Arts Entertainment

Wholly Toledo ,

Homegrown product designs grace
art museum centennial.

Left to right:

Van Doren and
Rideout stemware,
produced by the
National Silver
Company out of
colorful Plaskon and
plated metal is on
loan from Larry and
Susann Spilkin
of Birmingham.

Belle Kogan's Victoria
pattern, shown in
this ice bucket, was
patented in 1958 by
Libbey Glass Inc.

"Toledo Designs"
has been mapped out
to show a variety
of design artistry,
including (from left)
a Maytag washer,
Skippy-Racer
scooter and Wayne
gasoline pump
(opposite page),
all dating back
to the 1930s.

4/12
2002

70

aware of the importance of design in making
sales," says Taragin, whose research familiar-
ized her with the work of the late Belle
Kogan, a design pioneer long based in New
York.
Kogan, exhibit materials point out, left her
mark on many types of products, including a
line of glass sampled in the display by an ice
bucket with her Victoria pattern.
The industrial artisan, who studied at the
Pratt Institute and the Rhode Island School
of Design, also earned an international repu-
tation with-silver and home furnishings and
was sought out by large manufacturers, such
as Reed and Barton, Bausch and Lomb and
Libbey Glass.
Bernard Banet, a Kogan nephew who lives
in Ann Arbor, recalls his aunt's attention to
detail and their visits at his home and hers.
Not long before she died in 2000, he went to

SUZANNE CHESSLER
Special to the Jewish News

A

n exhibit recognizing artistry that is
not usually associated with art exhibits
caps the centennial year celebration of
the Toledo Museum of Art.
"The Alliance of Art and Industry: Toledo
Designs for a Modern America," which runs
through June 16, calls attention to the devel-
opment of product designs, from glassware
to bicycles, originating in the Ohio city. The
exhibit gives a time frame for artistic and
business collaborations aimed at catching the
public eye, and it recalls the educational role
of the museum.
While the display itself has no Judaica,
there is Jewish representation in the curatori-
al process, the arrangement of the 180
objects shown, the profession bringing atten-

tion to design and the items on loan.
"This show is about all of us and our her-
itage," says Davira Taragin, the museum's
curator of modern and contemporary glass
and director of its Center for Glass. "The
exhibit gives dignity and gravity to objects
that we've lived with and makes us more
aware of the designs that surround us.
"The exciting part of working on this over
the past five years has been doing some original
research and learning how much Toledo has
contributed to everyday life through products
as familiar as Toledo scales and Libbey glass."
Taragin, an observant Jew who commutes
to Toledo from her home in Bingham Farms,
got the idea for the exhibit as she noticed the
signs and businesses she was passing. While
planning content, she decided to include
information about individual firms, products
and the people behind both.
"The Depression made industrialists more