II.188 Silver Leaf Desk, 1967 (5)

Name/Title

II.188 Silver Leaf Desk, 1967 (5)

Entry/Object ID

sc.0237.0005.1967

Type of Sculpture

Free Standing

Artwork Details

Medium

Mahogany, Cherry, Plywood, Gesso, Silver leaf

Collection

Desks, 1960s

Cataloged By

[email protected]

Made/Created

Artist Information

Artist

Wendell Castle

Role

Artist

Date made

1967

Time Period

1960s

Inscription/Signature/Marks

Type

Signature

Transcription

WC 67

Other Names and Numbers

Other Numbers

Number Type

Catalogue Raisonné Number

Other Number

II.188

Number Type

Studio Number

Other Number

5

Dimensions

Height

40-1/2 in

Width

96 in

Depth

72 in

Height

102.9 cm

Width

243.8 cm

Depth

182.9 cm

Colors

Color

Brown, Silver

Color Notes

Dark brown with red undertones and a silver tabletop.

Inventory

Inventoried By

[email protected]

Inventoried Date

Sep 1, 2026

Relationships

Related Entries

Provenance

Provenance Detail

Johnson Wax Collection—S.C. Johnson and Son, Inc.

Place

City

Racine

State/Province

Wisconsin

Provenance Detail

Racine Art Museum

Place

City

Racine

State/Province

Wisconsin

Notes

Gift from S.C. Johnson and Son to the Racine Art Museum.

Exhibitions

Handcrafted Furniture by Wendell Castle—New York Debut
The Furniture of Wendell Castle
Objects USA: The Johnson Collection of Contemporary Crafts
Furniture by Wendell Castle
Introducing RAM: The Building and Collections
Wendell Castle: Wandering Forms–Works from 1959-1979

General Notes

Note Type

Literature

Note

John Ashbery, "The Johnson Collection at Cranbrook," Craft Horizons (March/April 1970). Cooke, Jr., and Joseph Giovanninidell Castle: Serious Whimsy," Chronogram (Kingston, NY) (December 2012). Wendell Castle and David Edman, The Wendell Castle Book of Wood Lamination (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1980). Sarah Booth Conroy, "American Contemporary Craft Too Individualistic for Label," New York Times, December 3, 1969. Penelope Bass Cope, "Making Furniture into Sculpture," Sunday News Journal (Wilmington, DE), March 11, 1990. _____, "Matter . . . of Fact: Showcase," Matter (July 1990). Penny Erdle, "It's a Work of Art as Well as a Desk," Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, NY), October 13, 1969. "Ex-Emporia Woodworker Sells Huge Desk for $6,000," Emporia Gazette (Emporia, KS), June 20, 1968. Edmund Burke Feldman, Becoming Human Through Art: Aesthetic Experience in the School (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1970). "Former Emporian Now Designing Imaginative Sculptured Furniture," Emporia Gazette (Emporia, KS), October 28, 1969. Helen Giambruni, "Exhibitions: Wendell Castle," Craft Horizons (May/June 1968). _____, "Wendell Castle," Craft Horizons (September/October 1968). Alastair Gordon, Wendell Castle: Wandering Forms—Works from 1959-1979 (New York: Gregory R. Miller & Co., 2012). Janet Koplos and Bruce Metcalf, Makers: A History of American Studio Craft (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 2010). "Limber Timber," Newsweek (May 13, 1968). Barbara Lovenheim, "Wendell Castle," in Breaking Ground: A Century of Craft Art in Western New York (Manchester, VT: Hudson Hills Press, 2010). Marsha Miro, "Wendell Castle Makes Useful Furniture That Also Satisfies the Imagination," Detroit Free Press, December 1, 1989. _____, "Wendell Castle: The Man Who Makes Furniture Dance," Detroit Free Press, December 10, 1989. Lee Nordness, Objects: USA (New York: Viking Press, 1970). Bruce Pepich and Davira S. Taragin, Introducing RAM: The Building and Collections (Racine, WI: Racine Art Museum, 2003). Rita Reif, "Furniture That Seems To Be Growing," New York Times, April 9, 1968. Judith Reynolds, "Power Furniture," City Newspaper (Rochester, NY), November 21, 1990. Meryle Secrest, "Objects to Observe 'As You Wish'," The Washington Post, October 1, 1969. 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, 1989).

Note Type

Comments

Note

Silver Leaf Desk has also been exhibited as Desk. It is fitted with one drawer. Stool, II.139, was designed to accompany it.

Create Date

September 1, 2026

Update Date

September 1, 2026