: An installation at The Philadelphia Museum of Art comprising 19
objects from the museum's permanent collections challenges
traditional categories of art making by juxtaposing works of
industrial design and craft in thought-provoking and occasionally
whimsical ways.
Included in the exhibition are two pieces of glass, "Ancient
Summer" by Robert Willson (American, 1912-2000) and one designed
by the Swedish designer Edvin Öhrström (1906-1994).
Willson considered himself an artist who worked in glass, as
opposed to a craftsman. Because his complex sculptures required
the machinery and technical control of a factory, Willson
produced his sculptures in a centuries-old glass factory in
Murano, Italy.
Öhrström was a sculptor who designed for the glass industry; his
"Ariel" vase, which was produced using techniques similar to
those employed by Willson, was manufactured in a series by the
Orrefors glass factory in Sweden. Two chairs by Katsuhei
Toyoguchi (born 1905) and George Nakashima (1905-2000) in the
installation are updated versions of the Eighteenth and
Nineteenth Century Windsor chair.
The "Spoke" chair, which takes its name from the vertical
supports of its fan-shaped back, was designed for factory
production by the Japanese industrial designer Katsuhei
Toyoguchi. Yoyoguchi may have been influenced in the design of
his chair by Scandi-navian furniture designers who at the time
were looking at earlier vernacular styles. Nakashima, a Japanese
American, was influenced by both American furniture like the
Windsor chair and by Japanese woodwork; he designed and made his
furniture in his studio in New Hope, Penn.
The installation is curated by Donna Corbin, assistant curator of
European decorative arts and is located in Contemporary Design
Gallery 170 on the first floor.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art is on the Benjamin Franklin
Parkway at 26th Street. For information, 215-763-8100 or .
