Last weekend, I visited the Frick and the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. There were a couple portraits that I immediately connected with at the Frick, but it took me a little longer to appreciate the exhibits at Cooper-Hewitt.
The current exhibition on the first floor is called House Proud. It includes magnificently detailed watercolors of 19th century homes–snapshots of family homes without the families. It feels a little like you’re flipping through real estate ads, looking at images staged to invoke strong and personal feelings.
On the second floor, there is a prototype for affordable housing being built in China. In stark contrast to many of the paintings on the first floor, the example of high-density urban living seemed extremely cold. After seeing the 19th century homes, the 450 square foot footprint for a family of four was difficult to appreciate.
I’ve thought about the two exhibits several times over the past week, and I’m beginning to appreciate the similarities of the two exhibits. Both depict the intimacy of family life, as well as the integration with community. In the watercolors, community is brought into the family home with grand spaces designed for entertaining. The Chinese sense of community comes through in shared space. More than 200 dorm-like apartments share common areas for eating, relaxing, and hosting guests.
I have lived in cities and dorms for much of my life, and it’s impressive that the watercolors took me so deep into the 19th century that I temporarily lost my connection to urban life.
