Celery Dish (American Modern Dinnerware)

Russel WrightWW-1937-136468

1937·Earthenware and glaze·3.2 × 33.7 × 9.2 cm (1 1/4 × 13 1/4 × 3 5/8 in.)

An ardent promoter of modern design, Russel Wright developed his American Modern line of dinnerware, which included serving pieces such as this celery dish, in 1937. Wright claimed that the organic shapes of the pattern reflected each piece’s function and that muted colors such as cedar green were used in order to “dramatize” the service of food. Although Wright designed the line in 1937, American Modern was not produced until 1939 because of the skepticism of potential manufacturers during the Great Depression. Nonetheless, it has proved to be one of the most popular ceramic patterns ever created.

Catalogue

Year: 1937
Medium: Earthenware and glaze
Dimensions: 3.2 × 33.7 × 9.2 cm (1 1/4 × 13 1/4 × 3 5/8 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Russel Wright

Artist

Russel Wright

Ceramics

Russel Wright was an American designer and ceramicist whose innovative tableware and furniture defined postwar domestic modernism. Working primarily in glazed ceramic and molded plastic, he developed accessible, functional forms that rejected ornament in favor of organic, biomorphic shapes. His mass-produced dinnerware lines and organic furniture designs brought modernist principles into American households during the 1940s and 1950s, establishing a distinctly American approach to industrial design that prioritized everyday utility over luxury craftsmanship.

Full artist profile →