See more objects with the color tan khaki darkolivegreen burlywood grey or see all the colors for this object.

Object Timeline

1953

  • Work on this object began.

1954

  • Work on this object ended.

1962

  • We acquired this object.

2012

2014

2024

  • You found it!

Drawing, Two Elevations of the Architect's Own Studio, Wellfleet, MA

This is a Drawing. It was designed by Serge Ivan Chermayeff. It is dated 1953–54 and we acquired it in 1962. Its medium is pen and ink, brush and black ink, crayon on tracing paper. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

Cape Cod in Southern Massachusetts was home to some of the most influential American designers, architects and thinkers from the 1950s through the 1970s. It is also where Serge Chermayeff chose to build his family home and studio. The area where the building was erected and still stands today sits atop a ridge, covered with scrub oaks and tall pines, amidst sandy stretches of beach. In his design, Chermayeff uses four simple geometric forms – squares, triangles and rectangles, inserted within a cuboid – in conjunction with a series of plain, bold colors to create a minimalist and practical habitation space. This drawing fully illustrates Chermanoff’s ingenuity, where varying modules alternately form windows, walls, a roof or a deck. The simplicity of the design hides the innate sense of proportions and combinations that allow us to glimpse inside the great designer’s mind, materialized onto paper using ink, crayons, and whatever he had at his disposal.

This object was donated by Serge Ivan Chermayeff. It is credited Gift of Serge Ivan Chermayeff.

Our curators have highlighted 8 objects that are related to this one. Here are three of them, selected at random:

Its dimensions are

35 x 42.7 cm (13 3/4 x 16 13/16 in.)

It is inscribed

Inscribed in black ink, lower right: East A; E 5.

Cite this object as

Drawing, Two Elevations of the Architect's Own Studio, Wellfleet, MA; Designed by Serge Ivan Chermayeff (American, b. Grozny, Chechnya 1900–1996); USA; pen and ink, brush and black ink, crayon on tracing paper; 35 x 42.7 cm (13 3/4 x 16 13/16 in.); Gift of Serge Ivan Chermayeff; 1962-45-10

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Making Design.

There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use page.

For higher resolution or commercial use contact ArtResource.

If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18701153/ |title=Drawing, Two Elevations of the Architect's Own Studio, Wellfleet, MA |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=18 April 2024 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>