Object Details
- Exhibition Label
- There is drama in the opening of a log--to uncover for the first time the beauty in the bole, or trunk, of a tree hidden for centuries, waiting to be given this second life. -- George Nakashima
- Connections: Contemporary Craft at the Renwick Gallery, 2019
- Luce Center Label
- Conoid Chair was built from a slab of walnut cantilevered over two legs that George Nakashima designed to make the chair movable on carpeting. The chair was named after Nakashima's studio in New Hope, Pennsylvania, which was modeled on the section of a cone. The thin hickory spindles rising up to support a gently arced cross-member evoke the elegant window walls of the studio, and recall the colonial tradition of simple, functional spindle-back chairs.
- Luce Object Quote
- "It is an art and a soul-satisfying adventure to walk the forests of the world, to commune with trees, to take them when mature or even dead and . . . to bring this living material to the work bench, ultimately to give it a second life." George Nakashima, Woodworker, 1984
- Data Source
- Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Artist
- George Nakashima, born Spokane, WA 1905-died New Hope, PA 1990
- Date
- 1971
- Credit Line
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Lloyd E. Herman, founding director and director emeritus of the Renwick Gallery (1971-1986)
- Medium
- black walnut and hickory
- Dimensions
- 35 3/8 x 20 5/8 x 18 3/4 in. (89.8 x 52.5 x 47.6 cm)
- Type
- Decorative Arts-Furniture
- Crafts
