R. M. (Rudolph Michael) Schindler
Dresser with mirror from the Milton and Ruth Shep commission, Silver Lakecirca 1934-1938

Not on view

Mid-century modern bedroom dresser set in warm amber wood with recessed drawer pulls, arranged around a large semicircular three-panel mirror in a pale metal frame

Artist or Maker: R. M. (Rudolph Michael) Schindler
Austria, active United States, California, Los Angeles, 1887 - 1953
Title: Dresser with mirror from the Milton and Ruth Shep commission, Silver Lake
Place Made: United States
Date Made: circa 1934-1938
Medium: Gumwood, mirror glass
Dimensions: 70 1/2 × 105 × 26 3/8 in.
Credit Line: Gift of Ruth Shep Polen
Accession Number: AC1995.81.19.1-.16
Classification: Furnishings
Collecting Area: Decorative Arts and Design
Curatorial Notes: This monumental dresser is one of almost twenty pieces in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s collection that Schindler designed for the unrealized Silver Lake house of Milton and Ruth Shep. Its scale and custom nature indicate that it was made for a wealthy client. The dresser’s modular elements, however, were the basis of what Schindler termed “unit furniture,” which was intended to be a flexible and inexpensive way to furnish modern homes.

(California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way," 2011-12)
Selected Bibliography: Barron, Stephanie, S. Bernstein and I. S. Fort, with essays by Stephanie Barron, Sherri Bernstein, M. Dear, Howard N. Fox and Richard Rodriguez. Made in California: Art, Image, and Identity, 1900-2000. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Berkeley: University of California Press, Berkeley, 2000.
The California pop-up book. New York: Universe Pub. in association with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2000.
Kaplan, Wendy, ed. California Design, 1930-1965: Living in a Modern Way. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2011.
Kaplan, Wendy, ed. Living in a Modern Way: California Design, 1930-1965. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2013.
Noriega, Chon A., Mari Carmen Ramírez, and Pilar Tompkins Rivas. Home--So Different, So Appealing. Los Angeles: UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Press: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Houston: The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 2017.
Selected Exhibition History: California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way". October 1, 2011 - June 3, 2012

Related Exhibitions

R. M. (Rudolph Michael) Schindler
Dresser with mirror from the Milton and Ruth Shep commission, Silver Lakecirca 1934-1938

Not on view

Artist or Maker: R. M. (Rudolph Michael) Schindler
Austria, active United States, California, Los Angeles, 1887 - 1953
Title: Dresser with mirror from the Milton and Ruth Shep commission, Silver Lake
Place Made: United States
Date Made: circa 1934-1938
Medium: Gumwood, mirror glass
Dimensions: 70 1/2 × 105 × 26 3/8 in.
Credit Line: Gift of Ruth Shep Polen
Accession Number: AC1995.81.19.1-.16
Classification: Furnishings
Collecting Area: Decorative Arts and Design
Curatorial Notes: This monumental dresser is one of almost twenty pieces in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s collection that Schindler designed for the unrealized Silver Lake house of Milton and Ruth Shep. Its scale and custom nature indicate that it was made for a wealthy client. The dresser’s modular elements, however, were the basis of what Schindler termed “unit furniture,” which was intended to be a flexible and inexpensive way to furnish modern homes.

(California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way," 2011-12)
Selected Bibliography: Barron, Stephanie, S. Bernstein and I. S. Fort, with essays by Stephanie Barron, Sherri Bernstein, M. Dear, Howard N. Fox and Richard Rodriguez. Made in California: Art, Image, and Identity, 1900-2000. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Berkeley: University of California Press, Berkeley, 2000.
The California pop-up book. New York: Universe Pub. in association with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2000.
Kaplan, Wendy, ed. California Design, 1930-1965: Living in a Modern Way. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2011.
Kaplan, Wendy, ed. Living in a Modern Way: California Design, 1930-1965. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2013.
Noriega, Chon A., Mari Carmen Ramírez, and Pilar Tompkins Rivas. Home--So Different, So Appealing. Los Angeles: UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Press: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Houston: The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 2017.
Selected Exhibition History: California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way". October 1, 2011 - June 3, 2012