#abstract form

Przemysław Szawłowski

Wrocław

Ray Eames was born Bernice Alexandra Kaiser in Sacramento in 1911. During her 20s she lived in New York City, where she studied painting with the artist Hans Hoffman and was an active member of the abstract art scene, an experience that would influence her later work as a designer. This child's chair—created using the molded plywood technique developed by Eames along with her husband Charles and friend Eero Saarinen—embodies the sleek, curving forms that came to define Mid-Century Modern style. A small heart cutout in the back of the chair adds a simple but meaningful ornament. Although her more creative role in the partnership was sometimes downplayed or seen as secondary to her husband's work as an architect, Ray Eames's attention to detail and her understanding of abstract form are what set the couple’s furniture apart.

See this chair on view in our Luce Visible Storage Center, and look for more work by Ray and Charles Eames in our recently renovated Decorative Arts galleries.