Race and the Design of American Life: African Americans in Twentieth-Century Commercial Art

Chris Dingwall curated a great show at the University of Chicago titled, Race and the Design of American Life: African Americans in Twentieth-Century Commercial Art 

The show is in the special collections area of the university's Regenstein library, which on the outside looks molded cardboard packing material:

 

It is next to this glass dome building, which seems like another very dated vision of the future:

Anyway, the show is beautiful. I don't know how he found all of these incredible artifacts, which includes designed objects like an ancient box of toothpaste and a giant container of nutmeg from a defunct Chicago manufacturer. These are the kind of objects that get lost over time and which you and I will likely not see again outside of this exhibit. There are also several examples of work from important African American graphic designers-- names I should know but didn't. The exhibit ends with this marvelous juxtaposition of Barack Obama and Chief Keef:

The exhibition, Race and the Design of American Life: African Americans in Twentieth-Century Commercial Art, runs through January 4 in the Special Collections Research Center. 

 You can read an interview with Chris Dingwall here:  lib.uchicago.edu/e/webexhibits/raceanddesign

The exhibit's accompanying text, (written by Dingwall and also excellent):  http://news.lib.uchicago.edu/blog/2013/11/11/a-different-way-of-learning-about-history/