Cabinets (Entry Panel for MoMA Competition for Organic Design in Home Furnishings)
Charles Eames
American, 1907–1978
Eero Saarinen
American, born Finland. 1910–1961
1940
A pencil and airbrush drawing on board that lays out modular cabinet proposals for MoMA’s 1940 Organic Design competition, with Eames proposing compact, multi-use storage units designed to combine industrial production with everyday domestic needs.
It reads like an architectural blueprint—precise plan and elevation sketches, small perspective box renderings shaded in warm brown, stencil lettering (B3501) and tiny human figures that make scale and function immediately legible.
The sheet documents an early Eames exploration of modular, multifunctional furniture that helped translate modernist functionalism into mass-producible home furnishings and shaped mid‑century domestic design.
Medium
Pencil and airbrush on board
Dimensions
30 x 20" (76.2 x 50.8 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of the designers
Accession
869.1942
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
