Let's Speculate...

[fountainpenkid]

...about why the Aurora Hastil, a pen I've never seen recommended or discussed with great passion, is THE fountain pen in the MoMA's collection. It seems to me that six writing instruments in the collection were chosen with an awareness of the others, so that there is one model representing each writing mode or purpose (ballpoint, ergonomic pen, pen/pencil set, and felt-tip (a therapeutic one, nonetheless)). This leads me to believe their presence--including the Hastil's--in the collection is not some fluke or whim, but rather a meaningful artistic choice. What do you think? (you can view and search the entire collection online at moma.org). The museum opened to the public in 1929, and it seems from some very brief browsing that even early on, architects and industrial designers were in its milieu and represented in its collection, so one might expect something like a pen would've been added earlier than Hastil in 1969 (like many of the pieces under 'product design', a gift from the manufacturer). It could come down to timing--maybe curators early on didn't have much interest in mass-produced objects outside of tea and cutlery sets, and by the time someone thought to expand the product design collection into other areas, it past the fountain pen's prime? But it also seems plenty--most--works in the collection were acquired well after their date of manufacturer or completion, so why, in that case, was the Hastil picked?

[jar]

Ask Mikey!



The Hastil is one of my favorite slim pens; probably number 2 or three. Possible reasons for selecting it was that it was the first of a trend among pen makers in the late 60s and 70s; the slightly tapered body with the inserts at the end to allow secure posting of the cap that is the same diameter as the end of the body was a super idea (almost as neat a solution as the ST Dupont Gatsby), that the nib tip being exactly at the center line makes it feel very pencil like in use and that it came in a variety of styles and colors. Add in the neat packaging and the Hastil set a pretty high bar for the models that followed.

[fountainpenkid]

Ask Mikey!



The Hastil is one of my favorite slim pens; probably number 2 or three. Possible reasons for selecting it was that it was the first of a trend among pen makers in the late 60s and 70s; the slightly tapered body with the inserts at the end to allow secure posting of the cap that is the same diameter as the end of the body was a super idea (almost as neat a solution as the ST Dupont Gatsby), that the nib tip being exactly at the center line makes it feel very pencil like in use and that it came in a variety of styles and colors. Add in the neat packaging and the Hastil set a pretty high bar for the models that followed.

So it was part of a style trend that they thought needed to be represented? That's possible, I guess. But think of all the trends left out--what made this one so significant?
One idea I had is that they wanted to acquire a representative range of Zanuso's work. If this were the case, however, I might expect the Aurora 88 or the Lamy 2000 to be in the collection as well, considering a number of works by both Gerd Alfred Muller and Marcello Nizzoli are in the collection. I'll call the archives tomorrow and see what sort of documentation they might have on the pen and its purpose in the collection.

[jar]

So it was part of a style trend that they thought needed to be represented? That's possible, I guess. But think of all the trends left out--what made this one so significant?
One idea I had is that they wanted to acquire a representative range of Zanuso's work. If this were the case, however, I might expect the Aurora 88 or the Lamy 2000 to be in the collection as well, considering a number of works by both Gerd Alfred Muller and Marcello Nizzoli are in the collection. I'll call the archives tomorrow and see what sort of documentation they might have on the pen and its purpose in the collection.

It was actually the pen that started a trend that had as much influence on the other manufacturers as the Sheaffer Balance did. In addition it really was and still is one of the best implementations of that concept. Personally from a design and function perspective I would say that the Hastil and the ST Dupont Gatsby still stand as the two best examples of that trend.

[fountainpenkid]

The more I browse, the more interesting this becomes. Embedded in the "Object Number' of some works is their acquisition date. The Hastil's was acquired 1972. This prompted me to look at the acquisition years of all sorts of mass-produced things...from a brief browsing of about 2 dozen items, it seems a good number of those mid-century or later were added in the 2000s. But interestingly, I found quite an array of items--from a Stanley hammer to an icecream scoop--that were acquired in the 1950s, and even a few--including the hammer--in the early 1940s. So this means the curators at the time were very much of the mind that everyday objects--tools--can be viewed as art. And the fountain pen was certainly an everyday object--an important one at that. If they were finding typewriters, cutlery, chairs, and even ice-cream scoops to put in the collection, why not a pen or any other writing implement?
(The bic crystals in the collection, made in 1950, was a gift from the manufacturer in the 2000s)

[FredRydr]

Despite the recognition of the Hastil's modern design, my fingers would much prefer to grip the wheel of MoMA's '41 Lincoln Continental.

Fred

[fountainpenkid]

I just sent a research request to the archives, asking about the Hastil's presence in the collection (any documentation of why it was added), and the history of writing instruments in the colleciton in general--i.e why was the first one--which was the Hastil--added in 1972?

[fountainpenkid]

The Collection Specialist at the Architecture and Design Study Center has this to say:

As MoMA is not a history museum there are a great many gaps in our collection. As a rule, we do not collect in categories, but instead seek out specific examples that we feel are important to a broader understanding of art and design. That, combined with different curatorial approaches over the decades, lead to what can feel is quite an idiosyncratic collection. There are often puzzling works in the collection, and equally puzzling works absent from the collection.

Attached you will find a checklist of all the writing implements in our collection. It's an interesting mix of "high-design" and everyday objects like the Bic ballpoint pen. Tastes here at the museum have been evolving ever since the beginning. I'm not sure why writing implements were overlooked prior to 1970, but if you ever want to dig into our history the MoMA Archives would undoubtedly have more information.

The first portion of his response serves well enough as an explanation for me...