EXHIBITION
2014
VENUE
National Gallery of Victoria
YEAR
Mid-Century Modern: Australian Furniture Design is the first major exhibition dedicated to Australian furniture of the 1940s to the 1970s. This survey exhibition showcases more than one hundred iconic pieces by significant figures including Grant Featherston, Clement Meadmore, Douglas Snelling, Fred Lowen and Schulim Krimper amongst others, revealing how these designers “moved away from traditional, conservative pre-war styles and forged a new language of design that was innovative in its use of materials, functional and often imbued with a good dose of style.”
Whilst employed at NGV, Peter undertook the exhibition design for this exhibition. The layout of the exhibition supports a chronological narrative, so that the visitor encounters furniture from the immediate post-war period through to the mid 1970s. However, the design of the exhibition employs a number of innovative design gestures to enhance this experience.
The linear journey through the existing galleries is modified with new architectural insertions, so that the path winds back on itself. Through gaps left open between these new walls, visitors glimpse works later in the show, but also chronologically different to those in the immediate foreground. This provides an encompassing and contrasting vision of the styles that made up the mid-century ‘look’.
The architectural approach of low walls and spanning beams serves to provide a more domestic scale, but also aims to make subtle reference to the prevailing modern style. Bold colour is used to reinforce these architectural planes - selections were colour- matched from original mid-century paint charts included as part of the exhibition’s ephemera.
Contrasting display methods are used to create visual interest; from interior vignettes that include artwork and textiles contemporary to the period; to cantilevered shelves that display case studies of significant works. The journey is broken up by highlights at intervals, including the full scale recreation of the 1955 Age Dream Home living room.
Exhibition Design: NGV Exhibition Design
Curator: Kirsty Grant
Photos by Brooke Holm
“Peter was the designer of an exhibition I curated at the NGV in 2014, Mid-Century Modern: Australian Furniture Design. His approach was enthusiastically collaborative, working to understand the theme and become familiar with the content, he listened to my ideas and then undertook his own research into the period. This fed into the final design, informing colour, space and ambiance, as well as the overall visual and conceptual logic of the design. His reorganisation of the existing gallery spaces created a path through the display that was dynamic and a totally new experience for regular visitors to the NGV.
Peter is responsive to the people with whom he is working (curators, director, graphic designer, artists etc), willing to test options, whether they are his ideas or someone else’s, and to experiment in order to achieve the best result. He is energetic, a good communicator, and is able to adapt his strong aesthetic to the requirements of the project on which he is working.”