Object Details
Artist
Don Baum, born Escanaba, MI 1922-died Evanston, IL 2008
Luce Center Label
Don Baum picked up discarded objects such as rulers and crushed cans while walking through Chicago’s Chinatown with artist Miyoko Ito. He then used these items to create Chinatown, a piece that is part of his Domus series. In medieval France, the domus was the basic social unit of the village, consisting of both the house and the peasant family residing under its roof. Baum captures a sense of place in Chinatown by including found objects that are traces of the community he portrays.
Luce Object Quote
“. . . Miyo was very important to me. I met her in Chicago . . . We had a real sympathetic relationship, which extended to . . . a feeling of admiration about each other’s work . . . It was a very close relationship, very important one.” Don Baum, Archives of American Art, 1986
Credit Line
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. S. W. Koffler
Date
1980
Object number
1984.157.1
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Type
Sculpture-Assemblage
Medium
mixed media: wood, crushed metal cans, rulers, cut, glued and assembled
Dimensions
14 1/2 x 14 3/4 x 9 1/4 in. (36.8 x 37.5 x 23.5 cm.)
See more items in
Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
Department
Painting and Sculpture
Data Source
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Topic
Architecture\domestic\house
Link to Original Record
Record ID
saam_1984.157.1