PETALUMA, Calif. – The Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity has launched its eighth exhibit, titled Steinberg Meets the Eameses. The online exhibit is an exploration of the relationship between design icons Ray and Charles Eames and Romanian-American artist Saul Steinberg and showcases the collaborative works that resulted from an extraordinary encounter between the parties in the summer of 1950. The exhibit opened on June 14 to coincide with the launch of the newly recreated Eames fiberglass armchair with Steinberg cat by Vitra and Herman Miller. The Eames Institute retains two original Steinberg painted chairs — including the chair with the cat — in the Eames collection. The show has no end date.

This exhibit begins with the story of a botched Hollywood assignment that led Steinberg to the West Coast and how he then came in contact with the Eameses. It details the now iconic works that resulted from a collaborative day spent at the Eames Office at 901 Washington Boulevard in Venice, California — including the chair with the cat and another chair painted with a nude figure, both of which remain in the Institute’s holdings.

It also includes a number of works that resulted from their connection, including a officious but entirely illegible diploma Steinberg bestowed on Charles Eames (because the designer never finished school), and photographs taken by Eames of Steinberg drawings being projected onto Steinberg’s wife, Hedda Sterne, and Ray Eames.

“The interconnection of Steinberg’s ideas and how this overlapped into the designs of my grandparents is incredible,” said Llisa Demetrios, the Eames’s youngest granddaughter and the institute’s chief curator. “I think this collaboration is exemplative of how they liked to create — always open to another creative iteration, going beyond what’s expected.”

Unveiled in 1950, the Eames shell chairs were the world’s first industrially mass-produced chairs with the seat and backrest formed from a one-piece plastic shell. The design is characterized by this novel combination of seat and back into a unified shell, and it was precisely this innovation that provided Steinberg with a continuous surface on which to draw. As concurrent works by the artist attest, he was exploring the possibilities of drawing on three-dimensional surfaces and environments and then photographing the results. The chairs created at the Eames office are the result of just such a scenario in which Steinberg painted onto multiple objects and surfaces.

To accompany the opening of the Steinberg exhibit, The Eames Institute will be releasing a limited edition book that delves into the connections between Steinberg and the designers Charles and Ray Eames and details the flurry of creativity that emerged from the storied encounter in the summer of 1950. The two original painted chairs, alongside other Steinberg- and Eames-related artifacts and ephemera are comprehensively documented and complemented by archival photographs, artwork, and an essay from noted Steinberg scholar and curator Francesca Pelliciarri.

Visit the website of the Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity and see its online exhibit titled Steinberg Meets the Eameses.