The Goldstein Museum of Design (GMD)

Student studying costume history in Goldstein Museum of Design

The Goldstein Museum of Design (GMD) is dedicated to sharing the value of design through its 34,000+ multidisciplinary objects. As an academic teaching museum, we are committed to advancing learning for students as well as the greater community.

Aligning with UMN’s COVID policy, GMD’s HGA Gallery and collection-based research appointments are currently available to the University of Minnesota community only. Gallery 241 in McNeal Hall is currently closed for lighting upgrades. We eagerly anticipate open access to all constituents in September 2021!

Featured Object

Elenhank Designs, Inc.: Bold and Beautiful Screen Prints

Papilio, 1968
by Elenhank Designers, Inc.
screenprint on cotton linen
Gift of Dorothy E.A. Ramsland

In 1948 the successful husband and wife team of Henry Kluck and artist Eleanor Kluck merged their nicknames to name their textile screen printing company “Elenhank.” At that time they announced: “We are concerned with meeting the fabric and design requirements of contemporary architects and interior designers, and with introducing a new vocabulary of fabric expressions.” Their designs evolved from abstract repeat patterns in the early years to designs inspired by nature, but very stylized, in the 1960s and 1970s.

The shimmering Elenhank screen print “Wood’s Edge” from the 1970s epitomizes these later, nature-inspired designs. The special beauty in this exhilarating impression of autumn woods at the peak of color change is that it goes beyond how those woods look, to reminding us how we feel when we gaze upon them.