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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
- Credit Line
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Lloyd E. Herman, founding director and director emeritus of the Renwick Gallery (1971-1986)
- 1971
- Object number
- 1991.125
- Artist
- George Nakashima, born Spokane, WA 1905-died New Hope, PA 1990
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Type
- Decorative Arts-Furniture
- Crafts
- 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)
- See more items in
- Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
- Department
- Renwick Gallery
- On View
- Renwick Gallery, 2nd Floor, Room 202
- Renwick Gallery, 2nd Floor
- Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Record ID
- saam_1991.125
