A new monograph by Michelle Jackson-Beckett (PhD ’22), Vienna and the New Wohnkultur, 1918–1938 (Oxford University Press) was released this spring. Based on Jackson-Beckett’s dissertation, it examines interior design exhibitions, press, and debates about modern living in interwar Vienna, an overlooked area of modern European architecture and design history. The book argues for a reconsideration of the contours of European modernism. It analyzes varied interpretations of modern domestic culture (Wohnkultur) in Vienna and why these interpretations were distinct from other strands of European modernism. The book introduces new research and translations of primary sources on flexible, adaptable, and affordable design by architects, designers, and retailers. Vienna’s design discourse also prefigured important postmodern and contemporary discussions on historicism, eclecticism, empathy, and user experience. While the domestic sphere might seem tangential to the dire political situation and humanitarian crises of interwar Europe, it was nevertheless at the forefront of debates about cultural identity and economic policy in the Viennese press, culture, and arts. Vienna and the New Wohnkultur, 1918–1938 explores why and how the Viennese design landscape was set apart––aesthetically and theoretically––from other European explorations of modern design.

Jackson-Beckett called the book an exploration of “the constellation of debates surrounding both rejections and revisions of modernist ideals in exhibitions of Viennese interior design and housing between 1918 and 1938.” She continued, “My research examines critical challenges to western European paradigms of modernity, especially reconsiderations of ‘universal’ aesthetics and rhetoric in future-oriented examples of modern architecture and interiors.”

Professor emerita Paul Stirton was Jackson-Beckett’s dissertation advisor. He said, “Michelle Jackson-Beckett’s new book is an excellent example of the type of inquiry that Bard Graduate Center stands for. Clearly written and the result of meticulous research, her narrative weaves a path through an already popular field to reveal a submerged discourse on interior design. By focusing on a series of exhibitions in Vienna, Michelle has provided a survey of taste and critical debate on interior design in Central Europe from the bottom up; one that provides a convincing account of design culture without relying solely on the traditional lineage of great names.”

Currently, Jackson-Beckett is the curator of rare books at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum Library, where she works on curatorial research and exhibitions, acquisitions, collection management, scholarly publications, and reference inquiries related to rare and distinctive collections at Cooper Hewitt Library. Previously, she was curator of drawings and archives at Columbia University’s Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, senior lecturer in design history and theory at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, archivist for the Victor J. Papanek Foundation Archive and Library, and director of archives and publications at R & Company design gallery in Manhattan. Her research and teaching topics include Weimar modernism, revivalism in design, the material culture of waste, postmodern architecture and design, industrial design history, environmental design, and world history of glass and glassmaking. She serves on the research committee of the Society of Architectural Historians Historic Interiors Affiliate Group and is a member of the Design History Society and the College Art Association.

Congratulations, Michelle!