| The Art-In-Trades Club of New York was comprised of craftsmen, designers, decorators, and businessmen associated with the industrial arts and related fields. After a successful lecture series on color and design, organized in 1902 with Frank Alvah Parsons, William Sloane Coffin founded the AITC in 1906 on the principles of combining art and industry. The club had close relationships with both the home furnishings manufacturing firms their members represented and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, whose staff and resources in part made their existence possible.;Headed by Harry Wearne during the 1920s, they organized an annual exhibition held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. The exhibitions, which occurred annually from 1922-1924, and in 1926, gradually began to showcase "original" designs influenced by the Paris Exposition of 1925 alongside revival design. This thesis will provide a history of the organization, explore its design philosophies, examine the works produced for the club's exhibitions, and place the organization within an American design context. The Art-In-Trades Club of New York and their exhibitions provide an excellent opportunity to discuss the changing concepts of Modernism - both during the period and in scholarship today. |
