Aluminum first captured the public imagination in the mid-nineteenth century when this then-precious metal was more highly prized than silver and gold. In 1886, following the invention of a process for producing aluminum cheaply using electricity, the price of aluminum dropped dramatically, and the quantities of aluminum produced increased as companies such as the Pittsburgh Reduction Company (later the Aluminum Company of America, now Alcoa) were established. Aluminum was poised to move beyond its limited luxury, novelty, and specialist markets to revolutionize industry and daily life: it was a new material for a new century. This ground-breaking exhibition explores aluminum as a major contributor to shaping twentieth-century culture and society in architecture, design, and industrial applications.

Aluminum by Design: Jewelry to Jets is curated by Sarah Nichols, curator of decorative arts and chief curator of Carnegie Museum of Art.