Alexander Girard’s Imagined Worlds

Alexander Girard’s Imagined Worlds examines a modern design luminary whose collection of global folk art and vernacular forms informed his expansive design practice. The book centers the Museum of International Folk Art, its displays and archival collections, and Girard’s Santa Fe years, as a locus for the designer-collector’s wide-ranging practices.


From his home and studio in Santa Fe, Alexander Girard’s work had international reach and profoundly impacted modern design. Essays explore new facets of Girard’s design production and folk art collection, underscoring the inseparability of the two, and culminating in his exhibition Multiple Visions: A Common Bond at the Museum of International Folk Art. Essays reflecting on selected displays provide cultural context and foreground artists and traditions, offering new ways of approaching Girard’s legacy.