Richard DeVore – Vessel, 1981

Richard DeVore Vessel, 1981 Born 1933. Toledo. Ohio: Cranbrook Academy of Art (CAA). MFA. Department of Ceramics. 1957: CAA Artist-in-Residence and Head. Department of Ceramics. 1966-1978 Ceramic 15 x 13 x 8 5/8 inches Gift of Kempf Hogan in honor of the Roger and Helen Kyes Family CAM 1986.7 Richard De Vore graduated from Maija Grotell's cera mics program at Cranbrook in 1957 only to return in 1966 as Artist-in-Residence. Trained in the vessel tradition as opposed to functional pottery making, De Vore creates objects of metamorphosis. Usually tall and enclosing, or shallow and opening, his containers have holes, crevices, swelling and shifting walls tha t recall aspects of both the hum an figure and geological formations smoothed together by hand. Vessel is a classic example. While this tall form appea rs to have regular sides, subtle indentations mark the human touch and carefully incised lines near the bottom provide sensual variety. The lip with its cut edge rises and dips, establishing front and back with the energy of a dancing line. Multiple firings make ...

Jun Kaneko – Plate, 1982

Jun Kaneko Plate, 1982 Born 1942. Nagoya. Japan: Cranbrook Academy of Art. Artist-inResidence and Head. Department of Ceramics. 1979-1986 Glazed and stained stoneware 25 1/4 x 20 1/4 x 3 1/4 inches Gift of the Artist CAM 1984.19 Born in Japan, Jun Kaneko has spent his adult life in the United States, a duality he merges in his work. While a rtist-in-residence at Cranbrook Academy of Art he made huge eight-foot-tall monoliths, smaller sculptures of eccentric form, and plates that were sculptures on the wall rather than plaques or pottery. His work explores issues such as surface painting and physical density, pattern and abstract expression, repetition and disintegration. The vertical orientation of this plate confines the pattern of dots more tightly than a horizontal format would, introducing the tension of the upright. The stoneware body is stained black, then dotted with red glaze circles covered in dark circles, the red making a halo around the shiny darks. Chance determines their exact form, while their regular patterned order is the opposite. The polka dots continue off ...

Michael McCoy – Door Chair Prototype, 1981

Michael McCoy (Designer) Door Chair Prototype, 1981 Born 1944. Eaton Rapids. Michigan; Cranbrook Academy of Art. Artist-in-Residence and Co-Chairman. Department of Design. 1971-1995 Maker: John Guse for McCoy & McCoy. Inc .. Bloomfield Hills. Michigan Manufacturer: Arkitektura. Inc .. Princeton. New Jersey Lacquered wood with metal hardware 30 7/8 x 21 5/8 x 17 inches Gift of the Designer CAM 1989.42 Michael McCoy designed the Door Chair during his tenure a s Head of Cranbrook Academy of Art's Department of De sign, which he co-chaired with his wife Katherine . In 1986 the chair based on this prototype was produced in limited edition for Arkitektura, marking a shift in the role of design. The modernist dictum of "form fallows function" had been a mantra for deca des, leading to the design of slick, corporate glass-box buildings and anonymous, beige typewrite rs in the 1970s. By the 1980s young designers were desperate for a more expansive vision of de s ign and McCoy's chair began a new discussion. Its whimsical and metaphorical references alluded both to how ...

David Gresham and Martin Thalar – View-Master 50th Anniversary Slide Viewer

David Gresham and Martin Thalar (Designers) View-Master 50th Anniversary Slide Viewer (Prototypes and Production Model), 1986 Gresham: Born 1956. Rome. Georgia: Cranbrook Academy of Art. MFA. Department of Design. 1986 Thaler: Born 1954. New York. New York Design Studio: Design Logic. Chicago. Illinois Manufacturer: View-Master Manufacturing. Inc .. Portland. Oregon. a subsidiary of View-Master Ideal Group. Inc. Injection-molded plastic Prototype (left): 4 1 /2 x 4 718 x 2 1I4 inches Production Model (center): 5 3/8 x 4 3/4 x 2 1/2 inches Prototype (right): 5 1/4 x 4 3/4 x 2 1/2 inches Gift of David Gresham and Martin Thaler through Design Logic CAM 1990.80 In the 1980s, architecture and design clearly reflected a new aesthetic that diverged from the reductive forms of twentieth-century international style design. Social activism and new critical theory emerged in the 1970s, inspiring a new generation of designers to invest their forms with more profound meaning. The Chicago firm of Design Logic, a partnership between David Gresham and Martin Thaler, exemplified this postmodern viewpoint. As their company's name implies, ...

Chunghi Choo – Decanter, 1980

Chunghi Choo Decantar, 1980 Born 1938. Inchon. Korea: Cranbrook Academy of Art. MFA. Department of Metalsmithing. 1965 Silver-plated electroformed copper 5 7/8 x 4 7/8 x 8 1/8 inches Gift of Dr. Charles H. Read CAM 1982.64 Chunghi Choo says of her work, "I like to see simplicity, harmony, and grace. I would like each piece to appear sensuous and celebratory, a pleasure to use and a pleasure to view." In Choo's Decanter, which references traditional tableware, we observe such harmony through the dialogue between surface and form. The reflective qualities of silver paired with the graceful curves of the decanter recall silver in its molten form and produce a sensuous work that begs to be held. Choo works without boundaries and explores the medium of metal through a variety of processes. Decanter is the result of her experiments with electroforming, a highly technical and timeconsuming process. However difficult, the electroforming process affords Choo limitless possibilities and freedom in the forms her work can take. Although a skilled metalsmith, Choo does not limit herself to metalwork ...

Andy Warhol – Electric Chair, 1971

Andy Warhol Electric Chair, 1971 Born 1928. Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania: died 1987. New York. New York Publisher: Factory Editions/Editions Bischofberger Zurich Printer: Silkprint Kettner. Zurich. Switzerland Screenprint (Edition: 98/250) Image: 35 1/8 x 47 3/4 inches Gift of Frank M. Edwards and Ann Williams CAM 2003.11 The quintessential Pop artist, Andy Warhol strove to make art like a machine, adopting the massproduction technique of silkscreen printing to represent the popular culture that surrounded him. His paintings and prints of supermarket goods, celebrities and other objects of conspicuous consumption vividly reflect the optimism of postwar America. While Warhol embraced modern consumer culture, his appropriations of car crashes, suicides, riots and other disasters offer a covert critique of its excesses. Electric Chair is one of the most iconic images from Warhol's grim Death and Disaster series begun early in his career. He first used the ominous image, based on a newspaper photograph from Sing Sing prison, in 1963, the year the last executions took place in New York state. In 1971, Warhol adapted the subject to a portfolio of eight ...

Tom Wesselmann – Smoker #18, 1975

Tom Wesselmann Smoker #18, 1975 Born 1931. Cincinnati. Ohio Oil on canvas 89 3/4 x 91 3/4 inches Gift of Rose M. Shuey. from the Collection of Dr. John and Rose M. Shuey CAM 2002.47 Tom Wesslemann is linked to Pop Art by his intense scrutiny of the mythic world of American advertising where abundant goods and beautiful women promise eternal delight. Primed by the study of psychology and art in his native Cincinnati and art training in New York City, he began as an Abstract Expressionist. Then Madison Avenue's iconography and the graphic intensity of Matisse inspired works like the Great American Nude series. In each nude, a female silhouette, with ecstatic open mouth, poses in a life-scale interior containing actual objects and flat painted shapes. The dialogue of "real" and "represented" intensifies a sense of voyeuristic invasion of intimate space. The gaze moves in close in the Smoker series. The sensual pleasures of smoking are condensed to feminine hand, smoldering cigarette, gaping mouth and cur ling smoke, evoking classic tobacco ads and vintage movies where ...

Harry Bertoia – Untitled (Sound Sculpture), circa 1975

Harry Bertoia Untitled (Sound Sculpture), circa 1975 Born 1915, San Lorenzo. Udine. Italy: Cranbrook Academy of Art (CM). Student. Silver and Metalsmithing. 1937: CM Manager and Instructor in the Metalcraft Shop. 1937-1 943: CM Instructor of Graphic Art. 1942-1943: died 1978. Barto. Pennsylvania Metal with forty-one rods 96 x 16 x 16 inches Gift of Raymond Zimmerman. from the Collection of Raymond and Kathleen Zimmerman CAM 2001.13 Harry Bertoia, renowned artist and furniture designer, also achieved international success as a sculptor. In 1960, he began making sculptures that introduced movement. The sculptures resemble reeds or other organic forms that emit melodic sounds when affected by air currents or in response to the human touch. The reverberations created were similar to the layering of shapes and colors in Bertoia's earlier monotypes (produced while he was at Cranbrook) where he visualized in two dimensions the production and radiation of sound waves. Bertoia used different metals in his sculptures to produce rich melodious tones, favoring bronze, beryllium copper, nickel alloys and Monel. While varying the material and proportion, the ...

Jack Lenor Larsen and Win Andersen – Magnum 1970

Jack Lenor Larsen and Win Andersen (Designers) Magnum (Upholstery and Wallcovering Fabric) designed 1970 Larsen: Born 1927. Seattle. Washington: Cranbrook Academy of Art MFA. Department of Weaving. 1951 Winifred Doris Andersen: Born 1922. Fairview. Montana: Cranbrook Academy of Art MFA. Department of Weaving. 1952 Manufacturer: Jack Lenor Larsen. New York. New York Fabricator: Artistocrat Embroidery. Guttenberg. New Jersey Layered mylar. cotton flannel. sheer polyester. organza and wool. cotton and synthetic threads: machine embroidered Hemmed: 144 1/4 x 49 inches Museum Purchase with funds from the Wetsman Foundation CAM 2000.5 Distinguished textile designer Jack Lenor Larsen designed Magnum to serve as curtain fabric for the Phoenix Opera House before it was released to the public as upholstery and wallcovering fabric. Characteristic of his work, this luxurious, futuristic textile is composed of vibrant colors, rich textures and innovative materials such as mirrored Mylar polyester film. Unlike most textiles designed for production, however, this piece requires such highly specialized and slow methods of manufacture that it is almost as timeconsuming and costly to produce as it would be if ...

Agnes Martin

Agnes Martin Untitled, 1974 Born 1912. Maklin. Saskatchewan. Canada Acrylic, pencil and Shiva gesso on canvas 72 x 72 inches Gift of Rose M. Shuey. from the Collection of Dr. John and Rose M. Shuey CAM 2002.22 An Agnes Martin painting opens the door to stilled perception. In Untitled (1974), the square format denies primacy of direction. Attention is caught by the subliminal sense of a wavering grid underlying the delicate yet radiant blue and red horizontal banding. Here is "a world without objects, without interruption" (Martin, 1966). No point captures the eye's focus for long. The gaze lingers within a sense of beauty and calm and moves beyond the world of time. Raised in western Canada, Martin studied and taught across the United States and moved to Manhattan in 1957. Early still-lifes and portraits yielded to biomorphic abstraction on the path to the spare elegance of her mature works. Critics linked these to Minimalism, though its central vision was more austere. Martin's visual journey deepened after she relocated to New Mexico in 1968. "I hope ...