Object Timeline

1953

  • Work on this object began.

1954

  • Work on this object ended.

1962

  • We acquired this object.

1991

2012

2015

2017

2018

2024

  • You found it!

Drawing, Proposed Cottage for Kirk Wilkinson, Wellfleet, MA

This is a Drawing. It was designed by Serge Ivan Chermayeff. It is dated 1953–54 and we acquired it in 1962. Its medium is brown felt tip pen, chalk, graphite on yellow tracing paper. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

Chermayeff calls attention to the cross-braced framing of his modernist Cape Cod cottage by rendering the resulting triangular sections in clear, primary colors. This strategy also breaks up the 56-foot-long façade into small, playful shapes—essentially the logic of disruptive patterning, or camouflage.

This object was donated by Serge Ivan Chermayeff. It is credited Gift of Serge Ivan Chermayeff.

Our curators have highlighted 6 objects that are related to this one. Here are three of them, selected at random:

Its dimensions are

34.8 x 42.3 cm (13 11/16 x 16 5/8 in.) Mat: 40.6 x 55.9 cm (16 x 22 in.)

It is inscribed

Inscribed in pen and black ink, upper right: Wilkinson / First sketches; D / B with porch / E Z + 3

Cite this object as

Drawing, Proposed Cottage for Kirk Wilkinson, Wellfleet, MA; Designed by Serge Ivan Chermayeff (American, b. Grozny, Chechnya 1900–1996); USA; brown felt tip pen, chalk, graphite on yellow tracing paper; 34.8 x 42.3 cm (13 11/16 x 16 5/8 in.) Mat: 40.6 x 55.9 cm (16 x 22 in.); Gift of Serge Ivan Chermayeff; 1962-45-6

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibitions Saturated: The Allure and Science of Color and The Cooper-Hewitt Collections: A Design Resource.

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If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18444283/ |title=Drawing, Proposed Cottage for Kirk Wilkinson, Wellfleet, MA |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=25 April 2024 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>