Rose Iron Works: From Art Nouveau to Art Deco
- Special Exhibition
Julia and Larry Pollock Focus Gallery
Featured Art
About The Exhibition
In the early 1900s, as Cleveland experienced rapid economic growth and the expansion of its iron and steel industries, Hungarian ornamental blacksmith Martin Rose moved to the city and founded Rose Iron Works. It soon became one of the leading manufacturers of decorative metalwork in the United States. Trained in Budapest and Vienna in the Art Nouveau tradition, Rose was interested in artistic and technological innovations. In 1925, a groundbreaking international exhibition in Paris presented modern decorative arts—a style that later became known as Art Deco. Rose’s compatriot and a designer active in Paris, Paul Feher joined the Rose company in Cleveland a few years later. Their artistic collaboration resulted in some of the best Art Deco ironwork in the country, including the celebrated Muse with Violin Screen (1930), now in the CMA’s collection. This exhibition explores Rose’s transition from Art Nouveau to Art Deco, focuses on his 1930s commissions, and places his work in the European context. It also emphasizes the importance of Rose Iron Works, a family-run Cleveland company that for 120 years has been adorning some of the city’s most notable buildings.
Sponsors
Major support is provided by the Malcolm E. Kenney Curatorial Research Fund.
All exhibitions at the Cleveland Museum of Art are underwritten by the CMA Fund for Exhibitions. Principal annual support is provided by Michael Frank and the late Pat Snyder, the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation, the John and Jeanette Walton Exhibition Fund, and Margaret and Loyal Wilson. Major annual support is provided by the late Dick Blum and Harriet Warm and the Frankino-Dodero Family Fund for Exhibitions Endowment. Generous annual support is provided by two anonymous donors, Gini and Randy Barbato, Gary and Katy Brahler, Cynthia and Dale Brogan, Dr. Ben and Julia Brouhard, Brenda and Marshall Brown, Gail and Bill Calfee, Dr. William A. Chilcote Jr. and Dr. Barbara S. Kaplan, Joseph and Susan Corsaro, Ron and Cheryl Davis, Richard and Dian Disantis, the Jeffery Wallace Ellis Trust in memory of Lloyd H. Ellis Jr., Leigh and Andy Fabens, Florence Kahane Goodman, Janice Hammond and Edward Hemmelgarn, Robin Heiser, the late Marta and the late Donald M. Jack Jr., the estate of Walter and Jean Kalberer, Eva and Rudolf Linnebach, the William S. Lipscomb Fund, Bill and Joyce Litzler, the Roy Minoff Family Fund, Lu Anne and the late Carl Morrison, Jeffrey Mostade and Eric Nilson and Varun Shetty, Sarah Nash, Tim O’Brien and Breck Platner, Dr. Nicholas and Anne Ogan, William J. and Katherine T. O’Neill, Henry Ott-Hansen, Christine Fae Powell, Peter and Julie Raskind, Michael and Cindy Resch, William Roj and Mary Lynn Durham, Betty T. and David M. Schneider, Saundra K. Stemen, Paula and Eugene Stevens, the Womens Council of the Cleveland Museum of Art, and Claudia Woods and David Osage.