BEAUTY
Charles and Ray Eames's
philosophy of the educational role of everyday things
led them to develop projects that would spur people to
find beauty in the commonplace. Charles heard the music
of Bach in the splash of soapy water on an asphalt schoolyard
-- and made the film Blacktop. Ray saw beauty
in the shape of a utilitarian leg splint -- and made elegant
sculptures. The Eameses' ability to transform the ordinary
into the extraordinary is one of their greatest legacies.
The Eameses' films
and slide shows gave the spectator, in Charles's words,
a "new depth of vision." Encompassing an enormous breadth
of subject matter, the Eameses' slide shows were assembled
for friends, for school courses and lectures, as well
as for their corporate events. Like objects themselves,
the Eameses' slides were valuable vehicles of information,
providing essential connections to distant times, places,
and cultures.
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Wire chair,
circa 1951, photograph.
Prints & Photographs
Division (D-16)
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Artist Jackson Pollock in
his Studio,
1950, photograph.
Courtesy Hans Namuth Studio (D-2)
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Lounge chair prototype,
designed 1945, molded plywood,
slunk-skin upholstery, and rubber (D-11)
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Painting by Ray,
gouache on varnished plywood.
Prints & Photographs Division (D-12)
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Chair with drawing by artist
Saul Steinberg,
circa 1952, fiberglass-reinforced plastic,
metal, and rubber
Lent by Lucia Eames (D-14)
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Blacktop (1952). 10:47 minutes.
Blacktop depicts the abstract shapes produced
by the movement of soapy water across the asphalt surface
of a schoolyard near the Eames Office. Charles shot the
film with a 16mm hand-held camera while office colleague
Don Albinson controlled the hose and movement of the water.
Although he was still an amateur, Charles edited the film
himself on homemade equipment, synchronizing it to Bach's
Goldberg Variations by taking visual cues
from the film's optical track. Blacktop is
a quintessential Eames product, combining many of their
favorite preoccupations--from their ability to see "found
objects" in new ways to Ray's interest in abstract art
and Charles's determination to educate himself in science
and other technical matters.
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