In 1986 the DIA commissioned furniture artist Wendell Castle to fashion a bench for the museum's permanent collection. Castle creates work that continually challenges accepted attitudes about the design, construction, and purpose of furniture. The aluminum framework was the first element constructed. Castle then began carving the armrests in the middle of the bench and the six legs from stack-laminated forms. The outer portions of the arms are constructed using lamination in which small pieces of wood are arranged in formations like brick walls to strengthen the joints.
Details
Artist | Wendell Keith Castle, American, 1932 - 2018 |
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Title |
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Date | 1988 |
Medium | amaranth (purpleheart), aluminum, and cowhide |
Dimensions | Overall: 35 × 129 3/4 × 48 inches (88.9 cm × 3 m 29.6 cm × 121.9 cm) |
Credit Line | Founders Society Purchase with funds from Art of Poland Associates |
Accession Number | 1988.19 |
Department | Contemporary Art after 1950 |
Not On View |
Signed, Marks, Inscriptions
Signed | Engraved, at the outside bottom of one of the central legs |
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Provenance
the artist;
1988-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
1988-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
Published References
Bulletin of the DIA 64, 2-3 (1988): p. 33 (fig. 22).
Taragin, Davira. "Evolution of a Commission: a Wendell Castle Bench." Bulletin of the DIA 65, 1 (1989): pp. 49-59 (ill.).
Taragin, Davira. "Evolution of a Commission: a Wendell Castle Bench." Bulletin of the DIA 65, 1 (1989): pp. 49-59 (ill.).