A pioneer in the concept of “lifestyle marketing,” Russel Wright anticipated the likes of Martha Stewart and Ralph Lauren. Wright designed dinnerware, furniture, decorative objects. He and his wife Mary Wright wrote best-selling how-to books that influenced a post-World War II generation seeking a casual, yet elegant, American domesticity.
Credits
Co-editor: Robert Schonfeld
Designer: Abbott Miller/Pentagram
Paris/New York explored the period between the world wars when New York City, looking to Paris for inspiration, became the international cultural capital it is today. Bringing together well-known figures such as Josephine Baker and Salvador Dali and reviving the reputations of forgotten ones, the show examined the Paris/New York dialogue in the fields of architecture, furniture design, fashion, painting, and the performing arts, among other spheres.
Credits
Publisher: Monacelli Press
Designer: Pure+Applied
Mr. Albrecht conceived, selected images, and wrote the text of this book published to commemorate the public opening of architect Philip Johnson’s famous Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut. Its organizing theme—pairings—was inspired by Johnson’s concept of the site’s initial structures—the Glass House and Brick House—as a dialogue between visual motifs such as transparency and opacity. These formal pairings were then expanded to others drawn from the architect’s personal, professional, and artistic life. Featured photographs by Arnold Newman and Irving Penn.
Credits
Publisher: National Trust for Historic Preservation
Designers: Michael Beirut and Yve Ludwig/Pentagram
Credits
Publisher: Monacelli Press
Edited with Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen
Credits
Publisher: Yale University Press
Designer: Michael Bierut/Pentagram
To accompany the exhibition he organized, Mr. Albrecht co-authored this book with Elizabeth Johnson exploring new hotels, both real and imagined, from around the world.
Credits
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution and Merrell
Designer: Alicia Cheng/Cooper-Hewitt Museum
Mr. Albrecht and NBM curator Chrysanthe Broikos conceived this book to accompany their exhibition at the National Building Museum. They selected essayists who explored the history of office furniture, management policies, and technology, and commissioned a photographic essay by leading photographer Steven Brooke on the phenomenon of new edge cities outside the nation’s capital.
Credits
Publisher: National Building Museum and Princeton Architectural Press
Designer: Abbott Miller/Pentagram
Co-curated with Stephen Vider
New York has long been a beacon for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender artists seeking freedom, acceptance, and community. Gay Gotham: Art and Underground Culture in New York brought to life the queer creative networks that sprang up in the city across the 20th century—a series of artistic subcultures whose radical ideas had lasting effects on the mainstream. Peeling back the layers of New York’s LGBT life that thrived even in the shadows, this groundbreaking exhibition revealed an often-hidden side of the history of New York City and celebrated the power of artistic collaboration to transcend oppression. Visitors encountered well-known figures, from Mae West to Leonard Bernstein to Andy Warhol, and discovered lesser-known ones, such as feminist artist Harmony Hammond, painter and writer Richard Bruce Nugent, and transgender artist Greer Lankton. Surprising relationships emerged: Warhol and Mercedes de Acosta; Robert Mapplethorpe and Cecil Beaton; George Platt Lynes and Gertrude Stein. The exhibition featured the work of these artists, including paintings and photographs, as well as letters, snapshots, and ephemera that illuminated their personal bonds and revealed secrets that were scandal-provoking in their time and remained largely unknown until today. Accompanied by a 304-page catalog.
Mr. Albrecht conceived the idea for the show and, working with co-curator Stephen Vider, developed its themes, selected all artifacts, wrote exhibition text, identified and worked with the design team.
Press
Coverage on National Public Radio and in the New York Times, New Yorker, Daily Beast, Slate, Guardian, Gay and Lesbian Review, and many other digital and print publications
“brilliantly curated”
Tim Teeman, Daily Beast, October 6, 2016
“The objects and artifacts …are gorgeous and fascinating.”
Blake Gopnik, artnet.com, November 10, 2016
Credits
Exhibition designer: Joel Sanders Architect
Exhibition graphic designer: Pure+Applied
Catalogue design: Pure+Applied
Photographer: John Halpern
Designing Home was the first exhibition to look at the contribution of Jewish designers, architects, patrons, and merchants in the creation of a distinctly modern American domestic landscape. In the aftermath of World War II, the hub of world Jewry shifted from Europe to America. The exhibition examined the cultural context in which many Jewish émigré architects and designers from Europe in the 1930–40s were welcomed and embraced into the creative communities that sprang up around the US—including Black Mountain College, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis, and even in the Bay Area at Pond Farm in Guerneville. The story told in this exhibition gave remarkable insight into Jewish assimilation into American society. At the same time, Designing Home went beyond a simple exploration of physical Jewish contributions to the history of modern architecture and design—an impact that continues today—to examine broader cultural and social themes. Accompanied by a 184-page catalog.
Mr. Albrecht developed the idea of the show, selected all artifacts, wrote exhibition text, assembled the design team, and wrote the catalog’s primary essay.
Press
Articles in the New York Times, Architectural Record,
Jewish Daily Forward, San Francisco Chronicle
“…already an instant classic.”
Pierluigi Serraino, Architect’s Newspaper, July 10, 2014
Credits
Associate curator: Lily Siegel
Exhibition designers: Pure+Applied