Collection Online as of March 24, 2023

Mirror

c. 1930

designer

Paul Fehér

(American, born Hungary, 1898–1990)

maker

Rose Iron Works

(American, Cleveland, est. 1904)

Wrought iron, brass, silver, gold plating, glass

182.9 x 114.3 x 6.4 cm (72 x 45 x 2 1/2 in.)

Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 2020.217

Location

228B Cleveland Artists

Description

The Rose Iron Works in Cleveland embraced the modern aesthetic of geometric patterning, with highly stylized and abstracted natural forms, in their designs by Hungarian-born Paul Fehér, who came from Paris to work for the company. Despite the stock market crash in 1929, the company continued to produce such designs in the hope that prosperity would soon return. However, this mirror remained unsold in their studio as the Great Depression took hold.

Provenance

c. 1930–2020

(Rose Iron Works Collections, LLC, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH)

2020–

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Clair, Jean. The 1920s: Age of the Metropolis, exh. cat. (Montreal, Canada: Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 1991). Mentioned and reproduced P. 532

Coffin, Sarah, Stephen Harrison, Emily Marshall Orr, Cooper-Hewitt Museum, and Cleveland Museum of Art. The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2017 Reproduced and mentioned: p. 193, fig. 240, cat. 315, p. 359 ingallslibrary.on.worldcat.org

Exhibition history

The 1920s: Age of the Metropolis. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Canada (June 20-November 10, 1991).

The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s. Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York, NY (April 7-August 20, 2017); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 30, 2017-January 14, 2018).