"The book's 341 color plates, arranged in nine thematic sections, reveal the huge variety of aesthetic and conceptual viewpoints in design since the late nineteenth century and together trace the historical development of modern design as well as that of the Museum's celebrated design collection. The volume's authoritative texts include a preface by Terence Riley, The Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design at the Museum, and an introductory essay by Curator Paola Antonelli. The lavish plate section is enriched by numerous brief texts by these and other curators in the Architecture and Design department, which illuminate the entire course of modern design, its major styles, and its individual masterpieces. Objects of Design is the second in a series of three volumes on the holdings of the department, the first of which, Envisioning Architecture, surveys the Museum's extraordinary architecture drawings. "--Jacket.