Useful and Beautiful: The Decorative Arts Pavilion on Treasure Island, 1939

In the summer of 1938, Dorothy Wright Liebes embarked on a six-week, nine-country journey across Europe in preparation for her role as Director of the Decorative Arts Pavilion at the Golden Gate International Exposition the following year. Her mission was to gather items that illustrated her conviction that "the art spirit of any age may well be measured by the vitality in the design of everyday things."

"Useful and beautiful" is how Liebes described the items she collected for display in the pavilion. Speaker Liz Schott will share personal photographs of the exhibition from Liebes’s family members, along with more widely available material.

Liz Schott is working on a biography of Dorothy Wright Liebes.