There are 2 other images of this object. See our image rights statement.

See more objects with the tag interior, decoration, elephants, organic, seating, curved.

See more objects with the color white or see all the colors for this object.

Object Timeline

-0001	We photographed this object.
1967	Work on this object began.
1991	We acquired this object.
2007	We photographed this object. We photographed this object.
2024	You found it!

Elephant Chair

This is a chair. It is dated 1967 and we acquired it in 1991. Its medium is molded polyester, bent metal. It is a part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts department.

In the 1960s, some artists experimented with furniture design, blurring lines between the professions and questioning the functionalist aesthetics of existing forms. French painter Bernard Rancillac’s sculptural Elephant chair, whose seat is a single sheet of plastic, resembles the animal’s head (backrest), ears (armrests), and trunk (leg rest). The form may reflect Rancillac’s interest in cartoons that he expressed in paintings. This example was from the original limited edition production.

It is credited Museum purchase from Decorative Arts Association Acquisition Fund.

Panton Stacking Side Chair
injection molded luran s thermoplastic.
Gift of Robert Blaich.
1977-1-1

An undulating chair formed from a bent and molded birch-faced, light chestnut-colored plywood seat, and a curvilinear, sand-colored bent birch frame. The wave-like seat panel starts with a back-curved head rest descending on an angled plane to the bottom of the spine before heading up to bend at the knee area and descend slightly at the calf. The seat is supported by a curved frame which stretches backwards to a cross bar and supports the back legs, forming a trapezoidal shape. The arms are formed from two undulating bent-birch strips which mirror the curves of the seat and are joined to the back legs.

Long Chair Chair
birch (frame), birch-faced plywood (seat).
Museum purchase through gift of George R. Kravis II, Anonymous Donor, and....
2013-17-1

Chair, from Scrap Poly Pastel series
polystyrene, polyurethane rubber.
Courtesy of Max Lamb.
43.2015.2

Our curators have highlighted 2 objects that are related to this one.

Print, Plate 55, from Neüw Grotteßken Buch (New Grotesque Book)

Print, Plate 55, from Neüw Grotteßken Buch (New Grotesque Book)
engraving on laid paper.
Museum purchase through gift of the Estate of David Wolfe Bishop.
1957-162-38

Drawing, Design for a Cream Pitcher
colored pencil on black cardstock.
Gift of George R. Kravis II.
2018-22-113

Its dimensions are

Overall: 109 x 143 x 156.6 cm (42 15/16 in. x 56 5/16 in. x 5 ft. 1 5/8 in.)

Cite this object as

Elephant Chair; France; molded polyester, bent metal; Overall: 109 x 143 x 156.6 cm (42 15/16 in. x 56 5/16 in. x 5 ft. 1 5/8 in.); Museum purchase from Decorative Arts Association Acquisition Fund; 1991-47-6-a,b

Short URL http://cprhw.tt/o/2Dw16/
Accession Number 1991-47-6-a,b
Object ID 18636565