About This Exhibition

Coffee and Cocktails brings together vintage furniture, designer clothes, and elegant decorative arts objects to explore the fashionable worlds of teatime and cocktail hour in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The first part of the exhibition centers on tea and coffee–two hot beverages that went from exotic imports to everyday necessities over the course of the 1800s, inspiring specialized tableware, furniture, and clothing. The second half of the exhibition takes the viewer from day to evening, and features the barware, furniture, and clothing necessary for an elegant night of drinks and conversation.

Coffee and Cocktails draws from the collections of the Wichita Art Museum and the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum to explore this fascinating moment in design history. Come, join the party at the Wichita Art Museum. What are you drinking?