LACMA

"From the Spoon to the City": Objects by Architects from LACMA's Collection

August 6, 2009–January 24, 2010

"From the Spoon to the City": Objects by Architects from LACMA's Collection will present a cross section of LACMA's twentieth-century design collection, highlighting furniture and objects designed by architects. When Italian architect Ernesto Rogers famously declared that he wanted to design everything from "a spoon to a city," he articulated the desire of many architects to design both buildings and their contents. In some cases, this meant design for specific commissions, such as Rudolf Schindler's furniture for the Shep family. In others, objects allowed the realization of ideas on a smaller, more viable scale, or were a part of a multifaceted career that spanned all realms of design, as in the case of Frank Gehry. The products of such efforts can function as miniature buildings, conveying the architect's ideals in a compact form. Or as Charles Eames put it when asked why he made furniture, "so [I] can design a piece of architecture that you can hold in your hand."

The exhibition will be organized into four chronological groups, based on particularly fertile moments in design history and featuring works by Frank Lloyd Wright, Marcel Breuer, Rudolph Schindler, Richard Neutra, Charles and Ray Eames, Alvin Lustig, Greta Magnusson Grossman, Frank Gehry, Ettore Sottsass, Michael Graves, Greg Lynn, Elena Manferdini, and Johanna Grawunder. The exhibition is organized by LACMA and curated by Bobbye Tigerman, decorative arts and design.

Frank Gehry, The Bubbles Lounge Chair, 1987, corrugated cardboard, birch, and metal interior supports, 30 x 81 in. (76.2 x 205.74 cm), Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of Robert H. Halff, photo © 2009 Museum Associates/LACMA.

Frank Lloyd Wright, Textile Length, "The Taliesin Line," 1955, screen printed linen, 80 1/2 x 45 in. (204.47 x 114.3 cm), Costume Council Fund, photo © 2009 Museum Associates/LACMA.

Alvin Lustig, Coffee Table, circa 1947–1948, wood and glass, 16 x 62 x 23 in. (40.64 x 106.68 x 40.64 cm), Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Decorative Arts and Design Council Fund, photo © 2009 Museum Associates/LACMA.

Schindler, Rudolph, Bedroom Dresser with Hinged Half-Round Mirror and Stool from the Shep Commission, Los Angeles, 1936–1938, gunwood, mirror, wool upholstery (replaced), overall: 70 3/4 x 105 (179.70 x 266.7). Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of Ruth Shep Polen, photo © 2009 Museum Associates/LACMA.