LAUSR

In A Designed Life: Contemporary American Textiles, Wallpapers, and Containers & Packaging, a catalog that accompanies a traveling exhibition of the same name organized by the Center for Art, Design, and Visual Culture at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), five essays examine the role of design and designers in the politicization of consumer products and technology in US capitalist propaganda abroad during the Cold War era. The lead essay by Margaret Re, curator of the exhibition and Associate Professor of Visual Arts at UMBC, introduces the exhibition’s focus. Between 1951 and 1954, the US Department of State and the Traveling Exhibition Service (TES) organized three historical exhibitions for display in Germany: “Contemporary American Textiles,” “Contemporary American Wallpapers,” and “Containers & Packaging.” In the catalog, these three exhibitions – designed by Florence Knoll, Tom Lee, and Will Burtin, Lisa He holds an MA in the Humanities from the University of Chicago. [email protected] © 2020 Lisa He DOI: 10.1080/17547075.2020.1818985