectural Historians, lecturer, 1990
“Paul Nelson and Hollywood”
Columbia University, lecturer, 1990
“Screen Eccentrics”
Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, film series organizer, 1989
“Modern Movement/The City in Film”
Gallery Association of New York, film series organizer, 1988
“Directors with a Vision”
Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum , film series organizer and lecturer, 1986
“Designing Dreams”
Architectural League and Parsons School of Design, New York,
four-part film series organizer and lecturer, 1984
Websites
Building America: A Virtual Exhibition
Co-curator
National Building Museum, online 2002–08
Fellowships and Awards
Fellow, American Academy in Rome
Six-month residency in Rome studying museum architecture
and display, 2003
Fellow, Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin
Residency in Austin researching Mexican modernism, 2013
Co-author, National Endowment for the Humanities planning
and implementation grants awarded to the National Building
Museum for House and Home, 2003
Nomination for Best Design Exhibition for
Doris Duke’s Shangri La: Architecture,
Landscape, and Islamic Art
International Association of Art Critics
Best Museum Exhibition for
Norman Bel Geddes: I Have Seen the Future
Austin Critics’ Table Award
Philip Johnson Best Exhibition Catalog Award for
Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future
Society of Architectural Historians
Best Book of the Year for
Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future
Arts Club of London
Best Photography Book for
The Mythic City: Photographs of New York
by Samuel H. Gottscho, 1925–1940
New York Society Library
Philip Johnson Best Exhibition Catalog Award for
The Work of Charles and Ray Eames
Society of Architectural Historians
Nomination for Best Design Exhibition for
The Work of Charles and Ray Eames
International Association of Art Critics
Honorable Mention for
Designing Dreams: Modern Architecture in the Movies
Theatre Library Association
Juries
Juror, Society of Architectural Historians Award
for Film and Video, 2013–14
Juror, Arthur Ross Awards, Institute of
Classical Architecture and Art, 2012
Scholarly advisor and on-screen interviewee
for the film The Architect and the Painter
National Endowment for the Humanities, 2003-2009
Staff Positions
Curator of Architecture and Design
Museum of the City of New York
2003–2019
Curator of Special Projects
Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution
1996–2003
Curator of Production Design and Director of Exhibitions
American Museum of the Moving Image, New York
1986–1992
Architect
Giorgio Cavaglieri, FAIA, New York
1983–1986
Architect
Johnson/Burgee, Architects, New York
1978–1980
Architect
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Chicago
1974–1977
Teaching Positions
Adjunct Professor
Parsons School of Design, New York
1990–2002
Adjunct Professor
Cooper-Hewitt Masters Program in the Decorative Arts, New York
2000–ongoing
Education
Bachelor Degree in Architecture
Illinois Institute of Technology
1974
Languages
Reading Proficiency in Italian and French