Member Previews—The Kitchen and Its Discontents
- Fri, Sep 25, 2026
- 11 am - 8 pm PT
- Resnick Pavilion | LACMA
-
LACMA members only
Historically a site of women’s labor, the kitchen has also been the subject of their design research and cultural critique. The Kitchen and Its Discontents brings two influential kitchens from LACMA’s collection into conversation: Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky’s 1926–30 kitchen for the New Frankfurt social housing program in Germany, and Charlotte Perriand and Le Corbusier’s 1948–50 kitchen for L’Unité d’Habitation in Marseille, France. These designers applied modern principles of efficiency and modularity to the home, with the aim of improving women’s lives. However, the reality was always more complicated, as revealed in photographs, prints, and advertisements from LACMA’s collection, which examine the everyday messes and simmering tensions in the domestic terrain, depicting the kitchen as a contested space for labor and living. It is presented concurrently with Home of the Future, 1925–1985: Designing Domestic Utopias.
Access to Member Previews is a benefit of membership and as such is restricted to LACMA members only. Children accompanied by LACMA members are welcome in Member Preview galleries, but please note that discounted guest tickets purchased by members do not grant guests admission to Member Preview galleries.
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Accessibility
To request accessibility accommodations, please email membership@lacma.org.
Image Credit: Marion Post Wolcott, Biscuit Lady, 1939, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Anonymous gift, Los Angeles, in honor of Robert Sobieszek, digital courtesy Museum Associates/LACMA
Image Credit: Marion Post Wolcott, Biscuit Lady, 1939, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Anonymous gift, Los Angeles, in honor of Robert Sobieszek, digital courtesy Museum Associates/LACMA