Title
Desk
Object Type
Creator
Date
1974
Notes
Retired lawyer Bob Schacht loves to tell the story of how he commissioned this desk for his office in Providence, from his longtime friend sculptor Richard Graham. The two met when Schacht was president of the Fox Point Neighborhood Association in Providence, and Graham and his wife lived in the neighborhood. Graham specialized in repairing guitars before studying sculpture at the Rhode Island School of Design. He relocated to Carrera, Italy where according to Schacht, "at the marble yards and studios ...he learned everything he needed to know to realize his artistic visions."
On a visit to Italy in 1974 Schacht asked Graham about creating a desk for him and the artist quickly sketched out his ideas: a Parsons table with sculptural ends. The sculptural ends were to be "sensual but not pornographic." The resulting desk/sculpture which weighs 1,000 pounds is assembled from four parts; the footprint is wide enough that floor load is not a problem. The Newport Art Museum is very pleased that Bob Schacht felt the Cushing Gallery to be the appropriate home for his desk.
Graham came back to the United States from 1977-1979 to serve as artist-in-residence at the New England Center for Contemporary Art, and then moved to Paris, where in 1984 he began to work in Portuguese granite. Graham has exhibited at International Art Fairs in Basel, Dusseldorf, Cologne, Madrid, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and galleries and venues throughout the world including Japan. He also exhibited here in the Newport Annual several times and won the Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney prize for sculpture in 1972.
On a visit to Italy in 1974 Schacht asked Graham about creating a desk for him and the artist quickly sketched out his ideas: a Parsons table with sculptural ends. The sculptural ends were to be "sensual but not pornographic." The resulting desk/sculpture which weighs 1,000 pounds is assembled from four parts; the footprint is wide enough that floor load is not a problem. The Newport Art Museum is very pleased that Bob Schacht felt the Cushing Gallery to be the appropriate home for his desk.
Graham came back to the United States from 1977-1979 to serve as artist-in-residence at the New England Center for Contemporary Art, and then moved to Paris, where in 1984 he began to work in Portuguese granite. Graham has exhibited at International Art Fairs in Basel, Dusseldorf, Cologne, Madrid, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and galleries and venues throughout the world including Japan. He also exhibited here in the Newport Annual several times and won the Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney prize for sculpture in 1972.
Cultural Origin
Italy
Medium
Carved marble from Mt. Pentelicus in Greece, with inlaid onyx from Pakistan
Extent
overall: 35 1/2 in x 78 in x 29 1/2 in
Source
Gift of Robert M. and Jeanne Schacht
Identifier
2011.004.001
For more information about this item, please contact its owning institution.