Esoteric Survey

Ray Eames: A Century of Modern Design A collaboration between the Eames Office  and the California Museum in Sacramento.
Bernice "Ray" Kaiser was born in Sacramento in 1912. Here she is in the Class of 1931 Sacramento High School yearbook. She would have been 100 this year. Source: California Museum
This 1941 Drawing by Ray Eames is hung at the entrance of the exhibit. The inscription on the back reads..."To Hoffman, Love Buda" Buda was Ray's nickname while she was studying under Hans Hoffman
The Eames Office really opened up the archives wide for this one.

I think most of these were from the late 30s. 

Fashion drawings by Ray
She designed her own clothes too..
and here they are.

Ray's kicks. She she was obviously into little bows and ribbon. Those are my kicks in the reflection. This exhibit is amazing but I do have one criticism...this stupid glass!
A bow in her hair too.
Sea Things fabric swatch

The Eames Office had an exhibition of Ray Eames  paintings to celebrate the centennial of her birth.
I was able to catch it on the final day. 


The security guard saw me eyeing the little abstract at the end and posted up right next to it. The painting is from the 40s and is on board. The board is marked "evans" on the back.
All the paintings in the exhibit can be seen in this book, Changing Her Palette: Paintings by Ray Eames.

One of the coolest things at the Eames office is a large bank of drawers that holds some of the files from Ray's office.
Here is Ray Eames' office in 1976. I think those are the same files on the right.
The X-mas drawer
The Japan drawer

Ray Eames would have been 100 today. Image: Vitra
Image: Life Magazine
To honor the occasion, Vitra did something something for Ray. Image: Eames Demetrios
Eames Demetrrios with the newly-unveiled Ray Eames Street in Weil-am-Rhein, Germany Image: Eames Demetrios
Image: Vitra
Ray was born in Sacramento, so it's only fitting that The California Museum will hostRay Eames: A Century of Modern Design.  The exhibition runs from February 23, 2013 -February 23, 2014

Seeing the Ray Eames splint sculpture at the CALIFORNIA'S DESIGNING WOMEN: 1896–1986 exhibition made me curious about the number of splint sculptures that were actually made.
The one in the exhibition looks to be the one that was sold at the Treadway auction in 1999.  It came from Park Meek, a former employee at the Eames Office and  apparently it was broken and repaired (by Ray) at one point...more details below.



The Splint Sculpture that was up for auction at Treadway in 1999.  This the description from the catalog... Saw-cut molded plywood with flat black painted finish, 42"h x 8"w, very good condition
The estimate was $25,000 - $35,000
Provenance: Eames Office
Parke Meek
How Ray's "Splint" Sculpture Got Broken When I was hired to work at the Eames Office back in 1953, I had no official title. Everyone in those days did a little bit of everything, and I was known as a "jack of all trades".I started out working on furniture prototypes, but as Charles became…