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Architect's Valet
Designer: Alphonse Mattia (1947 – 2023)
1989
Object Place: Westport, Massachusetts, United States
Medium/Technique
Ebonized walnut, holly, cocobollo, ebony, maple, Baltic birch plywood, Delrin
Dimensions
200.98 x 59.69 x 52.07 cm (79 1/8 x 23 1/2 x 20 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Anne and Ronald Abramson
Accession Number1989.126
CollectionsContemporary Art, Americas
ClassificationsFurniture – Seating and beds
Alphonse Mattia made wood come alive through anthropomorphic and colorful constructions. In the 1970s and 80s, he was part of a group of artists associated with Boston University's Program in Artisanry. Mattia's visual vocabulary aligned with postmodern (or "PoMo") design approaches, which sampled form and ideas from across history. Valets are used for hanging and storing clothes, and this one was made for an imagined architect. Look closely at its leg, stylized as a pencil, and its back, transformed into a compass.
DescriptionTall valet with a compass forming the back legs and back, a square and pencil forming the front legs, and a plan forming the seat.
Signed
Scratched on the back of the rear seat rail: "Alphonse Mattia 1989 / K. Hall Westport, Mass"
InscriptionsScratched on the back of the rear seat rail: "Alphonse Mattia 1989 / K. Hall Westport, Mass"
ProvenanceCommissioned by the donors, Anne and Ronald Abramson of Rockville, Maryland, April 1989.
CopyrightReproduced with permission from the estate of Alphonse Mattia