II.49 Blanket Chest, 1963 (9)

Sculpture

Wendell Castle Archives

Name/Title

II.49 Blanket Chest, 1963 (9)

Entry/Object ID

sc.0082.0009.1963

Type of Sculpture

Free Standing

Artwork Details

Medium

Cherry

Collection

Chests, 1960s

Cataloged By

[email protected]

Made/Created

Artist Information

Artist

Wendell Castle

Role

Artist

Date made

1963

Time Period

1960s

Inscription/Signature/Marks

Type

Signature

Location

On base

Transcription

W.C. 63

Other Names and Numbers

Other Numbers

Number Type

Catalogue Raisonné Number

Other Number

II.49

Number Type

Studio Number

Other Number

Dimensions

Height

36 in

Width

34 in

Depth

13 in

Height

91.4 cm

Width

86.4 cm

Depth

33 cm

Colors

Color

Brown

Color Notes

Mixed shades of brown.

Inventory

Inventoried By

[email protected]

Inventoried Date

Jun 3, 2026

Provenance

Provenance Detail

Memorial Art Gallery

Place

City

Rochester

State/Province

New York

Notes

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Watson in memory of Mr. Watson's grandparents. Acc. no. 65.21.

Exhibitions

Craftsmen Beyond New England

Exhibition

1965 Rochester-Finger Lakes Exhibition

Notes

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Watson to Memorial Art Galley, awarded Mr. and Mrs. James Sibley Watson Purchase Prize, Jurors' Show Award.

Fantasy Furniture

Woven Forms by Dominic Di Mare / Furniture by Wendell Castle

Furniture by Wendell Castle

The Nature of Craft and the Penland Experience

Wendell Castle in Rochester

General Notes

Note Type

Literature

Note

"Amateur All at Sea at Lakes Exhibit," Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, NY), May 15, 1965. American Craftsmen's Council, Fantasy Furniture, exhibition catalogue (New York: Museum of Contemporary Crafts of the American Craftsmen's Council, 1966). "Fantasy Furniture," Craft Horizons (January/February 1966). "Far-Out Furniture," Mid-South: The Commercial Appeal Magazine (Memphis, TN) (May 22, 1966). "Far-Out Furniture," New Haven Register (Connecticut), May 8, 1966. Elizabeth Forbes, "Launching the Craft: The MAG Is Riding the Wave of Giving Craft Artists Their Due," Times-Union (Rochester, NY), May 28, 1992. "Fun with Furniture," Minneapolis Tribune, April 10, 1966. "Furniture as Personal Objects," Progressive Architecture (March 1966). "Furniture Is Far Out," Philadelphia Inquirer, May 22, 1966. Galley Notes, Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, New York (November/December 1965). Alastair Gordon, Wendell Castle: Wandering Forms—1959-1979 (New York: Gregory R. Miller & Co., 2012). Howard Graff, "The Designers: Rising Stars," House Beautiful (July 1966). Sebby Wilson Jacobson, "Keys to the Castle: 30-Year Retrospective Reveals More Than Handsome Furniture," Times-Union (Rochester, NY), December 27, 1990. Scott Kelly, "Far-Out Furniture," Industrial Design (March 1966). Jean W. McLaughlin, ed., The Nature of Craft and the Penland Experience: Celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the Penland School of Crafts, Mint Museum of Craft + Design, Charlotte, NC (New York: Lark Books, 2004). Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, 1965 Rochester-Finger Lakes Exhibition, exhibition catalogue (Rochester, NY: University of Rochester, 1965). Harriet Morrison, "Where Chairs Are Hands or Rabbits," New York Herald Tribune, January 23, 1966. Christine Pittel, "Furniture as Sculpture," World & I (June 1990). Barbara Plumb, "Form Follows Fantasy," New York Times Magazine (January 23, 1964). _____, "Shop Hound," Vogue, September 1, 1966. Ethel G. Romm, "The House You Live In: Fantasy Furniture," Times Herald-Record (Middletown, NY), March 7, 1966. Thomas Simpson, Fantasy Furniture: Design and Decoration (New York: Reinhold, 1968). Davira S. Taragin, Edward S. Cooke, Jr., and Joseph Giovannini, Furniture by Wendell Castle (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1989).

Note Type

Comments

Note

Castle conceived this work in the shape of an apple; the stem functions as a handle to open the piece. Blanket Chest and In God We Trust, II.118 were included in the 1965 Rochester-Finger Lakes Exhibition that won Castle the Jurors' Show Award.

Created By

[email protected]

Create Date

June 3, 2026

Updated By

[email protected]

Update Date

October 8, 2026