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Object Timeline

1985

  • Work on this object began.

1986

  • Work on this object ended.

2010

  • We acquired this object.

2012

2013

2024

  • You found it!

Drawing, Designs for Cookware and Kitchen Utensils

This is a Drawing. It is dated 1985–86 and we acquired it in 2010. Its medium is pen and black ink on typewriter paper, mounted on gray wove paper with tape. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

This drawing by Ward Bennett shows the American designer’s mind at work for objects in a variety of media during the initial stages of creation. In this drawing, Bennett has conceived an ambitious range of objects including cookware, kitchen utensils, and glassware. Although many of the projects illustrated on this sheet were probably unrealized, the objects share Bennett’s aesthetic of simple geometries noted in other examples of his work in the museum’s collection.
This sheet, in conjunction with other preparatory sheets by Bennett in the museum’s collection, allows us to more fully understand how he approached the act of designing. Bennett’s drawings complement other major Cooper-Hewitt holdings like those of Donald Deskey, Henry Dreyfuss, and Gerald Gulotta, all of which document the history of American 20th-century industrial design.

This object was featured in our Object of the Week series in a post titled Ward Bennett's approach to designing.

It is credited Gift of David McCorkle and Ernest Hood.

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Its dimensions are

59.9 x 17.2 cm (23 9/16 x 6 3/4 in.)

It is inscribed

Inscribed in black ink, text identifying pictured objects

Cite this object as

Drawing, Designs for Cookware and Kitchen Utensils; USA; pen and black ink on typewriter paper, mounted on gray wove paper with tape; 59.9 x 17.2 cm (23 9/16 x 6 3/4 in.); Gift of David McCorkle and Ernest Hood; 2010-32-1

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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/18767209/ |title=Drawing, Designs for Cookware and Kitchen Utensils |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=24 April 2024 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>