An Unfriendly Object
A Review of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Skyscraper Vase
Our lives are filled with objects. They surround us. Many objects were created to be helpful whereas some exist to fulfill more sinister ambitions. Whatever the case may be, it seems as though objects, that is to say, “material [things] that can be seen and touched” as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary, have endured with humankind for as long as there have been people to make them. This curious persisting relationship between people and objects interests me. As a craftsperson, or in other words, as maker of objects, I look to the remaining works of my predecessors in hopes of unravelling the enigma of my own compulsion to create paired with that of my peers.
Objects …show more content…
He designed over one thousand buildings, many hundreds of which were built including the Guggenheim Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in New York City. His furniture and home decor items often go unmentioned in comparison to his larger works, however he was also a prolific designer of commodity ware. The object of this paper’s discussion is a green ceramic vase which he designed for Tiffany & Co., a New York based retailer of luxury goods, in 1902. Further investigation revealed that this piece was produced by Teco Pottery, an offshoot of the American Terra Cotta Tile and Ceramic Company, an enterprise specializing in the production of ceramic construction materials. It is fittingly entitled Skyscraper Vase, obviously referencing the form of high-rise superstructures, and measures 22 ½ in. x 6 ⅛ in. x 3 ½ in. This piece was devised for mass production and was therefore presumably slip cast in a plaster mould and appears to have been well made. The vase’s base is rectangular and does not appear to have a distinct foot. The belly of the pot continues along the rectilinear form of the base and ends sharply at the shoulder. Here, a ninety degree angle tapers the remainder of the vase’s form creating its neck by means of a long square extrusion. The vessel has three openings: one at the top of the neck and one on either side of it at the vase’s shoulder. The structure of Wright’s piece is ribbed horizontally throughout its belly and contains several planar faces protruding from a variety of different angles giving it strong qualities of line and pattern. The form itself lacks volume and is rather dumpy. It hits its resting surface directly without any lift suggesting heaviness and immovability. Its surface is treated with a satin matte industrial emerald green glaze and appears to be fairly uniform in application. The vase’s overall character is cold and
A Review of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Skyscraper Vase
Our lives are filled with objects. They surround us. Many objects were created to be helpful whereas some exist to fulfill more sinister ambitions. Whatever the case may be, it seems as though objects, that is to say, “material [things] that can be seen and touched” as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary, have endured with humankind for as long as there have been people to make them. This curious persisting relationship between people and objects interests me. As a craftsperson, or in other words, as maker of objects, I look to the remaining works of my predecessors in hopes of unravelling the enigma of my own compulsion to create paired with that of my peers.
Objects …show more content…
He designed over one thousand buildings, many hundreds of which were built including the Guggenheim Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in New York City. His furniture and home decor items often go unmentioned in comparison to his larger works, however he was also a prolific designer of commodity ware. The object of this paper’s discussion is a green ceramic vase which he designed for Tiffany & Co., a New York based retailer of luxury goods, in 1902. Further investigation revealed that this piece was produced by Teco Pottery, an offshoot of the American Terra Cotta Tile and Ceramic Company, an enterprise specializing in the production of ceramic construction materials. It is fittingly entitled Skyscraper Vase, obviously referencing the form of high-rise superstructures, and measures 22 ½ in. x 6 ⅛ in. x 3 ½ in. This piece was devised for mass production and was therefore presumably slip cast in a plaster mould and appears to have been well made. The vase’s base is rectangular and does not appear to have a distinct foot. The belly of the pot continues along the rectilinear form of the base and ends sharply at the shoulder. Here, a ninety degree angle tapers the remainder of the vase’s form creating its neck by means of a long square extrusion. The vessel has three openings: one at the top of the neck and one on either side of it at the vase’s shoulder. The structure of Wright’s piece is ribbed horizontally throughout its belly and contains several planar faces protruding from a variety of different angles giving it strong qualities of line and pattern. The form itself lacks volume and is rather dumpy. It hits its resting surface directly without any lift suggesting heaviness and immovability. Its surface is treated with a satin matte industrial emerald green glaze and appears to be fairly uniform in application. The vase’s overall character is cold and