Sitting
Pretty
In the last part of the twentieth century, many
furniture makers began to earnestly use their
work as a way to explore conceptual as well as
functional ideas. Similar to other craft-based fields,
this brought dynamic changes that were both
applauded and reviled. The 1960s were particularly
instrumental for new developments in furniture.
As Janet Koplos and Bruce Metcalf state in their
recent history of American studio craft: “If a
single idea ran through the new experimental
woodworking, it was self-expression. The idea that
an artist could impress his or her emotional state
on the material while creating a dynamic abstract
composition emerged from painting, particularly
the rhetoric of abstract expressionism.”
Furniture
from
RAM’s
Collection
Conceptual boundaries between furniture and
sculpture blurred as “furniture” pieces began to
look less and less traditional and artists employed
new materials and processes. These developments
took place alongside the creation of supremely
functional and durable desks, tables, and chairs.
Sitting Pretty: Furniture from RAM’s Collection
offers diverse perspectives for thinking about
contemporary studio furniture. The title of the
exhibition is purposefully playful. Some of the works challenge notions of function and beauty while
others add new dimensions to the forms utilitarian furniture can take.
This exhibition also celebrates the arrival of a
number of recent gifts of handmade furniture
to the Racine Art Museum—including pieces by
Isaac Arms, Garry Knox Bennett, John Eric Byers,
and Peter Pierobon who have contributed
examples of their own work to the collection.
The show also features two major works by
John Cederquist from the estate of Linda Brooks
Sullivan and Karen Johnson Boyd’s contribution
of three chairs created by Clifton Monteith, Roy
Superior, and Dick Wickman. Exhibited within
the context of RAM’s existing furniture collection,
these new arrivals further underscore the depth of
the museum’s holdings. They join work previously
donated by collectors Robert W. Ebendorf and
Aleta Braun, Patricia and Alex Gabay, Katherine
Nikolina Keland, Serge E. Logan, Michael and
Bernadette Monroe, Donna Moog, and Janis
and William Wetsman. In each instance, these
people donated furniture after having lived with
it in their own homes.
(above)
Roy Superior, Listen to the Forest, 1996
Tiger maple, ebony, rosewood, bone, brass, acrylic paint, and gesso
56 x 27 1/4 x 22 inches
Racine Art Museum, Gift of Karen Johnson Boyd
Photo: Jon Bolton
Racine Art Museum
441 Main Street
Downtown Racine
262.638.8300
www.ramart.org
(right)
John Cederquist, Never without His Sword, 2004
Wood, epoxy resin, and ink
81 5/8 x 37 3/4 x 25 1/2 inches
Racine Art Museum, Gift of the Estate of Linda Brooks Sullivan
Photo: Gary Zuercher
The museum seeks to document major figures in-depth by acquiring multiple examples of their work created over a period of time
in their careers. This enables RAM to document changes in the artists’ thought processes and aesthetic development. The work
featured in this exhibition touches on the varying styles of furniture produced in the last sixty years. Short biographies for several
key figures—represented in Sitting Pretty through signature pieces—offer insight regarding interests and motivation.
Wendell Castle
The best pieces live on their own…not because of the craftsmanship or the
material but, what they are – their presence.
–Wendell Castle
Still producing work today, Wendell Castle was an early and daring innovator
with a widespread influence. He holds a BFA in industrial design and a MFA
in sculpture. R20th-century, one of his representing galleries, describes
Castle as one of the “most important living furniture makers in America.”
He is applauded for his dedication to “exceptional craftsmanship” and
“undeniable mastery of form.”
Castle brought new attention to stack lamination—a technique he employed
regularly in his work but one that was not favored in furniture making. Stack
lamination involves gluing together stacks of wood which can then be carved.
This process of construction allows for more fluid forms as the stacks can
be rounded and curved as desired. Castle’s Desk, 1967 is stack-laminated
mahogany with a horizontal surface plane that is covered in silver. Its
asymmetrical shape—with tapering bent legs and biomorphic qualities—
really only hints at function.
At RAM, Castle is documented by six works ranging from the early Desk that
was included in the important exhibition, Objects USA, to pieces from the
1990s. Each of these works exemplifies a longstanding interest on the part
of the artist: construction techniques, combinations of different materials,
the importance of scale, and variability of surface decoration.
Garry Knox Bennett
The line––if the line's good––it's gonna take care of the rest of the piece.
It's symbiotic.
–Garry Knox Bennett
Garry Knox Bennett studied painting and sculpture at the then-named
California College of Arts and Crafts. Over his long career, Bennett
has spent his time making jewelry, clocks, and furniture. It was
Bennett who created what could arguably be considered the first
piece of “conceptual furniture”—a cabinet that attempted to subvert
the preciousness that many furniture makers applied to technique and
finish. Often incorporating humor and imagery into his work, Bennett has
become well known for his blending of conventional wood and plywood,
steel, and plastic.
For this exhibition, RAM displays two pieces of Bennett furniture—
a table and a subsequent chair (made fifteen years after the table).
This kind of juxtaposition offers an interesting way to track how an
artist approaches the creation of forms for different purposes.
(above)
Wendell Castle, Walnut Music Rack, 1972
Walnut and plywood
46 1/2 x 18 3/4 inches
Racine Art Museum, Gift of Serge E. Logan
Photo: Jon Bolton
(right)
Garry Knox Bennett, FDR Chair, 2005
Mahogany and brass
43 x 25 3/4 x 35 1/2 inches
Racine Art Museum,
Gift of the Bennett Family Collection
Photo: M. Lee Fatherree
John Cederquist
John Cederquist creates furniture that “fools the eye.” While utilizing
traditional furniture forms such as cabinets and chairs, he also paints
surfaces in a way that suggests perspective and depth. Employing a bold
cartoon-like style, chair backs and cabinet doors become fabrics, water,
and self-referential illusions. With a BA and MFA from Long Beach State
College, Cederquist began to make, work, and teach. After being struck
by the construction of space in old cartoons, he decided to try to explore
furniture in “two-and-a-half dimensions.” He combines illustration, such
as advertising design and Japanese woodblock aesthetics, with functional
objects made of various woods, veneers, colored dyes, and epoxy.
RAM’s two John Cederquist works include one of the artist’s famed kimono
shaped cabinets—whose broad shape provides a large flat background
for his elaborate imagery. Likewise, Cederquist makes use of every inch
of the chair’s surface to generate a trompe l'oeil effect of plumbing,
gushing water, and the suggestion of a human figure.
Clifton Monteith
There is a sense of gratification of knowing the tree, the source of my
material, and coming back to the same tree year after year, and seeing
it produce new branches. My entire process is organic. I do not work
from drawings. The form of the wood dictates the form of the chair.
–Clifton Monteith
Primarily using willow, Clifton Monteith creates furniture, vessels, and
lanterns. A degree in painting led to a career start as an illustrator and
graphic designer. Returning to his “home state” of Michigan prompted
a reunion with nature and Monteith began to create furniture such as
RAM’s stately yet provocative Armchair, ca. 1980s-1990s.
Albert Paley
When [steel] is hot, it is extremely plastic and fluid. It is very submissive
and yielding to a cause and effect response, a directness, and spontaneity.
The paradox of the material is that one is able to visually record all this
in a very hard, rigid, and permanent material.
–Albert Paley
Trained in jewelry and metalsmithing (with a BFA and MFA from Tyler
School of Art), internationally recognized iron worker Albert Paley has
used metals to create adornment, furniture, large-scale sculpture, and
architectural ornamentation. Paley is the first metal sculptor to receive
a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Institute of Architects.
Paley works with metal at a high temperature, when it is most plastic.
Utilizing metal in this way means that he can create baroque, looping forms.
While he has often used forging techniques, with his furniture he developed
flattening and twisting processes using motors and torches.
Paley is represented in Sitting Pretty by a pair of tall floor lamps and
a demilune wall sconce in forged iron. These pieces reflect the artist’s
approach to working on varying kinds of furniture with divergent purposes.
They also reveal Paley’s adeptness at handling metal so that it looks like
an abstracted floral element or fabric ribbons trailing in the breeze.
John Cederquist
Bluto’s Diner, 2005
Wood, epoxy resin, and ink
70 x 55 1/4 x 17 5/8 inches
Racine Art Museum,
Gift of the Estate of Linda Brooks Sullivan
(shown closed) Photo: Gary Zuercher
(shown open) Photo: Jon Bolton
Wendell Castle, Desk, 1967, Cherry, mahogany, plywood, silver leaf, and lacquer
40 x 96 x 72 inches
Racine Art Museum, Gift of SC Johnson in honor of the 50th Anniversary of the Racine Art Museum
Photo: Michael Tropea, Chicago, Illinois
Jere Osgood, Elliptical Shell Desk, 1994
Bubinga, pear wood, and ash
47 x 54 x 45 3/4 inches
Racine Art Museum, Gift of Patricia and Alex Gabay
Photo: Jon Bolton
Tommy Simpson, Museum’s Afternoon Chair, 1983
Walnut, ash, padauk, maple, found objects, daguerrotype photograph,
copper, acrylic paint, lithograph, and ceramic
45 1/4 x 36 1/2 x 25 3/4 inches
Racine Art Museum, Gift of Katherine Nikolina Keland
Photo: Jon Bolton