Leg Splint
Decorative Arts and Design
On View: Decorative Art, 20th-Century Decorative Arts, 4th Floor
Called by the U.S. Navy during World War II to create a lightweight, inexpensive leg splint for injured personnel, the California designers Charles and Ray Eames employed molded plywood to produce a functional yet sculptural form that informed their later furniture designs.
MEDIUM
Plywood
DATES
designed 1941–1942; manufactured 1943–1945
DIMENSIONS
42 x 4 1/4 x 8 in. (106.7 x 10.8 x 20.3 cm)
(show scale)
MARKINGS
Branded on inside section behind ankle: "S2-1790"; stamped in green on outside near top: "MOLDED PLYWOOD DIVISION / LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA / patent pending [...] EAMES [...]"; circular logo containing "EVANS PRODUCTS COMPANY" around circle, and crisscrossing in center: "EVANS / EVANS"
SIGNATURE
no signature
INSCRIPTIONS
no inscriptions
ACCESSION NUMBER
83.156
CREDIT LINE
Anonymous gift
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION
Long piece of plywood molded to the human leg, flaring out at the top to fit against the buttocks and tapering in at the bottom to support the lower leg and foot. Numerous rectangular cut-out sections to allow for ties to secure leg to splint.
CONDITION: Good. No finishing solution was applied to surface. Some splits in surface due to normal production.
CAPTION
Charles Eames (American, 1907–1978). Leg Splint, designed 1941–1942; manufactured 1943–1945. Plywood, 42 x 4 1/4 x 8 in. (106.7 x 10.8 x 20.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Anonymous gift, 83.156. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 83.156_view2_bw.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, 83.156_view2_bw.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
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RIGHTS STATEMENT
Creative Commons-BY
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