supremely black

Haim Steinbach

1985

A sculptural display that places two glossy black ceramic pitchers and three boxed Bold detergents on a plastic‑laminated wood shelf, using ordinary packaged goods and simple materials to make a gallery presentation out of consumer objects.

The electric orange of the three Bold boxes jolts against the muted two‑tone shelf and the mirror‑black pitchers, producing a crisp, commercial clarity and a rhythmic imbalance between repetition and singular forms.

Part of Steinbach’s practice of treating retail shelving and packaged goods as sculptural elements, this work helped refract Pop and readymade strategies into a curatorial mode that makes branding, display, and everyday objects visible as cultural forms.

Palette

Art Terms

Sculpture Readymade Pop art Found object Assemblage Appropriation Contemporary art

Exhibitions

Good Design: 5th Anniversary

1955

Design Show: Christmas 1949

1949

100 Useful Objects of Fine Design (available under $100)

1947

20th Century Design from the Museum Collection

1958