Judy Kensley McKie - Design New York Thursday, June 6, 2019 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Pritam & Eames, East Hampton
    Acquired from the above by the present owners, 1996

  • Literature

    "Collectors at Home: A Conversation with Marc and Diane Grainer," American Craft, December 1999/January 2000, illustrated pp. 52-53
    Janet Wilson, ed., Skilled Work: American Craft in the Renwick Gallery, Washington, D.C., 1998, pp. 37, 150-51, 163

  • Catalogue Essay

    Monkey Settee has become an iconic representation of Judy Kensley McKie’s body of work, for the ultimate incorporation of animal forms in her furniture designs, and for its combination of fluency in woodworking and bronze casting. As McKie’s woodworking career progressed, she moved from carving animals in relief onto the surfaces of cabinets and tables, to carving animals out of the body of the form itself, becoming the arms, legs and back structural supports of her designs, to fully realized animal sculptures incorporated into her designs that appear to be in movement, simultaneously living within the object and among its users. Among the most successful executions of her vision, clues of her research into ancient art, Art Deco aesthetics, and international cultures abound in Monkey Settee.

    An example of Monkey Settee is in the permanent collection of the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC.

  • Artist Biography

    Judy Kensley McKie

    American • 1944

    Judy Kensley McKie is an American designer best known for her whimsical furniture, which often features animal forms and a combination of woodworking and bronze casting. As McKie’s woodworking career progressed, she moved from carving animals in relief onto the surfaces of cabinets and tables, to carving animals out of the body of the form itself, becoming the arms, legs and back structural supports of her designs, to fully realized animal sculptures incorporated into her designs that appear to be in movement, simultaneously living within the object and among its users.

    View More Works

Property from the Collection of Diane and Marc Grainer

61

"Monkey Settee"

1994
Walnut, patinated bronze.
35 x 64 x 22 in. (88.9 x 162.6 x 55.9 cm)
Bronze produced by Artworks Foundry, Berkeley, California. Number 4 from the edition of 12 plus 4 artist's proofs. Underside incised © JKM 1994 4 / 12 Bench B.

Estimate
$70,000 - 90,000 

Sold for $187,500

Contact Specialist

DesignNewYork@phillips.com
+1 212 940 1268

Design

New York Auction 6 June 2019