Eames, Charles; and Eames, Ray

Eames, Charles; and Eames, Ray

▪ American designers
Ray Eames née  Ray Bernice Alexandria Kaiser 
Respectively,
 
born June 17, 1907, St. Louis, Mo., U.S.
died Aug. 21, 1978, St. Louis
born Dec. 15, 1912, Sacramento, Calif.
died Aug. 21, 1988, Los Angeles, Calif.

      American designers (industrial design) best known for the beauty, comfort, elegance, and delicacy of their mass-producible furniture. They also wrote books, made motion pictures, and designed exhibitions, fabrics, and industrial and consumer products.

      Charles Eames, who was also an architect, was for several years head of the experimental design department at Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. During that time (1939–41) he collaborated with the architect-designer Eero Saarinen (Saarinen, Eero) on various design projects, one of which was a formfitting shell chair that won first place in the Organic Design Competition conducted in 1940–41 by the Museum of Modern Art, New York City. In 1940 he met and began working with Ray Kaiser, who was then studying painting with Hans Hofmann (Hofmann, Hans); Eames and Kaiser were married in 1941.

      They moved to California, where they established a design firm, The Office of Charles and Ray Eames. Charles Eames designed movie sets, and the Eameses did research in the uses of plywood, continuing when, in 1943, Charles became director of research and development for the West Coast operations of the Evans Products Company.

      The Eames design firm, best known for mass-producible but elegant furniture, was to powerfully influence furniture and industrial design for four decades. Together the Eameses became involved in architectural projects, product design, film production, and exhibits. They are probably best known for the Eames chair, constructed of two pieces of molded plywood joined by stainless steel tubing. In 1946 the Museum of Modern Art invited Charles Eames to be the first designer to have a “one-man” exhibition of his furniture designs (he was often given sole credit for their joint efforts). The exhibition was highly successful, and the Herman Miller Furniture Company in Zeeland, Michigan, soon began mass production of their molded plywood furniture. The Eameses' house, built in 1949 in Pacific Palisades, California, was outstanding for its elegant use of factory-produced elements. After 1955 they became increasingly active in the making of motion pictures, chiefly of an educational nature, notably the classic Powers of Ten (1968), which demonstrates the concept of orders of magnitude by contrasting views from the Earth's surface to the universe's edge and back to a handheld carbon atom.

      As design consultants for International Business Machines, the Eameses helped create IBM's memorable exhibit for the 1964–65 New York World's Fair. A decade later, under the aegis of the same company, they designed a large American Bicentennial exhibition called “Franklin and Jefferson.” The show was seen in Paris, in Warsaw, Poland, and in London, before appearing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, and the Art Institute of Chicago.

      After Charles's death, Ray Eames continued to work on various design projects.

Additional Reading
John Neuhart, Marilyn Neuhart, and Ray Eames, Eames Design: The Work of the Office of Charles and Ray Eames (1989); Pat Kirkham, Charles and Ray Eames: Designers of the Twentieth Century (1995); and Donald Albrecht et al., The Work of Charles and Ray Eames (1997), discuss their work.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Charles and Ray Eames — Charles and Ray leaving Los Angeles with the Films for the 1959 American National Exhibition in Moscow Nationality American Awards AIA Twenty five Ye …   Wikipedia

  • Eames, Charles and Ray — born June 17, 1907, St. Louis, Mo., U.S died Aug. 21, 1978, St. Louis born Dec. 15, 1912, Sacramento, Calif. died Aug. 21, 1988, Los Angeles, Calif. U.S. designers. Charles was trained as an architect, while Ray (b. Ray Kaiser) studied painting… …   Universalium

  • Eames — is a surname and may refer to:* Benjamin T. Eames (1818 – 1901), U.S. Representative from Rhode Island * Charles and Ray Eames, American design couple ** Charles Eames (1907 – 1978), American designer, husband of Ray Eames ** Ray Eames (1912 –… …   Wikipedia

  • Ray — /ray/ for 1, 2, 4, 5; /ruy/ for 3, n. 1. John, 1627? 1705, English naturalist. 2. Man /man/, 1890 1976, U.S. painter and photographer. 3. Satyajit /sut yeuh jit/, 1921 92, Indian film director. 4. a male given name, form of Raymond …   Universalium

  • Eames House — Infobox nrhp name = Eames House nrhp type = nhl caption = The entry door to the Eames house location = 203 N Chautauqua Blvd Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California nearest city = lat degrees = lat minutes = lat seconds = lat direction = long… …   Wikipedia

  • Ray Eames — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Eames. Ray Bernice Alexandra Kaiser Eames (née à Sacramento le 15 décembre 1912 et morte à Los Angeles le 21 août 1988) est une artiste, designer, architecte et réalisatrice de cinéma… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Eames Lounge Chair Wood — The Eames Lounge Chair Wood (LCW) (also known as Low Chair Wood or Eames Plywood Lounge Chair ) is a chair designed by husband and wife team Charles and Ray Eames, considered to be one of the most influential design teams of the 20th century.… …   Wikipedia

  • Eames Lounge Chair — The Eames Lounge Chair and ottoman, correctly titled Eames Lounge (670) and Ottoman (671) were released in 1956 after years of development by designers Charles and Ray Eames for the Herman Miller furniture company. It was the first chair the… …   Wikipedia

  • Charles — /chahrlz/, n. 1. (Prince of Edinburgh and of Wales) born 1948, heir apparent to the throne of Great Britain (son of Elizabeth II). 2. Ray (Ray Charles Robinson), born 1930, U.S. blues singer and pianist. 3. Cape, a cape in E Virginia, N of the… …   Universalium

  • ray — ray1 raylike, adj. /ray/, n. 1. a narrow beam of light. 2. a gleam or slight manifestation: a ray of hope. 3. a raylike line or stretch of something. 4. light or radiance. 5. a line of sight. 6. Physics, Optics. a …   Universalium

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”