Mod Man

An American visionary’s contemporary bent.

John Levesque | January 2012 | FROM THE PRINT EDITION

Credit: Vitradesign museum

If Mad Men and midcentury modern are your thing, get to Bellevue Arts Museum before February 12 for George Nelson: Architect, Writer, Designer, Teacher. Considered the father of modern industrial design, Nelson created more iconic furnishings than Don Draper could shake a skinny necktie at. From his Marshmallow Sofa to his Bubble Lamp to his Pretzel Chair (left), Nelson influenced a generation of designers who embraced American modernism. The retrospective features more than 200 objects, including furniture pieces, graphic works, architectural models and a full-scale partial reconstruction of the Nelson-supervised American National Exhibition that was held in the former Soviet Union in 1959. $10. Bellevue Arts Museum, 510 Bellevue Way NE, Bellevue; 425.519.0770; bellevuearts.org.