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- Hispano-Moresque (1)
- Rhode Island School of Design Museum; American; furniture; desk; bookcase; mohogany; cedar; tulipwood; pine; chestnut (1)
- Rhode Island School of Design Museum; Bauhaus; chair; metal; cantilevered (1)
- Rhode Island School of Design Museum; bench; computer numerical control; lekythos; wood (1)
- Rhode Island School of Design Museum; bench; steel; wood (1)
Articles 1 - 7 of 7
Full-Text Articles in Art and Design
Mies Van Der Rohe Chair, Risd Museum, Dietrich Neumann
Mies Van Der Rohe Chair, Risd Museum, Dietrich Neumann
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Ludwig Mies van der Rohe succeeded Walter Gropius as director of the Bauhaus school in 1930, after Mies had become a pioneer of Modernist metal furniture. The Bauhaus became the seat of the Modernist movement through its efforts to reconcile principles of design with the latest materials in order to mass-produce objects that were handsome, inexpensive, and easy to care for. This MR model chair, designed in 1927, is one of the 20th century’s most influential creations. The bent-steel frame was made to look like one continuous loop of metal tubing, elegantly referring to its manufacture. While Mies van der …
Lady’S Writing Table And Chair, Risd Museum, Ben Blanc, Elizabeth Williams
Lady’S Writing Table And Chair, Risd Museum, Ben Blanc, Elizabeth Williams
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Commanding as much attention now as when they debuted at the 1904 World’s Fair, this writing table and chair were conceived as showstoppers in a crowd of stunning objects made by Gorham’s competitors. More than 10,000 hours of labor, 47.5 pounds of silver, and a panoply of exotic materials make up this unique set, which deftly melds sinuous European Art Nouveau floral and figural motifs, 18th-century French Rococo forms, and traditional Hispano-Moresque designs. Intricately wrought symbolism—seen in the daytime poppies and the night owl below the mirror and the decoration of the legs, each representing one of the four seasons, …
Elastic Armchair, Risd Museum, Alicia Valencia, Matthias Pliessnig, Rosanne Somerson
Elastic Armchair, Risd Museum, Alicia Valencia, Matthias Pliessnig, Rosanne Somerson
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Based on the ancient Greek klismos form, this chair incorporates bentwood lamination, a technique using steam to shape wood into graceful curves. Patented in 1808, Gragg’s design and construction process benefitted from his experience using this technique to make Windsor chairs, an example of which is on the right. Inspired by the proportions and lightweight construction of the Windsor chair, Gragg fused the classical past with the industrialized future. The chair is adorned with motifs that date to antiquity, such as the painted peacock feathers along the chair back, the acanthus leaves on the seat rail, and the carved hoof …
Valentine Portable Typewriter And Case, Risd Museum, Perry A. King, Khipra Nichols, Kate Schapira
Valentine Portable Typewriter And Case, Risd Museum, Perry A. King, Khipra Nichols, Kate Schapira
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Introduced on Valentine’s Day with a flurry of advertising, the Olivetti Company’s bright-red portable typewriter was an instant sensation of the Pop Art movement. Ettore Sottsass and Perry King designed valentine to be the “anti-machine machine,” meaning that it functioned as a typewriter but also had a humanized quality lacking in most office equipment. Sottsass noted that his seductive red typewriter was for use “in any place except an office … rather to keep amateur poets company on quiet Sundays.” To further differentiate valentine from workaday equipment, Sottsass’s early designs lacked both uppercase type and the bell signaling the end …
Baily Risd Museum Bench, Risd Museum, Scot Bailey, Peter Walker
Baily Risd Museum Bench, Risd Museum, Scot Bailey, Peter Walker
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This bench was made as part of a graduate class to design museum seating for the ancient Greek and Roman galleries in the RISD Museum. It aims to capture the quiet character of the space, while creating a seating surface that just asks for tactile interaction. The top surface allows for a variety of seating heights and configurations, catering to the many museum visitors.The undulating seat was made by a digital process called CNC (computer numerical control). The legs, which recall an attenuated lekythos (an ancient Greek oil flask) in shape, flare out below the seat to a sharp edge …
Kopp Risd Museum Bench, Risd Museum, Andrew Kopp, Peter Walker
Kopp Risd Museum Bench, Risd Museum, Andrew Kopp, Peter Walker
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This bench in one of a pair made as result of a graduate class to design museum seating for the ancient Greek and Roman galleries in the RISD Museum. Each bench features a front seat made of bent, patinated steel that curves downward and back upward to form the back "leg." The two front legs are made of resawn ash, as is the majority of the seat. The benches were installed in the RISD Museum in October 2011. 2011
Goddard Bookcase And Desk, Risd Museum, Robert Emlen, Timothy Philbrick
Goddard Bookcase And Desk, Risd Museum, Robert Emlen, Timothy Philbrick
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This lustrous mahogany desk and bookcase represents a pinnacle of achievement for American cabinetmakers. One of nine known examples, this block-front desk and book-case with six carved shells is associated with the Goddard/Townsend family of cabinetmakers in Newport. The desk exemplifies their superb craftsmanship in the delicate dovetailed construction of the drawers. Their mastery of proportions is evident in the piece’s well-balanced broken-scroll pediment, alternating convex and concave surfaces, and integrated flame finials. In a Rhode Island house of the period, the desk and bookcase was the most expensive piece of case furniture. A combination office, safe, and library, it …