Modern design of the 20th century was profoundly shaped and enhanced by the creativity of women—as muses of modernity and shapers of new ways of living, and as designers, patrons, performers and educators.

From left: Grete Jalk (Danish, 1920–2006) Lounge Chair, 1963; Robert Venturi with Denise Scott Brown, Queen Anne Side Chair, 1983.

A new installation, Designing Modern Women, 1890s-1990s, drawn entirely from the Museum of Modern Art’s (MoMA) collection, celebrates the diversity and vitality of individual artists' engagement in the modern world, from LoÏe Fuller's pulsating turn-of-the-century performances to Paula Scher's deconstructivist graphics of the 1990s.

Highlights of the exhibition include the first display of a newly conserved kitchen by Charlotte Perriand and Le Corbusier (1952) from the Unité d'Habitation housing project; furniture and designs by Lilly Reich, Eileen Gray, Eva Zeisel, Ray Eames, Lella Vignelli, and Denise Scott Brown; textiles by Anni Albers and Eszter Haraszty; ceramics by Lucy Rie; a display of 1960s psychedelic concert posters by graphic designer Bonnie Maclean; and a never-before-seen selection of posters and graphic material from the punk era, featuring women designers, photographers or performers.

From left: Eva Zeisel Folding Chair. 1948-1949; Karin Schou Andersen, Flatware c.1979.

Charlotte Perriand with Le Corbusier, Kitchen from the Unité d’Habitation, Marseille, France. c. 1952.

Noémi Raymond, Circles Printed Fabric

The exhibition opens to the public on Saturday, October 5, and runs through October 2014 in the architecture and design galleries on the third floor of MoMa.