Creative Woodworks & crafts 2001-10, страница 58

he Furniture of Sam Maloof

Rocking chair with flat spindles and sculpted arms, 1099.

On September 14, 2001, the Ren wick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum will open a major exhibition, "The Furniture of Sam Maloof." Containing some sixty-five pieces designed and fabricated since 1950, the show will be the first retrospective devoted to the work of this world renowned Southern California woodworker—the only craftsman to have received a "genius" award from the John T. and Catherine D. MacArthur Foundation.

A pioneer in the flourishing "studio," or one-of-a-kind, art furniture movement, Maloof has for decades been an inspirational leader in the American crafts movement. A longtime trustee of the American Craftsmen's Council, he is a member of its college of fellows and winner of its Gold Medal for artistic achievement. In the world of woodworking, Maloof's work is

also revered for the quality of____

its design and workmanship. A serious survey of his handcrafted furniture is not only a fitting tribute to one of America's best-known artistic woodworkers, but, in die face of industrial production, to the strength of the American crafts cxpcricncc.

Several of Maloof's individual designs—especially his famous all wood rocking chairs, examples of which are owned by three former Presidents of the United States—are well known to museum goers across the nation. But the full spectrum of his work over a half century has never before been presented publicly.

The concept of the show is to present an overview of Maloof's lengthy carcer, thereby revealing his spccial evolutionary, not revolutionary approach to functional design. (Unlike Maloof, most artist-furniture makers change styles in response to fads and external pressures, and as a result, their

reputations quickly fade.) Instead of a conventional chronological approach to display, early Maloof designs or his original prototypes will be placed beside later examples of the same model to underscore the increasing sculptural quality of Maloof's slowly unfolding vision as a designer-craftsman. For example, the first "Homback" side chair of i960 will be placed nexl its latest manifestation as a "Texas" chair made in 2001; and the development of his famous low-back chair will be presented in several examples dating from 1966, 1976, 1987, and 1994. Seven rocking chairs from different years will likewise reveal alterations in that basic desisrn. This concentrated focus

on design developments within a specific model line is a novel one in the field.

Three examples of different Maloof chairs including a rocker in fiddleback maple—will be shown elevated on pedestals to ensure that the visiting public can more fully appreciate their exquisite surface shaping and finishing. This unusual technique will allow visitors not only the rare opportunity to inspect Ihcir organically sculpted undersides and joinery close up, but will allow them to walk around the chairs like sculptures to appreciate the way in which .Maloof conceives them as satisfying, three-dimensional compositions that can be viewed at any angle.

A display of living room furniture from the late 1950s will show how Maloof's modem ahistorical designs were intended

to suit contemporary-style California homes, then the leading Conn of American residential architecture. Also on view will be three different solid wood dining tables with sets of matching chairs. This, too, is an innovative technique for displaying contemporary furniture exhibits and will underscore the sculptural effect of multiple pieces shown together. Other Maloof designs, such as complex music and book stands (with unique handmade wooden mechanisms), small pedestal tables with branching legs, and large beautifully proportioned case pieces, will be exhibited individual ly to provide a lively and engaging exhibit.

A special display within the exhibition will be devoted to workshop methods. The public rarely, if ever, sees works-in-progress or how things are made, and it will be a fascinating and engaging display. Set in front of a large photo mural of Maloof's own shop, showing the craftsman at work in his own environment as well as photo blow-ups of Maloof shaping a rocking chair, a single rocking chair design will be exhibited at five different stages of completion. Starting with a pile of lumber marked for initial cutting and concluding with an assembled but unfinished piece (only sections of which have been shaped and sanded), this novel presentation will reveal the steps by which a talented designer-craftsman transforms wood planks into exquisitely shaped furniture of singular beauty.

A special feature in this "workshop" scclion will be a rocking chair cut exactly in half and mounted on a wall. Visitors will be invited to touch this piece and thus appreciate the

58 • Creative Woodworks 8. Crafts October 2001