II.171 Vermillion Desk, 1965 (45)

Name/Title

II.171 Vermillion Desk, 1965 (45)

Entry/Object ID

sc.0220.0045.1965

Type of Sculpture

Free Standing

Artwork Details

Medium

Vermillion

Collection

Desks, 1960s

Cataloged By

[email protected]

Made/Created

Artist Information

Artist

Wendell Castle

Role

Artist

Date made

1965

Time Period

1960s

Inscription/Signature/Marks

Type

Signature

Transcription

W.C. 65

Other Names and Numbers

Other Numbers

Number Type

Catalogue Raisonné Number

Other Number

II.171

Number Type

Studio Number

Other Number

45

Dimensions

Height

33-1/2 in

Width

68 in

Depth

27-1/2 in

Height

85.1 cm

Width

172.7 cm

Depth

69.8 cm

Colors

Color

Brown

Color Notes

Medium to dark brown with red undertones.

Inventory

Inventoried By

[email protected]

Inventoried Date

Aug 12, 2026

Relationships

Provenance

Provenance Detail

Private Collection

Notes

Private collection in Rochester, NY.

Exhibitions

Designed by Wendell Castle
Wendell Castle, Wharton Esherick, Sam Maloof, Marcello Grassmann
Furniture by Wendell Castle

General Notes

Note Type

Literature

Note

"Art," Michigan Magazine (Detroit News), September 17, 1989. Joan Boram, "His Artistry in Furniture Melds Form and Function," Observer (Farmington, MI), January 4, 1990. Beth Dunlop, "A Metaphor for the Decades," Modern Magazine (Fall 2012). Michael Eilperin, "Agenda: Castle's Craft," Elle Decor (April 1991). Shirley M. Friedman, "Famed Artisan Exhibits Furniture: Castle's Treasury," Sunday Star Ledge (Newark, NJ), February 17, 1991. Helen Giambruni, "Wendell Castle," Craft Horizons (September/October 1968). Alastair Gordon, Wendell Castle: Wandering Forms—Works from 1959-1979 (New York: Gregory R. Miller & Co., 2012). Laurie Hindson, "Bean Barn Art," Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, NY), May 9, 1976. Beverly Hall Lawrence, "On a Wing and a Chair," Newsday (Long Island, NY), February 14, 1991. Ron Netsky, "Carving Out a Career: Retrospective Surveys Art of Wendell Castle," Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, NY), December 23, 1990. Edward J. Sozanski, "The Table as Artistic Statement," Philadelphia Inquirer, March 25, 1990. Davira S. Taragin, Edward S. Cooke, Jr., and Joseph Giovannini, Furniture by Wendell Castle (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1989). Sally Vallongo, "Wendell Castle Takes an Artistic View of Furniture," The Blade (Toledo, OH), December 17, 1989. Jean Walrath, "Newly Designed Furniture That Gets Pretty Wild," Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, NY), December 19, 1965. "Wendell Castle," Mobilia (Copenhagen) (August 1968).

Note Type

Comments

Note

The design of Vermillion Desk was Castle's response to The Museum of Modern Art's 1960 exhibition, Art Nouveau: Art and Design at the Turn of the Century. Vermillion Desk was made with an accompanying Vermillion Desk Chair, II.122.

Create Date

August 12, 2026

Update Date

August 12, 2026