Design-as-art-movement

DEFINITION

The mixing of postwar and contemporary art with design objects, it blurs the lines between the traditional definitions of fine art and design. The Movement is dated from the mid-1990s when Christie's London began design sales and to a spring 2000 sale at Christie's New York when Philippe Seg??lot, worldwide head of contemporary art, interspersed design objects by Marc Newson and Shiro Kuramata with paintings and sculpture by Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons. The buying response was very moderate, but since then the combination has caught on and seems a pairing "well suited to the newest wave of collectors and their eclectic decorating style." (126) A major player in promoting Design-As-Art is Chicagoan Richard Wright and his Wright auctions, begun in 2000 shortly after the Christie's sale. He offered design objects in eye-catching catalogues. About the same time, Phillips, de Pury & Company, began 20-21st Century Design Art sales. In 2003, Sotheby's changed the name of the 20th-Century Decorative Arts to 20th Century Design. Source: Jeannie Rosenfeld, ???Turning the Tables???, ???ARTnews???, March 2006, p. 126-127