Esoteric Survey

Desert Dansk

A Rudolph M. Schindler painted douglas fir and frosted glass floor lamp from the Wolfe House, which was demolished in 2002. 
It's part of the Bonhams: 20th Century Decorative Arts and Designauction.


Wolfe House
Source: Schindler by David Gebhard


Ethel Wolfe in her living room Source: The Furniture of R.M. Schindler by Berns/Gebhard
Charles Wolfe
Source: The Furniture of R.M. Schindler by Berns/Gebhard

The demise of the Wolfe house was a long and sad saga. David Leclerc recounts his experience with the house from 1996 to 2001, here.. The house was condemned by that time and was being used by squatters and such. The custom Schindler furniture was piled up in front of the house.  According to the description in the Bonhams catalog, the lamp was acquired from the Wolfe House (basically a dumpster dive).Ultimately, someone bought the house and scraped the land to built a piece of junk that can be seen here. Photo: LA Forum




The person who consigned all the Schindler lots lived in the Walker Hous…

Best Kept Secret: The Scripps College Ceramic Collection at The American Museum of Ceramic Art The Scripps Collection is legendary. It was almost singlehandedly complied by Fred Marer,  a math professor at Los Angeles City College. He amassed the collection with modest means, mostly through buying the pieces directly from the artists. The exhibition includes over 180 examples, and all are amazing. The exhibition only lasts 10 more days, so I encourage you to do whatever it takes to go see it. I've seen a lot of good pots, but this exhibition is legendary.   There is an enormous wall of 39 plates
Michael Frimkess
Paul Soldner - "Throwing Naked" - 1966
Fumio Tagasugi
Jun Kaneko
Peter Voulkos - One of many in the exhibition
Stacked Voulkos
Monster Voulkos
Little Voulkos
Bird Voulkos
Walking Voulkos
Jun Kaneko
Robert Arneson
Henry Takemoto