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Object Timeline
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1939 |
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2016 |
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2024 |
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3920 Vanity
This is a Vanity. It was designed by Gilbert Rohde and manufactured by Herman Miller Furniture Company. It is dated 1939 and we acquired it in 2016. Its medium is east indian laurel, sequoia burl, oak, acrylic, brass, patinated steel, leather, plate glass, mirrored glass. It is a part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts department.
The vanity was the most specifically gendered object in the modern bedroom. Design historian Kristina Wilson has written on how every part of the vanity was about display: “display of the tools for beauty,” “display of the woman in the mirror, making herself up for display before others” and as a flamboyant piece of furniture, the vanity itself was on display within the interior decoration scheme. [1] This elegant example, designed by Gilbert Rohde for Herman Miller, amplifies its display capabilities with a triplicate mirror arrangement, allowing the woman to see herself at multiple angles. The round shape of the mirrors is mimicked in the concave curve of the furniture form itself, enveloping its female user in her moment of beautification. The circular outline appears again and is multiplied in the round door pulls, three on each side. The center glass semicircular shelf would have facilitated a floating arrangement of cosmetics in what appeared to be mid-air. During the twelve years that Rohde served as a consultant for Herman Miller, the vanity was a standard component for almost every bedroom group that he designed for the company. [2]
[1] Kristina Wilson, Livable Modernism: Interior Decoration and Design During the Great Depression (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2004), 123-5.
[2] Phyllis Ross, Gilbert Rohde: Modern Design for Modern Living (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2009), 68.
This object was
donated by
George R. Kravis II.
It is credited Gift of George R. Kravis II.
- Drawing, Design for Bedroom Interior
- graphite on tracing paper.
- Gift of Donald Deskey.
- 1975-11-165
- Desk (USA)
- lacquered wood, painted canvas, chromed metal.
- Gift of Joel and Anne Ehrenkranz.
- 2006-24-1
- Object ID #18654641
- carved and joined wood, lacquered wood, cast metal.
- Gift of Karen Davidov and Henry Myerberg .
- 1997-117-1
Our curators have highlighted 7 objects that are related to this one. Here are three of them, selected at random:
- Model 3626 Vanity
- walnut, white acer, glass, metal.
- Gift of Jack R. Stokvis and Robert E. Stokvis.
- 2011-52-1-a,b
- Dressing Table And Bench (USA)
- lacquered joined wood, mirrored glass, metal.
- Gift of James M. Osborn.
- 1969-97-7-a/i
- Drawing, Bedroom, Suite
- graphite on tracing paper.
- Gift of Donald Deskey.
- 1988-101-1014
Its dimensions are
H x W x D: 127 × 127 × 43.2 cm (50 × 50 × 17 in.)
Cite this object as
3920 Vanity; Designed by Gilbert Rohde (American, 1894–1944); Manufactured by Herman Miller Furniture Company (United States); east indian laurel, sequoia burl, oak, acrylic, brass, patinated steel, leather, plate glass, mirrored glass; H x W x D: 127 × 127 × 43.2 cm (50 × 50 × 17 in.); Gift of George R. Kravis II; 2016-5-19-a/d
This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Energizing the Everyday: Gifts From the George R. Kravis II Collection.
