MoMA's modernist design show centres on childhood

MoMA is presenting the first ever large-scale overview of the modernist preoccupation with childhood. The exhibition, Century of the Child: Growing by Design 1900-2000, brings together elements until now often overlooked in design history or considered separately, including school architecture, clothing, playgrounds, toys and games, children’s hospitals and safety equipment, nurseries and furniture.

The exhibition examines individual and collective visions for the material world of children, including utopian dreams for the “citizens of the future”. In the period children have been central to the concerns, ambitions, and activities of architects and designers both famous and unsung, and working specifically for children has provided unique freedom and creativity for the avant-garde.

Century of the Child brings together over 500 pieces, ranging from urban-planning projects to small design objects by celebrated designers and lesser-known figures. The show opens on July 29. Read the catalogue.