An angular, triangular-shaped mirror and hairbrush against a dark grey background. The triangle of the mirror points downwards and is framed by a silver triangle. The outline of two smaller triangles hang from its bottom point. The triangle of the brush also points downwards with pale brown thick bristles. It is also framed by a silver triangle with the outline of two smaller triangles hanging from the bottom point.

See more objects with the tag personal adornment, geometric, angular, abstract.

Object Timeline

	We acquired this object.
1928	Work on this object began.
1930	Work on this object ended.
2017	We photographed this object. We exhibited this object.
2021	You found it!

Vanity Set: Hand Mirror And Hair Brush , designed 1928; made ca. 1928-30

This is a Vanity Set: Hand Mirror and Hair Brush . It was manufactured by E. & J. Bass Company. It is dated designed 1928; made ca. 1928-30. Its medium is silverplate, mirror glass, boar bristles.

In 1928 Elsa Tennhardt designed a series of tablewares in angular shapes for the manufacturer E. and J. Bass. Her work was included in the International Exposition of Art in Industry at Macy's in 1928. The designer's keen grasp of line and shape drew from her parallel career as a painter.

It is credited Lent by Museum of Fine Arts Boston, The John Axelrod Collection, 2014.1290.1-2.

Here we have a table lamp with square elements. The lampshade is a white, almost cream cube with sharp sides. The stem is made of shiny black glazed earthenware. There is a stack of four cubes each on an angle, with their corners molded into each other. The base cube is on its corner but cut in half through the center for stability. The three cubes above gradually get smaller in size but are all in the same motif of being turned to different sides and angles, stacked, but molded together, corner to corner.

Table Lamp, Rombic, ca. 1928
glazed earthenware.
Collection of John C. Waddell.
53.2016.2

An elegant cocktail set composed of a central shaker with three drinking glasses on each side on a tray evoking the geometry of Art Deco. An inverted pyramid formed body without point and pyramid formed lid encompass a cylindrical cocktail shaker where the neck is intentionally visible with a rectangular step base. The martini glasses are made of inverted conical forms with a curved stem balanced on a triangular formed base. A sole decorative diagonal and straight line is placed as an irregular accent on the surface of the vessels. All vessels are fabricated of highly polished silver plate over brass and are symmetrically arranged on a lozenge formed tray with a base of black vitrolite glass and triangular handles with overlapping lozenge angles. The set is raised with short angular feet. The photograph captures the cocktail set in a frontal view against a gray surface with cast shadow beneath while the photographer can be seen in the reflection of several martini glasses.

Cocktail Set, ca. 1928
silver-plated brass and “vitrolite” glass.
Lent by Milwaukee Art Museum, Purchase, with funds from Demmer Charitable....
45.2016.1a/h

An inverted cone-shaped, shiny, silver-plated metal vase, with two triangular planes at the base, such that the point of the cone bisects them.

Vase (USA)
silver-plated metal.
Museum purchase from Decorative Arts Association Acquisition and General....
1993-111-1

Our curators have highlighted 1 object that are related to this one.

A compote constructed from a polished silver rounded stepped base with a scalloped column formed stem supporting a shallow wide bowl. The photograph captures the compote in a frontal view where the front and top are visible against a light gray ground with a whisper of a cast shadow.

Modernist Compote Compote
silver.
Gift of George R. Kravis II.
2018-22-25

Its dimensions are

H x W x D (Hand Mirror (approximate)): 1 × 14.6 × 27.6 cm (3/8 × 5 3/4 × 10 7/8 in.) H x W x D (Hair Brush (approximate)): 3.5 × 10.2 × 16.8 cm (1 3/8 in. × 4 in. × 6 5/8 in.)

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s.

Short URL http://cprhw.tt/o/2oaHa2/
Accession Number 54.2016.1a,b
Object ID 907214135