2012.29.A-E, Shiro Kuramata, "Miss Blanche" armchair, designed 1988, executed 1989

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

With its “floating” artificial roses forever suspended in a body of acrylic resin, Shiro Kuramata’s Miss Blanche chair stands as a poetic realization of artifice and notions of eternal beauty, reflected in its title, taken from the character in Tennessee Williams’ play A Streetcar Named Desire. In the 1951 movie version, Vivien Leigh’s character, Blanche DuBois, wears a corsage of roses, which inspired the visual motif of Kuramata’s chair, evoking the character’s frail vanity and notions of preserved beauty. Miss Blanche is a sculptural experimentation for the designer, incorporating slabs of cast acrylic for its transparent, ethereal quality, seemingly denying what is in fact a weighty and massive object suspended upon tubes of colored aluminum. The sense of lightness was furthered by Kuramata’s obsession with the placement of the roses in the acrylic as he reputedly admonished the manufacturer’s staff to “make sure they float” by constantly adjusting the position of the stems as the medium cured. Considered his signature design, Miss Blanche debuted at KAGU Tokyo Designer's Week in 1988 and is seen as a leading marker of the evolution of 1980s design toward richly conceptual works that embrace a witty exploration of materials and subjects. In 1990, Kuramata followed his edition of Miss Blanche with a totemic Feather Stool, also in cast acrylic but utilizing feathers in lieu of artificial flowers.

Adapted from

Kevin W. Tucker, DMA unpublished material, June 2013.

NOTES

DMA unpublished material =Acquisition justification,

Catalogue essays

Artist/designers

Kuramata, Shiro (Japanese, 1934-1991)

Cultures

Geography

Process/materials

Historical periods

Memphis group

Individuals

Subject terms

Chair

RELATED OBJECTS

PROVENANCE

Before 1991: Shiro Kuramata (1934-1991), Japan [1]

Until 2012, Friedman Benda Gallery, New York, NY, May 4, 2012, acquired from Mieko Kuramata, widow of the above

From 2012: Dallas Museum of Art, purchased from the above [2]

[1] Acquisition Justification written by Kevin Tucker, states that this example is an artist's proof, acquired by Friedman Benda Gallery, from Kuramata's widow.

[2] Friedman Benda invoice dated September 27, 2012, copy in Collections Records Object File

AUDIO ASSETS

13310560: UMO. Listen to a gallery talk in Form/Unformed given by Kevin W. Tucker, Curator of Decorative Arts and Design.

VIDEO ASSETS

IMAGE ASSETS

WEB RESOURCES

SF Moma~See another "Miss Blanche" chair

ARCHIVAL RESOURCES

FUN FACTS

After its design in 1988, the first chair was produced in 1989, and production concluded in 1998 with the 56th chair, chosen to honor Kuramata who died at the age of 56.

TEACHING IDEAS

RULES

Apply to objects where number equals 2012.29.A-E

General Description

With its “floating” artificial roses forever suspended in a body of acrylic resin, Shiro Kuramata’s Miss Blanche chair stands as a poetic realization of artifice and notions of eternal beauty, reflected in its title, taken from the character in Tennessee Williams’ play A Streetcar Named Desire. In the 1951 movie version, Vivien Leigh’s character, Blanche DuBois, wears a corsage of roses, which inspired the visual motif of Kuramata’s chair, evoking the character’s frail vanity and notions of preserved beauty. Miss Blanche is a sculptural experimentation for the designer, incorporating slabs of cast acrylic for its transparent, ethereal quality, seemingly denying what is in fact a weighty and massive object suspended upon tubes of colored aluminum. The sense of lightness was furthered by Kuramata’s obsession with the placement of the roses in the acrylic as he reputedly admonished the manufacturer’s staff to “make sure they float” by constantly adjusting the position of the stems as the medium cured. Considered his signature design, Miss Blanche debuted at KAGU Tokyo Designer's Week in 1988 and is seen as a leading marker of the evolution of 1980s design toward richly conceptual works that embrace a witty exploration of materials and subjects. In 1990, Kuramata followed his edition of Miss Blanche with a totemic Feather Stool, also in cast acrylic but utilizing feathers in lieu of artificial flowers.