User:Audkal/Ray Eames
Ray Eames
[edit]Intro
[edit]Ray-Bernice Alexandra Kaiser Eames (née Kaiser; December 15, 1912 – August 21, 1988) was an American artist and designer who worked in a variety of media.
In creative partnership with her spouse Charles Eames and their Eames Office, she was responsible for groundbreaking contributions in the field of architecture, graphic design, textile design, film, and furniture design. The Eames Office is most famous for its furniture, which is still being made today. Together, the Eameses are considered one of the most influential creative forces of the twentieth century.
During her lifetime, Ray Kaiser Eames was given notably less credit than she has been given posthumously in art and design literature, museum shows, and documentaries.
Bio box
[edit]To add:
Alma mater: Bennett College (New York)
Biography
[edit]Early Life
[edit]Ray Kaiser was born in Sacramento, California to Alexander and Edna Burr Kaiser, and had an older brother named Maurice.[1] Edna was Episcopalian and Alexander was raised Jewish but did not practice; Ray and Maurice were raised as Episcopalians.[1] Kaiser was known to her family as Ray Ray.[2] Kaiser's father managed a vaudeville theatre, the Empress Theater (now the Crest Theatre), in Sacramento until 1920, when he became an insurance salesman, later owning a downtown office to better support his family.[1]
The family lived in an apartment for much of Ray's early childhood and moved to a bungalow outside of town. Her parents taught her to value objects which induce joy which later led to inventions in furniture design and toys. Her parents also instilled the value of enjoyment of nature.[3]
Work and Education
[edit]Education
[edit]Ray Kaiser graduated from Sacramento High School in February 1931. She was a member of the Art Club, the Big Sister Club, and was on the decorating committee for the senior dance.[4]
In 1933, Kaiser graduated from the May Friend Bennett Women's College in Millbrook, New York (where her art teacher was Lu Duble), and moved to New York City to study abstract expressionist painting with Duble's mentor, Hans Hofmann.[1]
New York Work
[edit]In the 1930s, Kaiser’s artistic career centered around her painting. In 1936, Kaiser became a founding member of the American Abstract Artists (AAA) group and displayed paintings in their first show in 1937 at Riverside Museum in Manhattan. The AAA group promoted abstract art at a time when major galleries refused to show it. She was a key figure in the New York art scene at that time and was friends with Lee Krasner and Mercedes Matter, who were important figures in abstract expressionism. Kaiser has a painting in the permanent collection of The Whitney Museum of American Art. Little remains of her art from this period as it was lost.[1]
Kaiser lived alone in New York City until she left the Hoffman Studio to return home to care for her ailing mother. Edna died in 1940.[1]
Cranbrook Academy
[edit]By September 1940, Kaiser was entertaining the idea of moving to and building a house in California. Her architect friend, Ben Baldwin, recommended that she would enjoy studying at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. It was there that Kaiser learned a variety of arts, moving beyond solely painting.[5]
Life and Work with Charles Eames
[edit]It was also at Cranbrook where Kaiser met her husband-to-be, Charles Eames, who was the head of the department of industrial design there.[6] Charles Eames was married at the time, with one child, but soon divorced his first wife. Charles and Ray were married in 1941, and Ray changed her name from Kaiser to Eames[6]
Settling in Los Angeles, California, Ray and Charles Eames began a highly successful and lauded career in design and architecture.
The Eames House
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The Eames Office
[edit]Graphic Design
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Textile Design
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![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/52/Charles_Eames%2C_Leg_Splint%2C_designed_1941-1942.jpg/151px-Charles_Eames%2C_Leg_Splint%2C_designed_1941-1942.jpg)
Plywood Design
[edit](the following would be added after the existing "Plywood Design" section)
The Eameses’ splint, specifically how it utilized bent plywood, was a significant breakthrough for their trademark design. They would use the same bent plywood in later seminal chairs, such as the Lounge Chair Wood (LCW) and the Eames Lounge Chair.[7]
Notable Furniture
[edit]The following sections provide brief explanations for a few of the Eameses most notable pieces of furniture. Ray and Charles Eames worked together to create these objects.
Lounge Chair Wood (LCW)
[edit]Charles Eames, Ray Eames, and Eero Saarinen applied what they learned about plywood from making their Navy splints to chair-making. The chair they came up with won the Museum of Modern Art’s Organic Designs in Home Furnishings contest, and began being produced by Herman Miller in 1946.[8]
Time Magazine called it the century’s best design in its December 31, 1999 issue. Time wrote that “Eames took technology to meet a wartime need (for splints) and used it to make something elegant, light and comfortable. Much copied but never bettered.”[9]
Lounge Chair
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e3/Eameslounch.jpg/246px-Eameslounch.jpg)
In 1956, the Eameses introduced their Lounge Chair.[10] The luxurious chair combined molded plywood with cushioning. They are still produced today, and are largely understood as a status symbol.[11] Charles Eames described the way the chair’s upholstery wears as “like a well-used first-baseman’s mitt.”[12]
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5c/Charles_and_Ray_Eames_-_Bucket_chair_-_1950-1953_-_Boijmans_V_1680_%28KN%26V%29.jpg/178px-Charles_and_Ray_Eames_-_Bucket_chair_-_1950-1953_-_Boijmans_V_1680_%28KN%26V%29.jpg)
Shell Chair
[edit]The Eames Fiberglass Shell Chair was first available for purchase in 1950. It had been created in 1948 for the Museum of Modern Art’s “International Competition for Low-Cost Furniture Design.”[13][14]The whole seat being made of plastic was a wholly novel creation, and the chairs were also made in distinctive colors, especially for the era [15]
The very first shell chairs were released in three colors--Parchment, Greige, and Elephant Grey Hide. Less than a year later three more colors were added, Seafoam Green, Lemon Yellow, and Red Orange. These six colors made up the "first generation" of Eames shell chairs, made from 1950 to 1954.[16]
Films
[edit]The following films were created by Charles and Ray Eames for the Eames Office.
- Traveling Boy (1950)[17]
- Parade or Here They Come Down Our Street (1952)[17]
- A Communications Primer (1953)[18]
- Bread (1953)[17]
- House (1955)
- Day of the Dead (1957)
- Toccata for Toy Trains (1957)[17]
- Glimpses of the U.S.A. (1959)
- An Introduction to Feedback (1960)
- Symmetry (1961)
- Topology (1961)
- IBM at the Fair (1964)
- Aquarium (1967)
- A Computer Glossary (1968)
- Tops (1969)[17]
- Alpha (1972)
- Computer Perspective (1972)
- SX-70 (1972)
- Powers of Ten (1977)[19]
- Atlas (1979)
The Eames Office's Legacy
[edit]The Eames Office has historically been remembered primarily for its furniture. However, the design philosophy of Ray and Charles was much more holistic, and did not revolve around just furniture. The Eameses were also filmmakers, information designers, and design theorists.[20] For example, the New York Times wrote in 2015 that “By the mid-1950s, the Eameses had become as indispensable to the American computer company I.B.M. as they were to Herman Miller,” the company which produced Eames furniture.[20] Ray and Charles believed that design was “a way of life,” and they applied that belief to everything they did.[20]
The Eameses also had an intense appreciation for craftsmanship, which was largely fueled by their research trips to India, Japan, and Mexico.[21] [20]
The Eameses were also known for their dedication to designing quality objects. Ray and Charles were “fellow workaholics.”[22] In creating the Eames Lounge Chair, they tried 13 different versions of the armrest before finalizing the design.[23]
Later Years
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Legacy
[edit](The following two sub-sections--"Recognition" and "Awards"--would come after the existing "Legacy" text, within the same section.)
Recognition
[edit]Ray Eames' contributions to the work of the Eames Office were severely overlooked during her lifetime.[19] This often included actively stating that Ray was a hardly significant part of the Eames Office. When the Eameses were on The Today Show in 1956, the chair in question was “designed by Charles Eames,” not by Ray and Charles.[24] The host of the show, Arlene Francis, then stated that “when there is a very successful man there is an interesting and able woman behind him.”[24] Then, Francis introduced Ray, saying “This is Mrs. Eames, and she’s going to tell us how she helps Charles.”[24] The media almost always stated that the work was Charles’, sometimes footnoting Ray.[25][26]
In the past few decades, however, Ray's work has been given more attention. In 1990, the journal Furniture History published a thorough interview between design historian Pat Kirkham and Ray Eames.[27] In the introduction to the interview transcript, Kirkham wrote that "in the case of Charles and Ray Eames, the interchange of ideas between these two enormously talented individuals is particularly difficult to chart because their personal and design relationship was so close."[27] Charles Eames was consistent in stating that Ray's role was imperative to the work the two did together.[28]
Ray Eames has also received posthumous recognition for her personal fashion sense, which the New York Times described as "too maidenly to be echt-bohemian, too saucy to be quaint."[29]
Awards
[edit]100th Anniversary Gold Medal (craftsmanship and excellence in furniture design and execution): American Institute of Architects (AIA), with Charles Eames, 1957[30]
Emmy Award (Graphics), "The Fabulous Fifties", with Charles Eames, 1960[31]
Kaufmann International Design Award, with Charles Eames, 1961[32]
Women of the Year 1977: California Museum of Science & Industry Muses, Los Angeles, 1977[30]
25 Year Award: American Institute of Architects (AIA), with Charles Eames, 1978[33]
Gold Medal: Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), with Charles Eames, London, 1979[34]
Gold Medal: American Institute of Graphic Artists (AIGA), with Charles Eames, 1977[35]
U.S. Postal Service Stamps, Charles and Ray Eames, 2008[36]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f "Ray Kaiser Eames (December 15, 1912 - August 21, 1988)". Pioneering Woman of American Architecture.
((cite web))
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Slessor, Catherine (January 1, 2015). "Charles Eames (1907–1978) and Ray Eames (1912–1988)". The Architectural Review.
((cite web))
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Kirkham, Pat (1995). Charles and Ray Eames : designers of the twentieth century. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-11199-3. OCLC 31295270.
- ^ Neuhart, John (1989). Eames design : the work of the Office of Charles and Ray Eames. Charles Eames, Ray Eames, Marilyn Neuhart. New York: H.N. Abrams. ISBN 0-8109-0879-4. OCLC 19270517.
- ^ Women in Graphic Design 1890-1912. JOVIS. 2012. p. 437. ISBN 978-3-86859-153-8.
- ^ a b Schuessler, Jennifer (May 15, 2020). "Ray Eames, Out of Her Husband's Shadow". The New York Times.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Meier, Allison (October 17, 2016). "How a Leg Splint Shaped the Iconic Eames Chair". Hyperallergic.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Moreau, Dan (December 13, 2006). "Charles, Ray Eames Sat Up And Took Notice; Make Life Comfortable: The husband-wife team came through on designs to give furniture widespread appeal". Investor's Business Daily. 13: A03 – via Gale General OneFile.
- ^ "The Best of The Century". TIME. December 31, 1999.
((cite web))
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Pepis, Betty (March 14, 1956). "Eames Has A New Chair In 3 Sections; A Chair in Three Parts". The New York Times.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Anatomy of a Classic: The Eames Lounge Chair". Valet Magazine. June 20, 2011.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Art: Designing Man". TIME. January 12, 1959.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Stine, Liv Buur (August 31, 2017). "The Story of an Icon: Making the Eames Shell Chair". Vitra.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Entry Panel for MoMA International Competition for Low-Cost Furniture Design (7990b)". The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA).
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Corrigan, Faith (May 24, 1956). "The Meaning Of 'Modern' In Furniture; Nelson and Eames". The New York Times.
((cite news))
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Shell Arm Chair Generations". EAMES.COM.
((cite web))
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b c d e Kirkham, Pat (1998). "Humanizing Modernism: The Crafts, 'Functioning Decoration' and the Eameses". Journal of Design History. 11: 15–29 – via JSTOR.
- ^ Bishop, Ryan (October 13, 2020). "The Eames Office, the Cold War and the Avant-Garde: Making the Lab of Tomorrow". Theory, Culture, and Society. 37 – via SAGE Journals.
- ^ a b Stewart, Doug (May 1999). "EAMES the best seat in the house". Smithsonian. 30: 78 – via Gale Academic OneFile.
- ^ a b c d Alice, Rawsthorn (October 22, 2015). "The Eameses, a Team for Whom 'Design Was a Way of Life'". The New York Times.
((cite web))
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Mathur, Saloni (Spring 2011). "Charles and Ray Eames in India". Art Journal. 70: 34–53 – via JSTOR.
- ^ Filler, Martin (November 22, 2011). "Prisoners of the Fun Factory". The New York Review.
((cite web))
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Moreau, Dan (December 13, 2006). "Charles, Ray Eames Sat Up And Took Notice; Make Life Comfortable: The Husband-Wife Team Came Through on Designs to Give Furniture Widespread Appeal". Investor's Business Daily – via GALE.
- ^ a b c "Eames Lounge Chair debut in 1956 on NBC [1/2]". YouTube.
((cite web))
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Pepis, Betty (March 14, 1956). "Eames Has A New Chair In 3 Sections; A Chair in Three Parts". The New York Times.
((cite news))
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Reif, Rita (April 24, 1973). "Charles Eames—Casual Giant of Design". The New York Times.
((cite news))
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b Kirkham, Pat (1990). "Introducing Ray Eames (1912-1988)". Furniture History. 26: 132–141 – via JSTOR.
- ^ Kirkham, Pat (1995). "The Personal, the Professional and the Partner(ship): The Husband/wife Collaboration of Charles and Ray Eames". Feminist Cultural Theory: Process and Production: 207–226.
- ^ La Ferla, Ruth (December 12, 2011). "Ray Eames: How She Dressed". The New York Times.
((cite web))
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b "Charles Eames and Ray Eames Papers: A Finding Aid to the Collection in the Library of Congress" (PDF). Library of Congress.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Ray Eames". Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Kaufmann Industrial Design Award Records: An Inventory of the Collection at Syracuse University". Syracuse University Libraries.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Twenty-five Year Award". Design Intelligence.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Harrouk, Christele (May 20, 2020). "RIBA Royal Gold Medal Acceptance Speech by Ray Eames Released for the First Time". ArchDaily.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Gaddy, James (August 14, 2017). "Charles and Ray Eames". American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA).
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Stamp Announcement 08-25: Charles and Ray Eames". United States Postal Service. May 22, 2008.
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