Architects have been designing useful objects for centuries, elevating the functional into art. Margo Grant Walsh, one of the foremost interior architects of the 20th and 21st centuries, has spent a lifetime collecting metalwork, amassing an outstanding collection of over 800 objects from 17 countries, many of which were created by major architectural figures.
This March, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, will present Designed by Architects: Metalwork from the Margo Grant Walsh Collection, organized by Cindi Strauss, MFAH curator of modern and contemporary decorative arts and design. With approximately 50 works culled from the acclaimed collection, Designed by Architects showcases metalwork from around the world that was designed by prominent architects between the late-19th and 21st centuries. The exhibition explores the intellectual and stylistic links between the design of buildings and the design of practical objects, touching on the significant stylistic movements of this period. Designed by Architects is on view at the MFAH's Caroline Wiess Law Building, 1001 Bissonnet Street, from March 15 through August 3, 2008.
"Put simply, Margo Grant Walsh is obsessed with silver, copper, and mixed metals. She is fortunate to have a highly refined eye, which has enabled her to identify and secure significant pieces of superior design," said MFAH director Peter C. Marzio. "Ms. Grant Walsh's mantra is that great design speaks a universal language, and it is interesting to see how well silver objects from different periods interact with one another. Architect-designed metalwork is a recurring theme of her global collection, and is the subject of the museum's focus exhibition, Designed by Architects."
Grant Walsh has been a trailblazer in the interior design industry. She began her career with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in San Francisco in the 1960s, where she spent 13 years honing her expertise and eventually became associate director of interior design. Grant Walsh found her permanent home, however, at the award-winning, global design firm Gensler, joining the organization in Houston in 1973 as interior design director. Under her guidance, the design firm became one of the world's largest as she opened the Gensler New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., and London offices.
In addition, Grant Walsh became the founder and managing principal of the eastern region division. Inducted into the Interior Design magazine Hall of Fame in 1987, she also received a Leadership Award of Excellence from the New York Chapter of the International Interior Design Association in 2000, and is widely recognized as a significant force in the field. Now retired from Gensler, Grant Walsh dedicates herself to collecting and lecturing on her metalwork collection.
"Margo Grant Walsh is a design pioneer who has influenced an entire generation. She has an impeccable eye for style, so it's not surprising that she adhered to the highest standards as she began collecting," said Strauss. "Margo's collecting is driven by an abiding belief in the power of design. She has consistently sought exquisitely designed and well-crafted objects whose function is readily apparent. Because of her career as an interior architect, she naturally gravitated towards objects whose form and volume appealed to her modernist eye. Many of the objects are exhibited in Designed by Architects." -- www.mfah.org
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